Dhamma Talks
Understanding The Five Aggregates July 18 2018
As exploring the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness continues, the importance of understanding how the Five Aggregates functions in organizing an experience of "selfing" conceptually integrates with the ability to mindfully investigate the experience of form, feelings,...
Overcoming Skeptical Doubt July 11 2018
This is the last of a series of talks focusing on how to identify and overcome the five hindrances. Skeptical doubt is the quality of indecisiveness regarding whether one's understanding and practice of Buddhism is accurate or actually working. The antidote for...
Overcoming Restlessness And Worry July 4 2018
This talk is part of a series exploring the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, specifically the nature of the hindrance Restlessness and Worry. During the talk, the essential characteristics of the hindrance, that is, instability of focus caused by restlessness...
Overcoming Sloth And Torpor June 27 2018
This talk is a continuation of several focused on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, in particular, the part of the Fourth Foundation describing how to identify and overcome the Five Hindrances. In this case, the hindrance is thina/middha, sloth and...
Overcoming Aversion And Ill Will June 20 2018
This is the second talk exploring the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, specifically focused on identifying and overcoming the Five Hindrances. The talk described how Byapada, (Aversion and Ill Will) come to be and how the practice of mindfulness of breathing, or,...
Overcoming Sense Desire June 6 2018
The talk explored the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, with specific emphasis on being mindful of what triggers sense desire, how it operates in the brain and what can be done to overcome this hindrance to mental clarity and tranquility. Here are the notes prepared...
Understanding The Five Hindrances May 30 2018
This is the first of a series of talks about panca nivarana, the five hindrances described in the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness. In this talk, Peter described how an initial stimulus is transformed into a hindrance through craving and clinging. A "seed moment" of...
The Nature Of The Mind April 23 2018
The Third Foundation Of Mindfuilness is Cittanupassana, Mindfulness Of The Mind. During this talk, Peter explained how the traditional understandings of cittanupassana foster the process of Awakening. The mind is the receptive characteristic of human experience, and...
How Selfing Comes To Be May 16 2018
This talk is meant to follow up on the post of May 9 entitled Understanding Feelings, which explained the function of feelings, particularly affect, the potency of whatever draws one's attention to a particular focus. A core teaching of Buddhism is paticca samuppada,...
Understanding Feelings
This talk focuses on the Second of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Vedanupassana, Mindfulness of Feelings. The Buddhist view of feelings isn't just about emotions; more emphasis is placed on affect, the potency or impulsive urgency associated with any moment of...
