Dhamma Talks
Anapanasati And Satipatthana April 10 2019
As exploration of the Anapanasati Sutta, the Discourse on Mindfulness of Breathing is reaching its completion, a section is dedicated to relating advanced stages of subtlety and discipline in breath awareness to the satipatthana, the four foundations of mindfulness. ...
Anapanasati And The Three Characteristics April 3 2019
This talk focuses on the Fourth Tetrad of the Mindfulness of Breathing Discourse. Peter emphasized how the first three tetrads cultivate sufficient stability and tranquility in the mind to support the practice of vipassana, the goal of which is to realize the Three...
Wholesome Mind Conditioners And Path Realization March 27 2019
This talk completes the exploration of the 52 cetasikas (cheh-tah-see-kahs) that cooperatively aggregate into the selfing process. The cetasikas are referred to in the Anapanasati Sutta in the sections focused on being "sensitive to and calming the mind...
Beautiful Pairs Of Mind Conditioners March 20 2019
This talk highlights the beneficial results of mindfulness of breathing meditation in terms of increasing the functionality of the cetasikas, translated as mind conditioners. The Wholesome Cetasikas, combined with the Universal and Occasional Cetasikas provide...
The Wholesome Mind Conditioners Part 1 March 13 2019
The presentation title of this talk is "Starving the Demons, Feeding the Angels", as part of the Anapanasati Sutta focused on "calming the mind conditioners". Peter mentioned that during the first years of his vipassana practice he was "warding off the demons" and...
2019 Shaila Catherine Retreat Report March 6 2019
Our community has a tradition allowing folks who attended a significant retreat to "think out loud" about the experience among others who have some idea of the issues discussed, in order to consolidate and clarify the benefits gained and to share their insights with...
The Unwholesome Mind Conditioners February 20 2019
Every moment that the mind is afflicted with dukkha some combination of Unwholesome Mind Conditioners is cooperating to produce distress (emotional upheaval--from desire to hatred) and confusion (not understanding impermanence and the absence of an enduring and...
The Universal Mind Conditioners February 13 2019
This is the first of a series of discussions describing the cetasikas, those factors that condition the selfing process. In the context of the Anapanasati Sutta, investigating and calming the mind conditioners are two of the sixteen stages in the process of Awakening...
Calming The Mental Formations February 6 2019
The last several talks investigated how the cultivation of anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing, creates the mental and emotional circumstances allowing for the onset of vipassana practice, that is, the ongoing observation of the ever-changing mental processes that...
Breath Awareness and Joy January 30 2019
This talk focuses on how persistent investigation of the breath frees up "mental energy" from the hindrances, thereby releasing subjective awareness of piti (joy) and sukha (happiness). After describing the classical Buddhist definitions of these qualities of...
