by Peter Carlson | Oct 9, 2025 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Allie provides a review of the Five Clinging Aggregates–form, feeling, perception, mental conditioning factors, and consciousness–as a way to understand how personality operates from a Buddhist perspective. She relates this self-creating process to another fundamental Buddhist concept, Dependent Origination, which provides us with a way to understand how to reduce and eventually disregard craving and clinging–the aggregates continue to interact and create personality but without distress and confusion.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 58:38 — 53.7MB)
by Peter Carlson | Nov 20, 2023 | Listen to Dharma Talks
A core principle of Buddhist psychology is paticca samuppada, dependent origination. During this talk, an alternative translation is offered–contingent provisional emergence–which incorporates contemporary scientific and psychological understandings of this important concept for understanding how karma forms and how it can be changed through diligent and mindful clear knowledge of what arises and passes away in consciousness.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: CONTINGENT PROVISIONAL EMERGENCE AND KARMA
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:32:17 — 84.5MB)
by Peter Carlson | Oct 12, 2023 | Listen to Dharma Talks
During this talk, Peter Carlson reviews the key Buddhist teaching on dependent origination as it is associated with another important concept, emptiness, which has frequently been misunderstood. During the discussion, contemporary scientific and psychological information that fosters more clarity about the topics are presented.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk, which provide a more extensive review of the various aspects of emptiness from a contemporary scientific as well as the traditional perspective: Contingent Provisional Emergence As Emptiness
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:41 — 59.2MB)
by Peter Carlson | Jul 13, 2023 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk first focuses on reviewing the Second Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of Feelings; the second focus is on a core concept of Buddhist psychology, Dependent Origination, within which mindfulness of feelings plays a key role. Peter Carlson provides a contemporary rendition of dependent origination, Contingent Provisional Emergence, which describes the ancient concept using more contemporary psychological terminology.
There are two sets of notes accompanying this talk: MINDFULNESS OF FEELINGS and Understanding Contingent Provisional Emergence
There is a guided meditation posted on this site intended to complement the contents of this talk: Guided Mindfulness of Feelings Contemplation
Next week’s talk will review the Third Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of the Mind
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:42 — 60.1MB)
by Peter Carlson | Aug 25, 2022 | Listen to Dharma Talks
This talk provides a view of a core Buddhist concept that describes how karma is formed that differs from the traditional Theravaden understanding–instead of the terminology of Dependent Origination, a case is made for an alternative rendering, Contingent Provisional Emergence, which includes more contemporary concepts and research regarding the formative drives that create our personality structures. This view complements comments from the previous meeting of August 17, 2022 regarding the Five Aggregates of Clinging, part of the Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness.
Here are the notes prepared for this talk: Understanding Contingent Provisional Emergence
Next week’s talk will begin a review of the Seven Awakening Factors, qualities of attention that significantly develop liberation from distress and confusion in the mind, leading to a transformative understanding regarding our self-state organizations.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:14 — 59.7MB)
