by Peter Carlson | Jun 24, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk is part of a series reviewing the Four Noble Truths. Right Effort is an important element of the Noble Eightfold Path and can be understood as a process of channeling the energy of attention away from unwholesome self-states towards wholesome self-states. The cooperation among the first three of the Seven Awakening Factors–Mindfulness, Investigation of Mental Phenomena and Energy, as Right Effort–is essential for fulfilling one’s potential for Awakening, and this talk discusses their interactions. Various characteristics of Right Effort are also included in the review. There is a guided meditation posted in the Audio archives of this website entitled “Guided Channeling Right Effort Meditation”, which is intended to provide supplementary support for the contents of this talk.
Here are the notes prepared for the talk: Reviewing Right Effort
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:19 — 48.8MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jun 24, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This guided meditation offers a different approach to cultivating Right Effort by suggesting that, while meditating, we can view the flow of experience as metabolic energy derived from food and oxygen, that feeds the brain’s activities. Rather than trying to “stop” unwholesome self-states, we can redirect the energy of attention away from the “weeds” (the Five Hindrances) towards nurturing the “flowers” (the Seven Awakening Factors), as if attention is water flowing through a hose. This guided meditation is intended to supplement the Dharma talk entitled “Reviewing Right Effort”, which was presented and recorded on June 23, 2022.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:52 — 41.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jun 16, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk reviews the third attribute of the Virtue aggregate in the Noble Eightfold Path, Right Livelihood. in addition to traditional renderings of this topic, contemporary considerations of “Right Lifestyle” are described, including the importance of physical and financial balance in one’s life to support meditative development and integration of the Dharma into daily living routines.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Reviewing Right Livelihood
The topic for next week’s talk will focus on Right Effort, the first of three attributes in the mental discipline aggregate of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:15 — 55.2MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jun 2, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Right Action is a category of the Virtue Aggregate within the Noble Eightfold Path. This talk reviews the various traditional aspects of virtue–harmlessness, not stealing and not in ways that are sexually harmful–including commentaries that focus on contemporary social issues such as behavioral addictions, which has a large impact on current life.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Reviewing Right Action
The focus of the next talk will be a review of Right Livelihood, with additional commentary on contemporary cultural issues that affect the development of the Awakening process.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:27 — 54.4MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 26, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk continues a review of the Four Noble Truths with a focus on the first of the Virtue Aggregates contained within the Fourth Noble Truth, Right Speech. In addition to the traditional rendering of Right Speech, Peter adds his insights as a psychotherapist regarding how our internal “selfing story” has a defining function in one’s personality and view of the world. Suggestions are provided to foster mindful investigation of and effective transformation of self-talk to produce liberation from dukkha, that is, distress and confusion regarding oneself in relation to the world. This self-analysis is very important for successfully negotiating the significant impact of contemporary media and disinformation.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Reviewing Right Speech In These Trying Times
The topic for next week’s talk will focus on Right Action, the next of the three elements of the Virtue Aggregate, and will include comments that reflect contemporary views regarding how mindfulness, investigation and Right Effort can be applied to current life circumstances.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:37 — 56.4MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 19, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk continues a series of reviews of the Four Noble Truths and specifically addresses the first two elements of the Fourth Noble Truth, known as the Noble Eightfold Path–Right Understanding and Right Intention. Each of these elements are reviewed, emphasizing how they are coordinated as “two sides of the same coin”. In their functioning, they reveal the transitory and impersonal nature of experience, and how dukkha (distress and confusion) arise when craving and clinging dominates one’s immediate experience. Right Understanding reduces the potency of clinging, and Right Intention diminishes the potency of craving, the two conditions in the mind that produce dukkha. Suggestions are provided to foster the contemplative skills that will lead to Wisdom and Awakening, first on a mundane level and ultimately, the realization of Nirvana. Future talks will review the remaining elements of the Noble Eightfold Path, found in the Virtue and Mental Discipline aggregates.
There is a guided contemplation found in this site’s Audio archive entitled “Guided Cultivating Wisdom Contemplation”, recorded prior to this talk, which is intended to complement the topics discussed during the talk.
Here are the notes prepared for the talk: Reviewing Wisdom on the Noble Eightfold Path
The next talk will focus on the first element of the Virtue Aggregate, Right Speech.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:57 — 47.6MB)
