Dhamma Talks
Right Listening
In reviewing the Virtue aggregate of the Eightfold Path, this week's focus is on effective listening. We live in a culture that doesn't support a long attention span, which leads to poor interpersonal communication. Using Right Speech as a guideline, ways of...
The Power Of Narrative
This dialogue further explores how modern cultural influences affect our sense of the Buddhist Dhamma in the 21st century. The fact that humans experience selfhood through the ability to string together various moments of awareness into a narrative creates the need...
The Value Of Virtue
This dhamma dialogue continues an ongoing exploration of the importance of using mindfulness practice to examine the classic Buddhist teachings so they can be adapted to a world experience that is much more complex than the time of the Buddha. Virtue is examined as...
Wisdom In The 21st Century Part 2
This is a continuation of a discussion last week about the importance of each generation diving deeply into subjective experience via meditation practice to revitalize the liberating qualities of the Buddha's teaching. Last week's discussion involved the importance...
Wisdom In The 21st Century Part 1
This is the first of two dialogues about the Wisdom aggregate of the Noble Eightfold Path, continuing to explore the relevance of traditional Buddhist psychology to modern scientific and psychological insights. Tonight's discussion emphasized Right Understanding as...
The Third Noble Truth on Retreat
This talk advances a developing theme for this year: How to cultivate a dhamma practice that is relevant to the core of the Buddha's teachings that is adaptive to our 21st century culture. As Buddhism has evolved through the ages, each time it enters a culture, the...
Wanting and Hating
In this talk, the neurological underpinnings of the Second Noble Truth, tanha (craving) and upadana (clinging) were explored to emphasize the importance of being clearly and immediately aware of the felt sense of urgency and the "enchantment" of internal narrative...
Brand Name Dukkha
This talk continues an integration of the Four Noble Truths and the cultural stresses that we face in the 21st century. Quotes from the Suttas were related to modern issues of consumerism and interpersonal alienation, with references to some of the comments of David...
‘Tis the Season For Practice
by Tommy Harrison 'Tis the season. The season for generosity. A time of year that brings great joy for some, suffering for others, and a mix of both for many. All around us are examples of both wholesome generosity as well as actions fueled by greed. We get to see...
The Middle Way In The 21st Century
This is the first in a series of conversations organized with the intention to clarify how the core teachings of the Buddha must be redefined in each generation in order for the benefits to be realized. There was great cultural turmoil in the Buddha's time; our era...
