Dhamma Talks
How The Brain Creates A Self March
During this talk, Peter reviewed the extensive research literature that supports contemporary understanding of self-organizing functions. Prior to this era, Buddhist concepts were derived from culturally determined mythology, which is hard for contemporary Westerners...
Why We Should Meditate
During this talk, the development of meditation as an evolutionary process was reviewed. The first images of a person in a meditative position dates from about 5,000 years ago. The initial motivation likely was to find a way to appease the forces of nature,...
Deerhaven 2016 Retreat Review
It is customary for the meeting after a major retreat experience to be dedicated to reviewing the retreat. The annual one week retreat at Deerhaven was reviewed, with Peter providing an outline of the retreat schedule and daily dhamma talk topics. This description...
From Precepts To Commitments
During this talk, Peter provided some background regarding the development of Buddhist precepts, in that in the Buddha's time, ethical behavior involved following the dictates of one's clan; the Buddha said that what makes a person "noble" involved an ethics supported...
Mindful Misery
Peter participated in a one week retreat led by Steve Armstrong, a well-respected Buddhist teacher. During the retreat, he contracted a chest cold, having to spend most of the retreat and one week at home in bed recuperating. During this talk, he reviewed his...
Why I Meditate
Since Peter plans to attend a retreat led by Steve Armstrong, and values the retreat experience, he described the life circumstances that prompted beginning to practice mindfulness meditation in 1982. He then described the various meditation practices in other faith...
Lojong Review
During this final review of the lojong mind training aphorisms, Peter described how the lojong tradition is a revisiting of the Four Noble Truths from a Mahayana perspective, with emphasis on tonglen, the practice of compassion. The last stage of the lojong listing...
Peter’s 2015 Year End Retreat
It is customary in this sangha to provide those members who have completed a significant retreat the opportunity to process the experience during a regular meeting. Peter annually experiences a two week self-retreat, this one lasting from December 18 until January 1,...
Avoiding Mental Rigidity
During this talk, Peter reviewed 3 lojong mind training commitments: "Don’t revert to magic", "Don’t reduce a god to a demon", and "Don’t seek pain as a component of happiness". The common theme of these three commitments is to be mindful of mental rigidity, which...
Overcoming Comparing Mind
During this talk, the lojong mind training commitment "Don’t aim to win" was related to the Theravaden concept of "comparing mind", that is, the tendency in this culture to emphasize competition and material acquisition, with the achievement of "Awakening" as the...
