Archive of Talks

Sometimes we approach puzzling or difficult situations with logical reasoning – often with only middling results.  But we can also draw upon the wisdom of our Buddha Nature, if we can begin to learn to recognize it. During our session this Sunday, Michael and our gathered friends explored this second approach in a simple, non-threatening and non-verbal… Read more

Our minds tend naturally toward critical thoughts, always on the lookout for what’s wrong and what can be fixed. This is often even more pronounced in relation to ourselves. The Buddha spoke about Mudita, or “appreciative joy”, as one of the core practices we can use to stabilize our reactive tendencies, but when it’s discussed… Read more

Most people see impermanence as an unfortunate fact that we must deal with; or, when things are difficult, on the contrary, we might be grateful to think the situation will inevitably change.  From the Dharmic point of view, however, both these attitudes fail to grasp the rich value of a true understanding of anicca, impermanence, perpetual… Read more

Consumerism, the “never enough” ideology, body image – how does living within a culture that highly values these concepts shape our thoughts and minds? Do we propagate them ourselves unintentionally? Are we doing this “life” thing right? Don S. guided our Sangha this week on the sense of “lack” in our practice, drawing on a talk by Brian… Read more

It has been said that there is no such thing as an exceptionally creative human; all humans are exceptional because it is our nature to be creative.  If there is truth in this, is it surprising that the Buddha taught little to  nothing about art or creativity?   How do we consider art and the creative… Read more

Many of us tend to think of the mind and the body as mostly separate phenomena. Of course we know they’re connected and depend on one another but in most practical situations we are dealing with either “my mind” or “my body”, not both together. In fact, when we’re overly tired or hungry and the… Read more