The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Thanissaro Bhikkhu's Dharma Talks at Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Dharma practice is medicine for the mind -- something particularly needed in a culture like ours that actively creates mental illness in training us to be busy producers and avid consumers. As individuals, we become healthier through our Dharma practice, which in turn helps bring sanity to our society at large.
2020-09-29 The Present Moment is Not the Goal 34:41
There’s a common understanding that the purpose of meditation is to fully arrive in the present moment. However, the Buddha taught people to focus on the present moment not as a goal, but as a place where work is to be done to go beyond the present. This talk, based on the essay, “The Karma of Now” will explore the Buddha’s understanding of the present moment, and the implications of that understanding, not only for the practice of meditation, but also for Buddhist practice as a whole.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
2019-10-01 Right View Comes First 47:57
Thanissaro Bhikkhu reviews the Four Noble Truths as the categorical teaching of the Buddha - true and always beneficial. He describes the duties that enable us to fully understand and comprehend them and how the three characteristics - Dukkha, Annica, Anatta - are used in support of these duties and this understanding.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
2018-09-26 Refuge 43:54
Thanissaro Bhikkhu speaks about the meaning of refuge in practice. As we strive for wisdom, purity and compassion; develop mindfulness in order to have a solid state of concentration; and strive to fit into the dharma rather than the other way around, we create a foundation that is conducive to attaining nibbana.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
2017-09-19 Ananda:The Man with the Questions 35:05
In this second talk in a lecture series on the Great Disciples, the speaker, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, talks about the contributions by Ananda to the Dharma. Because of his incredible memory, what we know in the Pali Canon today came mostly from Ananda's recollection of the Buddha's teachings. He described in detail who came to the Buddha, what were their question/problem, and how the Buddha addressed that particular question/problem. This is an important contribution to our understanding of how the Dharma was taught, because so much of it depended on who was asking what, and what kind of teaching was the best for them. Another debt that we owe Ananda is that he asked the Buddha questions that no one had asked. And Ananda's questions in turn sparked the Buddha to explain things or do things that he otherwise might not have explained or done.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: The Great Disciples: People and Personalities in the Buddha's Community
2017-09-12 The Great Disciples: People and Personalities in the Buddha's Community 3:50:04
with Ayya Santussika, Ed Haertel, Margaret Gainer, Shaila Catherine, Thanissaro Bhikkhu
The early Buddhist sangha included some accomplished and intriguing disciples--lay and monastic, male and female. By searching the literature of the Pali Canon, contemporary scholars have been able to compile biographical information, infer personality traits, and gain a vivid sense of the human relationships and life-stories that formed the earliest Buddhist community. This speaker series will explore the lives, practice, and teachings of several of the great disciples of the Buddha. The series will illuminate both the ordinary and extraordinary contributions of some of the most interesting personalities whose questions, challenges, and life situations shaped the teachings that we cherish today.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley

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