Dhamma Talks
2023 Deerhaven Fall Retreat–Practicing Awakening At Home
This talk on the last night of the retreat describes various areas of home life that are benefited through diligent and mindful application of the principles and practices retreatants learned and cultivated during the retreat. Here are the notes prepared for this...
Guided Seven Awakening Factors Contemplation
This guided meditation provides an investigative review--how to recognize and cultivate each of the Seven Awakening Factors in order to facilitate the development of each, individually and as a coherent group.
Guided Contemplation Of Impermanence
This guided meditation focuses attention on how to mindfully investigate the transient nature of all subjective experience--of sensations, feelings, thoughts, and the characteristics of consciousness.
Guided Contemplation For Deepening Concentration
This meditation provides support for deepening the stability and tranquility of the mind through using breath/body awareness, with the intention to keep "letting go" and accepting whatever physical discomfort that might occur, while still going deeper.
Peter’s Jhana Retreat Report
After a significant retreat experience, participants have the opportunity to review what they learned during one of our meetings. Peter describes the retreat he just completed as one of the most significant of the more than 40 residential retreats he has attended. ...
Cultivating Jhana
Peter Carlson will be participating in a 10-day retreat soon that focuses on concentrating the mind to the level of experiencing jhana, an extraordinarily focused level of attention that is frequently described in the earliest Buddhist teachings. He talks about...
Dependent Origination And Emptiness
During this talk, Peter Carlson reviews the key Buddhist teaching on dependent origination as it is associated with another important concept, emptiness, which has frequently been misunderstood. During the discussion, contemporary scientific and psychological...
Realizing The Four Noble Truths
This talk by Peter Carlson thoroughly summarizes the last verse of the Satipatthana Sutta, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, which describes how the Four Noble Truths are transformed by the effective coordinated functioning of the Seven Awakening Factors...
Reviewing The Equanimity Awakening Factor
During this talk, Lezlie Laws reviews the seventh Awakening Factor, Equanimity, beginning with a very well-written essay by her describing the poise and dedication of a hawk living in New York City and raising chicks in the middle of the busy metropolis. She speaks...
Retreat Review By Andy Quinn
It is customary for our Sangha meetings to provide an opportunity for someone who has participated in a recent residential retreat to "think out loud" about their experience. Much of the benefit of a retreat occurs outside of awareness, and an opportunity to talk...
