Archive of Talks

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

Although insight into the absence of a Self seems elusive, Joseph Goldstein outlines three practical ways in which we can glimpse this insight in daily life.  Sam guided our reflections on Joseph’s strategies this past Sunday. Read more

This Sunday Ginny guided our reflections, focusing on practice as the ground for, and source of our capacity to be present to and show up for the fullness of life in community.  As James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Read more

This past Sunday, Zac guided our explorations of the fundamentals of practice that we can return to as a sources of wisdom, guidance, and resilience in the many conditions we find ourselves in. Here are the three talks of which Zac played excerpts: https://dharmaseed.org/talks/audio_player/210/13850.html https://dharmaseed.org/talks/audio_player/96/43807.html Read more

This week we had a more active Sangha. Sojun guided us to practice an connection and awareness exercise derived from the Clowning tradition and viewed through the lens of Zen. We explored what it was like to fail and what that failure meant, and then how it felt to be held in community even in… Read more