Dhamma Talks
Franciscan 2012 Retreat Report
As is our custom, after a retreat, the participants have the opportunity to "think out loud" about their retreat experiences, and how being at home has been affected by the intensive meditation practices. It's also hoped that the folks who weren't at the retreat...
Benefit Of Dependent Origination
During this dialogue, Tim explored the importance of paticca sammupada, typically translated as dependent origination. This core concept of the Buddha's teachings describes how karma (past experience) shapes our perceptions and responses in current events, followed...
Cultivating Mindfulness In Daily Life
In this dialogue, Peter shares various ways to incorporate the training cultivated with mindfulness of breathing meditation into daily life routines. After his comments, others in the group share what works for them. Peter's notes listing the various strategies he...
The Benefits of Taking Refuge
During this meeting, Rose talked of what taking refuge in "The Three Jewels", Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, has meant to her in managing the stresses of life. This led to a lively discussion of the value of spiritual community and many people added their names to a...
The Benefits of Consistent Meditation Practice
This week begins the participation of various members of the Teacher's Mentoring Group who were mentioned and introduced over the last few meetings. Kitty described the significant benefits she noted as she became more involved with Buddhist teachings and began a...
Introducing The Teacher’s Mentoring Group
Following on last week's dialogue, the Teacher's Mentoring Group, which has been meeting weekly for several months, introduced themselves and provided comments about their current studies of Buddhist principles and practices. These individuals' commitments to their...
Cultivating Community Leadership
As the OIMG community matures in the understanding and application of Buddhist wisdom, developmental transitions naturally arise. The founding teacher, Peter, is leaving for a 3 month retreat at the Forest Refuge at the Insight Meditation Society in late August,...
Precepts To Commitments
Continuing the exploration of what the Dhamma means in the 21st century, the basic precepts of Buddhism were discussed. Peter explained that the precepts are organized around the cultivation of wisdom, which is the combination of clear awareness and benevolent...
Peter’s Retreat Report
With the hope that verbally describing his retreat experience will help integrate the experience and perhaps inform and inspire others to go on retreat, Peter describes his recent 2 week self-retreat, during which he got a staph infection and had to get medical...
Mindful Service
This discussion explores the development of service in Buddhism from the time of Anathapindika, who organized the first Buddhist monastery, through the Bodhisattva Ideal, to present opportunities for service. Three points were discussed: the importance of regular...
