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The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
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Dharma Talks
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2024-03-21
Great Female Disciples of the Buddha
50:09
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James Baraz
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Most of the Buddha's disciples whose names we are familiar with, such as Ananda and Sariputta, are men. The Buddha also had women disciples who were wise and profound practitioners like Mahapajapati, the Buddha's aunt/foster mother, responsible for the establishment of the order of nuns or Patacara, revered teacher, who tragically lost her family and eventually became fully enlightened.
“If the measure of a human life is a chance to have significance that extends beyond itself, then we’ve hit the jackpot. We are alive at game time on the planet, when everything we value is genuinely threatened, when it’s time for all hands on deck.”
—Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2024-03-20
Meditation: Openhearted Presence
21:48
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Tara Brach
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This meditation guides us in embodying loving presence through a body scan, and then meeting whatever arises with a tender heart.
“Resting in the awareness that includes this changing life, regarding the changing waves with care, moment-to-moment. The moments of waking up out of thought are actually profoundly transformational. If you notice thinking and then plant the seeds of kindness, that becomes the habit of the heart.” ~Tara
We close with a beautiful blessing-poem from John O’Donohue, from Beauty – The Invisible Embrace.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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2024-03-16
What Would the Buddha Say? Peaceful Communication Skills for Difficult Times Part 2
55:58
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Ayya Santussika
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Some of the hardest times to come up with the right words and the right attitude are when the topic at hand is really hot. Maybe it is when we feel there is something very important at stake. Maybe it is when something seems very wrong in the world: war, political strife, corruption, injustice. How can we use Right Speech in such circumstances? How can we express ourselves in ways that are truthful but do not widen the divide. How can we promote peace and mutual respect? How can we relate to others with very different views and values with honesty and skill? These are some of the areas we will explore, working with personal as well as societal examples. And, we will base our conversation on the Buddha's words and advice.
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Karuna Buddhist Vihara
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2024-03-16
What Would the Buddha Say? Peaceful Communication Skills for Difficult Times Part 1
1:21:52
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Ayya Santussika
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Some of the hardest times to come up with the right words and the right attitude are when the topic at hand is really hot. Maybe it is when we feel there is something very important at stake. Maybe it is when something seems very wrong in the world: war, political strife, corruption, injustice. How can we use Right Speech in such circumstances? How can we express ourselves in ways that are truthful but do not widen the divide. How can we promote peace and mutual respect? How can we relate to others with very different views and values with honesty and skill? These are some of the areas we will explore, working with personal as well as societal examples. And, we will base our conversation on the Buddha's words and advice.
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Karuna Buddhist Vihara
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2024-03-13
Meditation: Cultivating a Gentle, Kind Attention
19:27
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Tara Brach
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This meditation calls on the image and felt sense of a smile as we scan through the body, and invites a receptive and caring presence, as we open our attention to the changing flow of life.
“Our freedom comes not from what is happening, but from how we are relating to it. See if you can relate with the spirit of ‘yes,’ allowing whatever arises to be here. And if it feels difficult, painful, then bringing some real kindness – a ‘yes’ with gentleness and kindness.” ~ Tara
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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2024-03-07
Groundlessness: A Doorway to Liberation
60:09
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James Baraz
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Pema Chödrön writes: "It's not impermanence per se, or even knowing we're going to die, that is the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it's our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness. When we resist change, it's called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that's called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness."
Let's investigate the underlying feeling of insecurity to see how it can be used as a path to real freedom.
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2024-03-06
Meditation: Letting Go of Doing
21:17
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Tara Brach
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Meditation becomes truly freeing in the moments when there is no controlling whatsoever; when nothing is resisted or grasped after. This guided meditation begins with a simple body scan, relaxing and awakening to sensations in the body and then including the play of sound.
We then let go of any doing, and simply notice and allow the changing flow of experience, letting life be just as it is. In this pure allowing presence we become aware of the background silence that is listening. The invitation is to relax and be the awareness that is conscious of all that is unfolding.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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2024-03-06
Part 2: Healing Depression with Meditation
55:51
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Tara Brach
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Most people get depressed at times, and many suffer greatly from bouts of major depression. At the heart of the suffering is the experience of severed belonging—of being imprisoned in the pain of separation, unworthiness, unlovability and hopelessness.
These two talks explore several meditation practices that reconnect us with our natural aliveness, openheartedness and awareness. They empower us to develop our inner resources, energize us to awaken, free us from rumination and remind us that we are not our depressive thoughts and feelings. The growing realization of the loving awareness that is our home heals the very roots of depression.
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Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC
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