Dhamma Talks
Calming the Mind Fabricators
During this dhamma dialogue, Peter explored the transition from cultivating a calm and stable focus of attention to the practice of vipassana, insight into the conditioned nature of subjective reality. He described the meanings of kamma (karma in Sanskrit), sankhara,...
Breathing Joy Into Life
This week's discussion focused on the stanzas in the Anapanasati Sutta related to the cultivation of piti and sukha, Pali words often translated as rapture and pleasure. During the talk, Peter related the commentaries that describe piti dramatically, associated with...
Calming The Breath Body
During this dhamma dialogue, the exploration of the Anapanasati Sutta was continued, with a focus on the stanzas: "...He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.' He trains...
Acquiring Breath Awareness
During this dhamma dialogue, Peter fostered discussion of the preceding guided "acquiring breath awareness" meditition practice, posted just prior to this posting. He explained the importance of the practice of vitakka and vicara, that is intentionally bring focus to...
Guided Acquiring The Breath Meditation
This is a guided meditation that supports the practice of mindfulness of breathing, particularly the "mindful of the long...and short...) stanzas at the beginning of the instructions for anapanasati practice. The recording of a guided 45 minute meditation on...
Why Breath Awareness Is Important
This is the second in a series of discussions regarding the Anapanasati Sutta, (mindfulness of breathing), a core teaching for Buddhist meditation practitioners. During this talk, Peter described several aspects of mindfulness of breathing that supports increasing...
Guided Walking Meditation
This guided meditation was recorded on January 10, 2015 during a one day mindfulness retreat led by Peter. During the recording, two alternative walking meditations were described: walking with breath awareness and walking tracking the changing sensations noted in...
Anapanasati and Community
During this first dhamma dialogue of the new year, Peter began a series of explorations of one of the core teachings of Buddhism, the Anapanasati Sutta, the discourse on mindfulness of breathing (See notes.) It was pointed out that this discourse is perhaps the only...
Peter’s 2014 Year-end Retreat Report
During this talk, Peter reviewed his experience on the recently completed 2 week self retreat. Emphasis was placed on consistent breath awareness, using the notion of "channeling energy" to the breath, rather than trying to "make the internal narrative stop". This...
Weekend Meditation Retreat Report
It is the custom of the Orlando Insight Meditation Group to provide the opportunity for those of us who have participated in a retreat to talk about the retreat experience. Much of what transpires in a retreat is subtle and out of conscious awareness, so talking...
