Dhamma Talks
Feelings And Perceptions
This talk continues the exploration of the Abhidhamma, Buddhist psychology, focused on the first two of the 52 cetasikas (categories of mental function), vedana (feelings) and sanna (perceptions). These factors provide a bridge between sensory stimulation and the way...
Abhidhamma A Psychology For Awakening
During this talk, Peter described the Abhidhamma, the Buddhist approach to psychology. A distinction was made between the term cetasika, which is a category where memories are "stored" and sankhara, the content of the stored memory. This analysis was followed with a...
Cultivating Wholesome Emergent Self States
This talk follows on the preceding exploration of paticca sammupada, traditionally translated as dependent origination, a foundational concept of Buddhist liberation practices. During the previous talk, the organization of the 12 elements of the process of "selfing"...
How Selfing Operates
This talk adds to the discussion from last week, which focused on the Five Aggregates With Clinging doctrine. This week's topic is paticca sammupada, typically translated as dependent origination. Peter applies a new translation, contingent provisional emergence,...
Five Aggregates With Clinging
This talk provides a review of pancasammupada, the Five Aggregates With Clinging, an important Buddhist concept describing how personality is organized. When Peter was in Graduate School, part of the required curriculum was a course on personality theory, citing such...
Cultivating Critical Analysis
Critical analysis is often termed critical thinking, and is a very important skill to cultivate in this era, as we are constantly bombarded with manipulative advertising and political "spin". In the Buddhist conceptual structure, one of the 7 factors for awakening is...
Cultivating A Compassionate Relationship
This discussion continues to explore the application of mindfulness and compassion to interpersonal conflict resolution. Peter introduced some points from the website metta.org focused on procedures developed in Gregory Kramer's book "Insight Dialogue-The...
Buddhism Politics And Nonself
This week's talk continues to explore how Buddhist principles and practices can support developing wisdom in the current political environment. Racism, sexism, homophobia and ethnophobia were described as themes woven into the fabric of political divisiveness. The...
How Mindfulness Cultivates Political Wisdom
This talk follows on the previous talk entitled "Mindfulness And Political Judgment" from July 6. Peter again emphasized the intention of the talk is to demonstrate that rigid thinking and the potential for aggression, psychologically termed "conservatism" is evident...
Mindfulness And Political Judgment
This talk continues to explore how Buddhist principles and practices can be beneficially applied during this contentious U. S. political season. There is a phenomenon called "negativity bias", which predisposes a person to unconsciously be stimulated by potential...
