Archive of Talks

Rebecca guided our reflections this morning, centering them around a recent talk by Jack Kornfield: Who Am I?  the Question of Identity, which explores how the practice of loving awareness allows a profound shift of identity from a small limited sense of self to spacious wisdom. http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/85/talk/18757/   Read more

This morning, Nancy led our reflections on the four Divine Abodes.  We first listened to excerpts from a talk by Sylvia Boorstein  alerting us to the distinctions between loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity  and their near enemies. http://rogernolan.blogspot.com/2010/06/near-enemies.html After a discussion, and tea, we ended with a guided meditation on loving kindness by Aya Khema… Read more

Chris and Shery prepared the elements which guided our reflections for the day.  Excerpts from Tara Brach’s talk on Practical Dharma for Stressful Times set our discussion going, and we closed with her guided meditation on setting intention.  Both are available at http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/175/talk/17654/ Read more

Nancy led our practice for this meeting of the sangha, focusing on Anatta, or Non-Self, and drawing from several teachers.  Beginning with an understanding of Anatta as framed by Ayya Khema, in her book Who Is My Self?. Wisdom Publications, 1997. p 153- 154, we then moved to an extended guided meditation by Ayya Khema,  drawn from her… Read more

Sam led our reflections for this session, focusing on the non-dualistic tradition in Advaita Vedanta and its relation to that strain of Buddhism.  Anchoring the talk was a talk by Rob Burbea, titled “The Wisdom of Non-Duality.” http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/talk/10028/ The following zen story (from the book “No Water No Moon” by Osho) was also brought into play:… Read more

Anne B led our reflections on the links between the two branches of meditation most frequently linked in Theravadin Buddhism, Tranquility and Insight. Read more