Archive of Talks

This week Nancy offered the first look into the teaching that the Buddha himself called equal in importance to the Four Noble Truths – the teaching of Dependent Arising (paticca samupadda). This is the Buddhist rich and subtle understanding of causality, which focuses on how particular conditions give rise to our experience. This systematic view… Read more

Even though our sangha meeting today was called off because of snow and ice which trapped several of us (including our presenters) in their homes, four members of the sangha made it to the studio and had a lovely quiet winter sit. Read more

Payton led our discussion on the concept of Dukkha, or unsatisfactoriness, in the context of the Three Characteristics (aka: Three Marks) of Existence. The Three being Impermanence, Dukkha, and Not-self. The Trilogy of Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta – By Bhikkhu Bodhi Ignorance functions in two ways, negative and positive. On the negative side it simply… Read more

Our Sangha meeting today was canceled due to snow.  We used the time ego meditate at home. Read more

Sam led the discussion, focusing on the three heavenly messengers – old age, sickness, and death.  Excerpts from the following dharma talks were used (all available on dharmaseed.org): 1) Heavenly Messengers by Narayan Liebenson , 3/23/06 – first 13 min., 2) Natchiketa and the Lord of Death by Jack Kornfield, 9/10/12 – first 9.5 min, 3) Mystery and… Read more

Margaret guided exploration of Perception. This third of the five skandhas relates us clearly – or not sometimes so clearly – to the outside world. To what degree are we subject to the biases of our perceptions, and to what degree can we gain clarity and perspective on our own distortions, thus taking a step toward… Read more