This final Dharma talk of the retreat provides suggestions for developing the themes and practices presented during the retreat at home, including cultivating a lifestyle that counters any cultural conditioning that reinforces unnecessary distress and confusion.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: NURTURING AWAKENING AT HOME
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:13:22 — 67.2MB)
During this talk, Peter describes how applying the principles and practices associated with being “diligent, mindful, clearly knowing” presented earlier in the retreat supports a beneficial progression from self-state conflict through self-state integration towards self-state liberation. Self-state conflict represents the inescapable difference between how the selfing process idealizes oneself, others and the world and what actually happens, creating ongoing distress and confusion. Self-state integration represents the way that the diligent cultivation of vipassana supports a more realistic and adaptable way of living. This creates the basis for the cultivation of elf-state liberation, which develops the capacity for full Awakening.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: INTEGRATING AND LIBERATING THE SELF
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:15:41 — 69.3MB)
This Buddhist concept describes how our subjective experience of self hood is created multiple times per second. Contemplating this provides a way to “deconstruct” the belief that there is an enduring/autonomous self, and this understanding supports the process of Awakening. Peter uses a different term than Dependent Origination–he calls it “Contingent Provisional Emergence” which provides a more contemporary psychological understanding regarding how the process operates.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Deerhaven 2025 Seven Awakening Factors
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:20:40 — 73.9MB)
The 7 Awakening Factors represent those wholesome qualities of mind developed for cultivating the process of Awakening. During this talk, Peter explains how they operate and various ways to nurture their maturation.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Deerhaven 2025 Seven Awakening Factors
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38:51 — 90.5MB)
During this talk, Peter describes the development of Access Concentration, the quality of consciousness that is not affected by the Hindrances. This is cultivated through developing the procedure of aiming/sustaining attention intentionally to develop stability and tranquility in the mind, preparing for the practicing vipassana, insight into the conditioned nature of the mind.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Unifying A Dull And Distracted Mind
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:49 — 56.6MB)