Dhamma Talks
Mike’s Metta Retreat Report
Mike Maldonado recently completed a one week retreat focused on the Brahma Viharas (Divine Abodes), that is, metta (lovingkindness), karuna, (compassion), mudita, (appreciative joy) and upekkha, (equanimity) at the Southern Dharma Center in North Carolina. The...
Anxiety And The Dharma
This talk explores the current understanding of anxiety and how regular mindfulness meditation practices can foster relief. As a mental health professional, Peter included in the notes the various clinical diagnostic criteria and an overview of the various anxiety...
Stress and the Dharma
This week's talk focused on how Buddhist concepts and practices can be beneficially applied to contemporary distress. Peter cited recent research that reports the frequency of stress-related physical and psychological disorders. Peter's many years as a...
Emptiness And Fullness Meditation
This guided meditation accompanies the posted talk on September 20 entitled "Emptiness And Fullness September 20 2017". The meditation proceeds from mindfulness of breathing to a systematic sweeping of investigative attention through the body. As this is practice,...
Emptiness And Fullness
This talk is a continuation from the posting of September 6 entitled "The Five Aggregates And Emptiness". This discussion elaborates on a guided meditation, posted separately, that facilitates how to use body sweep meditation to cultivate a primary, holistic...
The Five Aggregates And Emptiness
The concept of emptiness (sunnata in Pali) is a core aspect of the Buddhist Awakening process. This is the first of two discussions of emptiness, with the focus on how the operation of the Five Aggregates, Form, Feeling, Perception, Mental Formations and...
Coordinating The Paramis
This talk summarizes the process of perfecting those qualities of mind called Paramis. During the talk, Peter reviewed the sambojjhanga, the seven awakening factors to describe how their increasing effectiveness overcomes any deficits in the functioning of the...
Franciscan Retreat Report
As is customary, this talk reviewed the weekend retreat at the Franciscan Center in Tampa. It is beneficial to "think out loud" about one's retreat experience among folks who may have participated in a retreat or may contemplate going on retreat. The verbalizing...
The Benefits Of Perfecting Equanimity
This talk explores the 10th Parami, upekkha, typically translated as equanimity, or neutrality. Peter describes an additional Buddhist term that applies to this Parami, tatramajjhattata, typically translated as "that quality of mind that is balanced in the middle". ...
The Benefits Of Perfecting Lovingkindness
This week's talk continues the exploration of the Paramis, the perfecting of mental characteristics during the process of awakening, focusing on Metta, lovingkindness. This week's presenter is Mike Maldonado, who has participated in a two week lovingkindness retreat...
