Margaret is the author of the just released book, Quiet Strength: Find Peace, Feel Alive, and Love Boundlessly through the Power of Equanimity. In this she leads in an exploration on this key quality that is so needed in these times. As a therapist, Margaret facilitated psycho-social support groups for cancer patients and their loved ones for over 30 years. She has led research studies on the impact of contemplative programs, co-developed the Compassion Cultivation Training with Thupten Jinpa at Stanford University. Margaret is the founder of Compassion Corps, a program which brings compassion programs to underserved populations around the world. She has been a meditation practitioner for over 40 years.

In this talk James introduces Nina Raddy, a member of our IMCB community, who shares from her own experience of community practice and helping build Community Village, a vibrant, peer-led meditation community for people in their 20s and 30s in the Bay Area. She'll explore how generosity, wholesome friendship, and simply showing up for one another can themselves become profound practices. Buddhist teachings place great emphasis on spiritual friendship and sangha — the community of practitioners — as essential supports for the path. Yet in a culture that often emphasizes individualism and disconnection, sangha can seem like a good idea but not something we truly experience to the extent we wish we had. Data from the U.S. Surgeon General emphasizes that lacking social connection carries a mortality risk comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, making community engagement a biological necessity rather than a comfort. Community acts as the vital antidote to the modern public health crisis of isolation, transforming deep-seated loneliness into a foundation for emotional and physical survival. What does it mean to practice community?

Practice can sometimes feel complicated with so many different techniques and instructions on how to extricate oneself from identifying with our experience. Using approaches from Tibetan Dzogchen and other non-dual teachings this talks explores the profound simplicity of letting go of all trying as a way to come back to our true nature.

James has been offering reflections on the Dhammapada, the Buddha's collection of pithy teachings, and how they can be practically applied in our lives. Dhammapada Verse #165 emphasizes that individuals are responsible for the direction of their own spiritual unfolding. No external force or person can do it for us. This talk explores the implications.

This talk continues exploring teachings from the Dhammapada, the most well-known collection of the Buddha's words. It shares the Buddha's teachings on harmlessness and the consequences of causing harm or threatening to cause harm. These verses seem relevant to current times.

The Dhammapada is the most well-known collection of the Buddha's words. Consisting of 26 chapters in 423 verses, it contains pith teachings from discourses that are found throughout the Pali Canon. This talk explores some verses that are relevant in these times.

This talk shares a teaching from the great 10th Century Tibetan master, Tilopa. Tilopa and his succession of Dharma heirs formed the core of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He passed his teachings on to Naropa, whose student Marpa transmitted them to Milarepa, who then gave transmission to Gampopa. Tilopa's teaching is summed up in his timeless "Six Words Of Advice" which are instructions on how to stay connected to the present moment. These instructions are explored in this talk.

We often need something to be special to catch our attention. It takes practice to be mindful of ordinary experiences like the breath, a sound or a sensation. When we practice looking at reality through the lens of Sacred Perception, however, everything becomes holy and worthy of our attention. This talk explores Sacred Perception as a practice that makes even the mundane come alive.

This guided meditation shifts the subject of attention from objects to the awareness that knows.