Guided Satipatthana Contemplation

This guided meditation provides a “menu” involving sections of the Satipatthana Sutta, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, which can be contemplated through the practice of mindfulness of breathing meditation.  Examples include contemplating the Four Elements, Feelings, Consciousness, and the Seven Awakening Factors.

This recording is intended to accompany the Dharma talk of June 28, 2023 that provides an overview of the Satipatthana contemplative structure, accompanied by a review of anapanasati, the practice of mindfulness of breathing meditation.

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Reviewing Right Effort

Continuing a review of the Noble Eightfold Path, this talk focuses on Right Effort, emphasizing the importance of avoiding or letting go of unwholesome mind states and supporting the arising and fulfillment of wholesome mind states.  The teacher for this talk is Lezlie Laws.  The next talk will begin an extensive review of Right Mindfulness, focusing on the first element of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of Breathing Meditation.

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Reviewing Right Livelihood

This talk, provided by April Koester, focuses on how virtue manifests as Right Livelihood. April discusses how Right Livelihood can guide us not only in our personal choice of vocation but how we interact with other businesses as a consumer, in addition to how we interact with each other as bosses, employees, and anyone we encounter in their working role.

 

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Reviewing Right Action

This talk, provided by Lili Fernandez, focuses on how virtue manifests as appropriate behavior, guided by the Five Precepts: Harmlessness, Not Speaking Falsely, Not Stealing, Avoiding Sexual Misconduct, and Avoiding Intoxication.  Lili describes the characteristics of each of the precepts in depth.

The talk for next week will focus on Right Livelihood, another element of the Virtue Aggregate within the Noble Eightfold Path, Led by April Koester.

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Reviewing Virtue and Right Speech

This talk provides an overview of the Virtue Aggregate within the Noble Eightfold Path, followed by a review of Right Speech, the first of the three elements constituting virtue.  The review reflects the traditional characteristics of Right Speech as well as providing a more contemporary psychological and cultural perspective on the topic, including the value of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a well-researched practice of psychotherapy.  The dualistic characteristics of any language are compared to the non-dualistic realizations that the Noble Eightfold Path is intended to cultivate.

Here are the notes prepared for this talk:  RIGHT SPEECH AND THE SELFING STORY

The topic for the next talk will include a review of Right Action, another component of the Virtue Aggregate

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Reviewing Right Intention

As a review of the Noble Eightfold Path continues, Allie Vaknin provides insights about the characteristics of Right Intention: Renunciation, Kindness, and Non-Harmfulness.  During the talk, participants in the meeting are invited to provide examples of their own experiences regarding these characteristics,  personalizing the review.

Next week’s Dharma talk will include an overview of the Virtue Aggregate of the Noble Eightfold Path, along with a specific focus on Right Speech.

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