A description of how intentions lead to actions (cetana leads to kamma) and the importance of being mindful of this building block of reality. Guided meditation and further teachings at the end.

The Buddha’s first noble truth names the hard facts of life (birth, aging, illness, death, separation from what we love), then says in brief: it all comes down to the five aggregates of clinging. In this talk we explore the difference between the givens we can’t avoid and the tangles we add, and how seeing the aggregates as “not mine” opens the way to freedom.

Teachings on Satipatthana and guided RAIN meditation

Description and guided practice on working with vedana in the body.

The Buddha described awakening not as a leap to the summit but as a gradual training, one step laid down after another. Drawing on the image of walking (forest monks on tudong, pilgrims, and the cleared trails of these woods), this talk explores the anupubbasikkhā through generosity, ethics, meditation, and wisdom. With the Buddha’s teaching to Gaṇaka Moggallāna, the bird that carries only its wings, and poetry inspired by freedom, we reflect on how one thing lawfully leads to the next. We set up the conditions, and the dhamma does the rest. The arc of the path is long, but it bends toward freedom.

Taking the refuge in the Buddha Dhamma and Sangha plus undertaking the five training guidelines can provide a firm foundation for our practice.

Teaching and guided meditation on practicing the fourth foundation of mindfulness.

The second refuge invites us into intimacy with truth: something alive, immediate, and here for us whenever we remember to look. Using the ancient chant of the Dhamma’s qualities (here and now, timeless, inviting us to come and see, leading inward), this talk explores awareness as a refuge that can hold even chronic pain and old grief with both equanimity and compassion. Drawing on the suttas, Thai Forest masters, and poets like John O’Donohue and Ada Limón, we turn to kalyāṇa, the Pali word for the Dhamma as beautiful in the beginning, middle, and end. Beauty shows up in our practice, our actions, and our spiritual friendships, and it can become a companion and guide on the path home.

Teachings on vedana and mindfulness of emotions; guided RAIN practice.

At the moment of his awakening, Kondañña saw that whatever arises also passes away. This talk explores impermanence at three scales: the vast span of geologic and cosmic time, the arc of our own aging and mortality, and the moment-to-moment flicker of experience. Drawing on the suttas, poetry, and stories from practice, we look at how assuming permanence shapes our lives, and how seeing through it can open into awe, gratitude, and the freedom of letting go.