by Peter Carlson | Apr 28, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk reviews the characteristics of dukkha, traditionally translated to mean suffering or dissatisfaction. The Buddha is understood to have described his mission to be understanding the nature of dukkha and the ways and means for overcoming it. The three varieties of dukkha are described as well as ways skillful application of mindfulness, investigation and Right Effort will interrupt self-state organizations afflicted by dukkha. The review also provides descriptions of three stages to be cultivated for providing relief from dukkha: conceptual understanding, skillful awareness & discipline, and finally direct realization of liberation.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Reviewing the First Noble Truth
Here is the URL for a guided contemplation of dukkha found in the archives of this website: https://orlandoinsightmeditation.org/2020/07/guided-contemplation-of-dukkha/
The topic for next week’s review is the Second Noble Truth, the cause of dukkha.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:17 — 56.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 5, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This guided meditation brings mindful investigation to the experience of craving and clinging. During the meditation you are invited to also mindfully investigate the absence of craving and clinging, as well as the transitory nature of all subjective experience. This contemplation is intended to complement the Dharma talk entitled “Reviewing the Second Noble Truth”, which was recorded the same evening, May 4, 2022 and is archived on this website.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:52 — 41.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | May 5, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk continues a review of the Four Noble Truths, perhaps the most fundamental and universally accepted Buddhist teaching. The characteristics of the Second Noble Truth, craving (tanha) and clinging (upadana) are reviewed regarding traditional understandings as well as more contemporary Buddhist scholarship and neuropsychological research which supports the traditional teaching.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Reviewing the Second Noble Truth
This talk is complemented with an .mp3 recording titled “Guided Second Noble Truth Contemplation”, that preceded this talk and is posted in the Guided Meditation page of this website’s archives.
The focus for the next talk will continue the review of the Four Noble Truths, addressing the Third Noble Truth, liberation from dukkha.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:33 — 58.2MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jun 24, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk is part of a series reviewing the Four Noble Truths. Right Effort is an important element of the Noble Eightfold Path and can be understood as a process of channeling the energy of attention away from unwholesome self-states towards wholesome self-states. The cooperation among the first three of the Seven Awakening Factors–Mindfulness, Investigation of Mental Phenomena and Energy, as Right Effort–is essential for fulfilling one’s potential for Awakening, and this talk discusses their interactions. Various characteristics of Right Effort are also included in the review. There is a guided meditation posted in the Audio archives of this website entitled “Guided Channeling Right Effort Meditation”, which is intended to provide supplementary support for the contents of this talk.
Here are the notes prepared for the talk: Reviewing Right Effort
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:19 — 48.8MB)
by Peter Carlson | Aug 8, 2024 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter reviews the characteristics of lovingkindness, one of the Four Divine Abidings within Buddhist doctrine. When lovingkindness is not clearly understood, one’s experience becomes contaminated by what are called either the “near enemy” or “far enemy”, both of which are manifestations of ignorance. The fourth of the Divine Abidings is equanimity, which is produced through the cultivation of mindfulness, investigation of mental phenomena and Right Effort, is explained during the talk. The review also includes a suggestion that the capacity for empathy, a fundamental characteristic of lovingkindness, is ‘hardwired” into our nervous systems, and that Benevolent Intention represents an evolutionary trend away from greed or hatred, emotionally potent instincts we all share, towards altruism and societal peace.
Previous to this talk, Peter provided a guided meditation titled “Integrating Lovingkindness With Equanimity”, which is intended to provide practical contemplative training that uses mindfulness, investigation of mental phenomena and Right Effort to protect the flow of lovingkindness from becoming contaminated by the near enemy or far enemy states of mind. This has been posted and can be found in the archives of the website in the category of Guided Meditations
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Balancing Lovingkindness With Equanimity
The topics for the next two weeks focus first on the integration of equanimity with compassion, then next the integration of equanimity with sympathetic joy, the remaining elements of the Four Divine Abidings.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:16 — 55.2MB)
