Guided Meditation for Mindfulness of the Mind – Lezlie Laws
Guided Meditation for Mindfulness of the Mind
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The First Noble Truth – Dharma Talk by Allie Vaknin
Allie Vaknin discusses the meaning and implications behind the First Noble Truth. Deepening one’s understanding of the first truth is essential for understanding the subsequent truths, which collectively represent the Buddha’s core teachings. As a Counselor Intern, Allie also draws from her experiences in counseling and weave in relevant concepts that resonate with the First Noble Truth. She loves dialogue, so she makes room for discussions throughout, in order to explore how these concepts relate to our sangha members’ own experiences.
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The Buddha’s Life Before His Enlightenment – Dharma talk by Lezlie Laws
Lezlie Laws gives us background on the historical period that shaped the Buddha’s early life up to the point of his Enlightenment in 528 BCE. She reviews the predominant characteristics of what is now called the “Axial Age” and show how this unique time in history created a context for the Buddha to shun the political life that was planned for him and to take up the life of a “renouncer,” a spiritual seeker. By examining his early life, we see how his core teachings were taking form in his mind long before he became one of the most influential spiritual teachers of his age.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Buddha’s Early Life
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Dharma Books Review
This talk focuses on reviewing some of my personal collection of Dharma books, divided into various categories. This recording provides my comments about the books, and the accompanying notes provide specific titles and suggestions for either purchasing copies or downloading free .pdf eBook copies from various sources. Progress on the path to Awakening requires both studying the books and diligently practicing the various meditative techniques, and i hope these offering are helpful for that integrative effort.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Buddhist Studies Resources
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Understanding Buddhist Emptiness
A core concept within Buddhist psychology is sunnata, translated as emptiness; this talk reviews this often mystified and misunderstood aspect of Buddhist doctrine. Early Buddhist schools emphasized that sunnata is synonymous with anatta, the absence of an enduring/autonomous self. Later, the Mahayana teachers emphasized that sunnata applies to everything in the universe, building on the doctrine of interdependence. Contemporary psychological and sociological research has validated the concept of emptiness.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Understanding Buddhist Emptiness
The topic for next week’s talk will be focused on the general areas of research that suggest the benefits of Buddhist meditation practices in terms of mental health and other life skills, such as financial management, relationship enhancement, etc.
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Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence
This talk reviews the Buddhist underpinnings of the book “Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ”, by Daniel Goleman, who has practiced mindfulness meditation for over 50 years. Emotional intelligence, often termed as EQ, has been considered a more important characteristic of a successful personality than IQ. The five characteristics of EQ mentioned in the book are reviewed: Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Social Skills, Empathy and Motivation, along with any correlations .associated with mindfulness of breathing meditation practice. The talk was followed by descriptions by some of the participants regarding how EQ applies to their lived experience.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence
The topic for next week’s talk will be sunnata (soon-yah-tah), translated as emptiness. This concept is typically misunderstood, and will be more thoroughly described and related to the effects of well-developed mindfulness meditation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:06 — 54.1MB)