Archive of Talks

Entanglement, or knotted-ness, is a metaphor often used in the consideration of dependent origination. This week, Sam led our Sangha discussion following excerpts from talks on this topic by Sharon Salzberg and Christina Feldman. Here is the full talk “Happiness And Mindfulness” by Christina Feldman (1995): https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/44/talk/10142/ Here is the talk “Disentangling” by Sharon Salzberg… Read more

Most of us were introduced to meditation through paying attention to breath, sounds, or sensations, as ways to calm our unruly minds.  While these provide an excellent point of departure, even the early Buddhist teachings recommend that as we gain a foothold in meditation, we learn how to extend and augment our practice, both deepening… Read more

Today Mike B. led our Sangha by playing a talk on the topic of Upadana, or “clinging” by Akincino. Here is a link to the talk: https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/360/talk/54064/  The focus on Upadana starts at about 21 min.   Below are some notes Mike created while listening to the talk (spelling of Pali words is almost certainly incorrect in… Read more

This past Sunday, Britt led our Sangha discussion using her recent long retreat as a basis for sharing some wisdom on tension in the body and mind. She played a guided meditation by Rodney Smith entitled “Tensionless Sitting”, which is available here: https://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/148/talk/53726/ Read more

This past week Margaret guided our reflections, focusing on those particular insights which lead to awakening.  Excerpts from the teaching of Culadasa (John Yates), an ordained monk and a buddhist practitioner for 40 years – and also a neuroscientist – were used to focus the discussion, thus extending our exploration of the contributions of neuroscience… Read more

Lorilee guided our reflections this past Sunday, investigating the source of Skillful and Unskillful Actions.  Shantideva said “We are like senseless children who shrink from suffering, but love its causes.”     Through unskillful action, we often create suffering in our attempts to be happy.  From eating too much ice cream, to incessant activity, to avoiding… Read more