Archive of Talks

Our sangha’s all day Spring retreat was held today, with ten members able to attend.  In addition to the benefits of simply practicing together for a more extended period – sitting, walking, eating meditation – we also had the opportunity to focus on the least examined of the classical three poisons that erode the quality… Read more

The Buddha’s first sermon presented his most shocking and difficult to accept teaching right off the bat.  Michael was an energetic talk by Steve Armstrong this teaching, offered during a recent retreat he attended at IMS. http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/170/talk/18959/   Read more

Nancy led the sangha in an exploration of walking meditation today.  Walking meditation has, from the time of the Buddha been not only a way to vary the routine from sitting meditation, but also a profound and revealing practice in its own right.  Using insights from Aya Khema and others, as well as the brisk… Read more

Anne B led our reflections on the question of Karma and Identity, using as a jumping off point a talk on that topic by Tony Bernhard at Spirit Rock. http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/182/talk/6788/ Read more

Nancy let the sangha in using the Five Recollections as a way of examining the question of our karma.  ” The Buddha recommended that every person should recollect these five facts every day. They are well known to us, but we like to forget them . We like to pretend that these five experiences do… Read more

Michael offered a presentation on the Buddhist theory of causality, known variously as Dependent Co-Arising, Inter-Dependent Co-Origination, Dependent Origination, etc.  Using the famous depiction of the Wheel of Life, in which the Dependent Co-Arising is depicted in 12 phases (the 12 nidanans) on the outer circle of the wheel, we discussed the inter-relation of cause… Read more