Archive of Talks

This past Sunday, Sam guided a wonderful discussion on poetry and its attempt to express the inexpressible. Sam based his talk around a recent retreat workshop that he attended where poetry was the main focus. Here is a talk that Sam used by Mark Coleman: http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/115/talk/15436/ Sam also read several poems from “House of Light”… Read more

This Sunday, Wendy led the discussion on the topic of “Unentangled Knowing”, based around a talk by Guy Armstrong. The talk is here: http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/79/talk/32559/ The discussion centered around the central four links of the Buddha’s conceptual chain of “Dependent Origination”: Sense contact, which leads to Feeling tone, which leads to Craving, which leads to Grasping.… Read more

This Sunday Michael guided a meditation on the first Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of the Body. The practice he shared was from the teachings of Bhikkhu Anālayo, a scholar and meditation teacher from Germany. Anālayo compared the Satipatthana Sutta in three of the original traditions of Buddhism and found which parts are common among them.… Read more

Adam guided our reflections this past Sunday on the Hindrance of Sloth and Torpor. Laziness is only one facet of this complex Hindrance to our lives, meditative and otherwise.  A dharmic analysis of the causes and conditions of Sloth and Torpor can help us meet this hindrance with more skill and greater effectiveness. From Adam: I… Read more

This past Sunday, Mike guided our reflections on the oft-confusing topic of Renunciation in our lay culture. Mike utilized a talk by Leela Sarti, who is a visiting teacher at Gaia House in England, linked below: http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/364/talk/31696/ Read more

This morning Rebecca read to us from Joseph Goldstein’s book, Mindfulness, focusing on Mindfulness of Dhammas, particularly the concept of “Right” or “Wise” Speech. The discussion brought up the importance of examining one’s intention when considering the wisdom of saying something critical of another. How tightly do we cling to the idea that we are… Read more