by Peter Carlson | Mar 5, 2026 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk, provided by Lezlie Laws, continues reviewing elements of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, focusing in the Third Foundation, Mindfulness of the Mind. Lezlie uses a Zen question to foster internal understanding of how the mind creates a self: “What Is This?” The question is not intended to be abstract and intellectual, but rather to invite direct subjective knowledge of how the mind is created in and ongoing way.
During the talk, Lezlie refers to a YouTube interview involving Ezra Klein and Stephen Batchelor, a well-respected Buddhist teacher and author who suggests the value of this question. Here is a URL recording that conversation: https://secularbuddhistnetwork.org/ezra-klein-interviews-stephen-batchelor-on-what-is-this/
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:06:14 — 60.6MB)
by Peter Carlson | Mar 5, 2026 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this meditation, Lezlie Laws provides suggestions that involve a useful question for exploring the nature of the mind–“What is this?”. The question curiosity regarding how the mind creates the experience of selfing and is intended to diminish the demands of craving and clinging. This contemplation is intended to support her comments during the Dharma talk that followed this contemplation reviewing the Third Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of the Mind. She also suggests ways to apply this question directly to one’s subjective experience while meditating and participating in daily life experiences.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:53 — 41.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Feb 26, 2026 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Allie Vaknin provides a review of the second of the four foundations of mindfulness, vedanupassana, traditionally translated as mindfulness of feelings. Her comments include references to how feelings can be understood not only as emotions, but also as craving pleasant experiences orexperiencing unpleasant feelings with aversion. The goal of practice is to directly know a feeling as just a feeling, not a person, without impulsive reactivity.
Here is the Emotion Wheel illustration she refers to in the talk: Feeling Wheel
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:08 — 44.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Feb 25, 2026 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk, presented by Susan Baxter, focuses on the first of the four foundations of mindfulness, which contemplates how the mind makes meaning and responses to physical stimuli. She describes how she learned how to skillfully use various mindfulness practices to cope with chronic pain.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:12 — 61.5MB)
by Peter Carlson | Feb 25, 2026 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this first of a series of talks reviewing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, a key teaching in all the Buddhist traditions. Peter describes the repetitive passages in each of the foundations were required for centuries in a pre-literate culture. He reviews how some of those passages have profound importance for understanding and practicing what is in the discourse.
Here are the notes prepared for the talk: Overview of the Satipatthana Sutta
Here is an excellent translation of the Sutta: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta by Thanissaro
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:25 — 46.2MB)
