Archive of Talks

This past week, Michael led an exploration of a non-dualist approach to meditation and mindfulness, guided by the work of Rupert Spira, from whose week-long retreat he recently returned.  If you are interested in exploring some of the unique approaches to these familiar topics which non-dualism offers, here are a few of the literally hundreds… Read more

This past Sunday, Lorilee moderated our discussion, a reflection on a Buddhist approach our global climate crisis. An excerpt by a recent dharma talk given by James Baraz at Spirit Rock, entitled “Internally & Externally – Holding It All” was followed by personal and shared reflection.  How does greed, aversion and delusion  manifest in our… Read more

Mike Blouin led our discussion this past Sunday on the concept of Śūnyatā, or emptiness, from a few different angles including natural history, poetry, and Buddhist philosophy. We looked at the phenomenon of emptiness through poetry and prose, and read and talked about the Heart Sutra as well.  There was no audio, but this article… Read more

Patrick’s presentation this past week included a talk from Gil Fronsdal called Social Equanimity. In the talk, he reviews the Brahma Viharas in general, talks about the role that equanimity plays in relation to the others, and its application in everyday life, including consideration of the limits of equanimity and how to apply it in… Read more

This past Sunday, Jeffrey presented the 10 Stages of Meditation by Culadasa, a particular path of practice designed to foster insights and Awakening [complete detachment from “Self”].  Jeffrey provided a brief overview of Culadasa’s stages and guided the discussion to the idea of stages in general. How do people feel about progressive stages? Is this… Read more

Based on her recent retreat at the IMS, this past Sunday Margaret shared some of Christina Feldman’s reflections on karma, within the Buddhist framework.  (Recall that karma appears as the fifth of the five recollections:  http://www.leighb.com/5drult.htm ) Karma simply means actions. The focus of the reflections was karma as ethical choices in the present;  karma as contribution,… Read more