Archive of Talks

  • Evil: a Buddhist perspective

    This Sunday, Jeffrey provided an overview of Stephen Batchelor’s key ideas in his book, Living with the Devil, followed by a talk by Batchelor. He rejects the dualistic conception of Mara or Satan or The Devil as embodiments of pure evil; and of Buddha as pure good, to instead tease out the subtle nature of… Read more

  • Living a Meaningful Life

    The Buddha said that he taught the nature of suffering and the end of suffering.  But many have found that his teachings take us far beyond that, and into shaping lives that are more meaningful to us — and even to others.  And some have discovered, along the way, a relation with continuing suffering can be… Read more

  • Living the Great Questions

    Rather than seeking the certainty of answers, we can mature authentically by staying with the great questions.  This past Sunday, Michael guided our reflections as we explored three zen koans which directly meet the question of authenticity in practice. We did not record the session, but Michael gave a very similar talk another time, which… Read more

  • Meeting the judging mind with wisdom

    Many of us have a tendency to be critical and judgmental of ourselves and others. This habit can seem quite strong and can create a lot of suffering. Mindfulness is a wonderful tool to enable us to see these thoughts for what they are, so we can begin to bring wisdom and understanding to them. The… Read more

  • The mind’s endless narratives

    In the Ball of Honey Sutta (MN 18), the Buddha stated that the cause of “conflict lies within, in the unskillful habits of the mind, rather than without.” He identified this unskillful habit of the mind as papanca. The  Pali term papanca does not have direct English equivalent and is often translated as proliferative thinking… Read more

  • When Fear Dies

     In this time of stress—political, racial, economic, familial, and certainly mental—the Buddha’s teachings are particularly useful, even precious.  Ordained Bhikkhuni Ayya Medhanandi, who directs a Hermitage in Ontario, recently offered a talk titled “When Fear Dies,” in which she presents the Buddha’s teachings on how we can respond to anxiety, fear, impatience or aggression, whether… Read more