Archive of Talks

  • Re-discovering the power of the sitting posture

    Today we have available a wide range of sitting meditation practices. Although what each practice emphasizes may vary, they usually begin with the instruction to take one’s seat and assume one’s meditation posture:  we begin by tuning into our bodies. This past Sunday, Denise guided our practice, taking us deeper than we may be accustomed… Read more

  • Being fully here in the presence of racism

    This Sunday’s sangha continued our dialog on the important theme of race which has been a deep topic of the past few weeks. Jeff H shared a recent talk by Tara Brach titled “A Courageous Presence with Racism.” Jeff says, The topic is important to me. I have black family members and coworkers about whom I… Read more

  • Looking at the Unseen: Whiteness as Maya, the Veil of Illusion

    Jeffrey followed Mike B.’s presentation of Reverend angel Kyodo williams’ talk on the theme of Practice, Justice, and Social Change with a continued focus on racial justice and the experience of being white. We watched the video Color of Fear, in which a multi-racial group of men confront a white man’s blindness to his own… Read more

  • Practice, Justice, and Social Change

    The minds and hearts of most people these days are filled with feelings and ideas about how we can find our way to a more just society. Yet trying to deal with the problems themselves is often quite difficult, unless we have a deeper source of wisdom to draw upon than those that are circulating in… Read more

  • Hardcore pragmatic dharma

    A recent and increasingly popular trend in Buddhism is “pragmatic” or “hardcore” Buddhism as exemplified by the teachings of Daniel Ingram.    Sam guided our exploration of this development by playing excerpts of video interviews with Ingram as well as some short readings from his book “Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, An Unusually… Read more

  • Samatha practice

    This week’s Sangha explored Samatha, which, broadly speaking, is the practice of meditation with the intention of developing calm and tranquility.  Samatha is one of the key approaches to Samadhi, often translated as “concentration”, but better be thought of “a state of collectedness”.  Margaret skillfully led the session, including a guided meditation by Chas Dicapua,… Read more