by Peter Carlson | Aug 29, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Peter has decided to open one meeting each month to discussion in response to any questions or observations by the participants at that meeting, focusing on Dharma and practice oriented issues. Questions and comments focused on the importance that the practice of mindfulness of feelings, along with the role of concentration in the practice of vipassana, insight into the conditioned nature of experience. Peter shared some insights he experienced on a retreat that revealed the moment-by-moment arising and passing away of mental phenomena, and the powerful impact it has had on his dedication to daily, diligent mindfulness of breathing meditation.
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by Peter Carlson | Jun 19, 2025 | Listen to Dharma Talks
Once a month, Peter provides an opportunity during the meeting for those participating to ask questions regarding Buddhist concepts and practices. The questions posed during this meeting focus on the “Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse”, for example the “noting” method for cultivating insight, compared to practices that first emphasize the cultivation of high levels of concentration called jhana (jah-nah), before developing insight. He reviews the development and integration of the Seven Awakening Factors, facilitated through whole-body meditation practice.  He also describes different approaches to cultivating and making use of concentration and the characteristics of what has been termed “big sky mind” and his way of using relaxed curiosity–letting go with every out-breath with a concentrated mind–to have a deeper understanding of sunnata (soon-yah-tah), translated as emptiness–the absence of a separate, enduring self.
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by Peter Carlson | May 22, 2025 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this meeting, Peter responds to questions posed by those participating, such as describing the “Middle Way” as a dynamic balancing of mental energy–not too energized or too tranquil–along with mental acuity–not too rigid or too “sloppy”. He also commented on the benefits of deciding to cultivate equanimity when confronted with very noisy and variable social events.
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by Mary Ann | Dec 3, 2011 | Listen to Dharma Talks, Study Resources
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 some of the best and worst of our fellow human beings and perhaps ourselves. This end of year holiday season has been a cause of personal suffering over the years. Nothing too major, but suffering all the same. It’s only been by turning into this suffering and investigating it that has allowed for a better understanding of what was arising and how to release it.  It’s presented wonderful opportunities to pause and reflect on some of the Buddha’s teachings to guide us through the holiday season.
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by Peter Carlson | Mar 24, 2016 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk and discussion continues exploring last week’s review of what research is revealing about what happens in the brain to manifest consciousness and a sense of self. The focus of the current night was on what happens in the brain when Buddhist mindfulness of breathing training is applied to strengthen the neurological functions to manage self-awareness and self-regulation, fostering the process of awakening from greed, aversion and ignorance.
The intention of the explanation is to increase understanding that there are two processes that mindfulness effectively cultivates: a “top-down” function that becomes aware of distorted and dysfunctional self-talk and substitutes more adaptive and functional internal narratives (equivalent to modern cognitive psychotherapy), and a “bottom-up” function that focuses on the feeling tone generated by the emotional and motivational structures of the limbic brain system, disregarding any self-talk, to just experience “feeling as feeling” to decrease impulsive reactivity, as described in the second foundation of mindfulness. This second function is more in line with traditional Buddhist teachings on the path to awakening.
This was followed by discussion among those present for clarification and sharing of how this applies to lived experience.
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