Archive of Talks

Mike Blouin guided our reflections this past Sunday, focusing on looking deeply into Vedana, the immediate sense of pleasure, displeasure or neutrality woven into every experience. Our preferences and habit, emerge and solidify from this point of origin. What can be done to modify our responses? One talk he played was a Joseph Goldstein excerpt:… Read more

This Sunday, Patrick led the Sangha on the topic of Engaged Buddhism. Here is a link to the talk he played: http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/175/talk/2016/ The title is Reverence for Life: The Essence of Engaged Buddhism Read more

This past Sunday, Sam led the Sangha on the topic of “Don’t know mind”. The three talks we heard excerpts from are: Jack Kornfield, “On Not Knowing”, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, 3/21/2000, Eugene Cash, “Not Knowing”, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, 5/14/2013, Yanai Postelnik, “Not Knowing”, 3/20/2015. The quote he read was from the book “No… Read more

Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha-to-be, became a yogi when he left his father’s palace to “go forth” in pursuit of liberation….He sought out and studied with the greatest yogis of his day–including approximately five years of study with the well-known yogis Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. Under their tutelage, the young aspirant studied the most sophisticated… Read more

Apropos to some discussion last week, this Sunday Mike B led the Sangha on the topic of Engaged Buddhism. Many have criticized the Buddhist path over the centuries for its inward focus, but in fact the Buddha himself was a powerful advocate for peace and equality. Buddhist leaders like the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat… Read more

Today Zac led our reflections on the topic of nirvana (cessation or unbinding) and bodhi (awakening or enlightenment). We listened to a talk on the topic from Shaila Catherine, which led to a spirited group discussion.   The talk is here: http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/163/talk/26097/ Read more