Dhamma Talks
Three Month Retreat Report By Robert
It is customary in our sangha to provide the opportunity for a person who just completed a significant retreat to "think out loud" about the retreat experience, as this supports integrating the deep changes retreats foster into regular life routines more effectively. ...
Breaking The Spell Of Sense Desire
This dialogue follows upon the previous week's exploration of the hindrances, particularly sense desire. Peter described how MRI research shows that the more times a particular neural pathway is activated, the more enduring and "self-defining" it becomes. This was...
How To Recognize And Set Aside Sense Desire
During this talk, Peter described how stimulation through the "sense bases" is transformed into the disruptive and energy draining process Buddhism calls panca nivarana, the Five Hindrances. He described the nature of sense desire as a hindrance, focusing on the...
Mindfulness Of Mental Phenomena
This talk begins several weeks of exploration of the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness, dhammanupassana. During the discussion, Peter pointed out that Mindfulness of the Body and of Feelings are projected onto the Third Foundation, that of consciousness, and that the...
How To Not Take Moods Personally
This dialogue explores the Third Foundation of Mindfulness, cittanupassana, translated as mindfulness of the mind. After reading the content of the third foundation from Analayo's book on satipatthana, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Peter related this to what...
How Feeling Drives The Self
This is the second of two talks about the importance of the practice of mindfulness of feelings. During this talk, Peter reviewed paticca samuppada, usually translated as dependent origination. A new rendering of the term was explained, that is, contingent...
Mindfulness Of Feelings As Feelings
During this dialogue, Peter began to discuss the second Foundation of Mindfulness, vedanupassana (mindfulness of feelings). He talked of how feelings are not emotions as we might describe them in the West, but rather what in psychological terms is affect, the pull...
How Death Can Help Us Live More Fully
During this dialogue, Peter read the part of the Satipatthana Sutta called "the charnal ground contemplation". He then commented on how our culture is shielded from the experience of death and what happens to the body as it disintegrates, which was a common...
You Must Be Present To Win
The subtitle of this talk could be "The Four Elements Meditation". Several years ago, Peter found the title quote in a book by Jack Kornfield. In the book, he talked of visiting Las Vegas in his monastic robes and seeing "You Must Be Present To Win" signage above...
Staying Mindful In Regular Life
During this dialogue, Peter described the core Buddhist concept of sati-sampajanna, usually translated as mindful, clear comprehension. He quoted from the Satipatthana Sutta the stanzas associated with mindfulness of breathing, mindfulness of posture and mindfulness...
