Dhamma Talks
The Importance Of Intention
This evening's meeting focused on the crucial role cetana, the Pali word translated as intention or volition, plays in the ongoing process of self-state organization. Cetana is a "universal mind conditioner", functioning in each moment of self-state organization to...
Transforming Sensations Into A Self
This talk continues to explore the suggestions offered in "The Mind Illuminated" that help understand how prior experience makes meaning of raw sensational data. Peter first quotes part of the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness that focuses on what Thanissaro calls...
Understanding How The Mind Works
This talk continues to explore practical suggestions from the book "The Mind Illuminated". The current focus is on the concepts of "Focused Attention", "Peripheral Awareness", "Strong Distraction", "Strong Dullness", "Subtle Distraction" and "Subtle Dullness". ...
Stages Of Breath Awareness
The evening's activities included a guided meditation posted below: "Looking Closer Meditation.mp3", during which Peter provided suggestions supporting a more persistent and intimate awareness regarding the sensations of breathing. During the talk following the guided...
Why We Meditate
During this talk, Peter provided the participants with a worksheet: MOTIVATIONS FOR MEDITATION. On this sheet, folks were invited to note three considerations: the benefits of meditation, ways to reinforce commitments to daily meditation practice, and ways to...
Peter’s 2016 Year End Retreat Review
We provide an opportunity for those in the Orlando Insight meditation community who have recently completed a residential meditation retreat a chance to "think out loud" about their experience. Research suggests that much of what happens on retreats impacts the...
Deerhaven 2016 Seventh Night Talk
This talk, during the last night of the retreat, focuses on how to continue to cultivate the process of awakening at home. The results of a one week retreat endure, but the ongoing influence of persistent mindfulness practice is subtle. Factors that contribute to...
Deerhaven 2016 Sixth Night Talk
As the process of vipassana matures, the Seven Awakening Factors are developed to their fullest potential: Mindfulness, Investigation of Mental Phenomena, Energy/Effort, Joy/Enthusiastic Interest, Tranquility, Concentration and Equanimity/Internal Balance. This talk...
Deerhaven 2016 Fifth Night Talk
This talk fosters understanding a key concept of the Buddhist process of awakening, paticca samuppadha, typically translated as dependent origination. Peter develops a different understanding of this concept, contingent provisional emergence. This view is intended...
Deerhaven 2016 Fourth Night Talk
The core mental conditions to foster liberation through the practice of vipassana are called the "Seven Factors For Awakening": mindfulness, investigation of mental phenomena, energy/effort, joy/enthusiastic interest, tranquility, concentration and equanimity. This...
