Archive of Talks

  • Buddhist Personality Types

    We all struggle with the “three poisons” of Greed, Anger, and Delusion, but may be more likely to gravitate toward one of these than others. There are some elements about how a practice of mindfulness can transform these hindrances into possibilities for presence and liberation. When stripped of their attachment, Greed imparts a sort of… Read more

  • How can we hold people accountable while still holding them in our hearts?

    Division within our communities appears to have reached new highs, or lows, depending on your perspective. Regardless of which side of an issue we identify with, it seems that half of our community takes an opposite view. The escalation from mild disagreement to threatened and then actual violence has rocked our world. How can we… Read more

  • The experience of Craving

    The Buddha spoke of Craving as the primary cause of our suffering in this life, and while we can intellectually understand that wanting things to be other than they are can be problematic, really noticing what that Craving feels like is not so obvious. That level of awareness is particularly challenging when the ancient texts… Read more

  • Images and metaphors for change

    This Sunday Mike B. led our Sangha discussion and played a talk and guided meditation by Pascal Auclair. The topic was on the changing nature of the self, experience, and memory. A feeling, thought, or self-image can seem so real and permanent in the moment, but then the next moment (or many moments later) it… Read more

  • Continuing Practice, Changing Aims

    The Dhamma draws each of us for a variety of reasons and as we commit ourselves to practice, our intentions and experiences change and develop over the course of our lives. This Sunday Andrea guided our reflections drawing on a talk given by Anusjka Ferandopoulle via Cambridge Insight entitled “Refreshing the Heart, Living with Wisdom.”… Read more

  • Interrupting reactivity and responding with love

    Our sangha continued its master class this Sunday on how to respond to challenges in our lives and in our world. Lorilee offered a lecture by Ajahn Sucitto, delivered during winter retreat this January, which took us into the subtle, deep layers of how our sankhara or mental conditioning is created, and how as yogis and buddhist… Read more