Kalyana mitta, or spiritual friendship, is a foundation of the Buddhist path. Through examining a number of suttas related to friendship, we gain an understanding of the important qualities and ways of relating to wise friends.

Compassionate living (Karuna) requires a willingness to open to suffering. This meditation is part of a five week series on compassion given at IMSB. Each class emphasized the different elements of the practice.

Compassion is a heartfelt and courageous response to life. Karuna is the manifestation of loving kindness when it meets the pain of the world. This meditation steadies the mind on this moment with an intention of Loving Kindness. This is part of a five week series on compassion given at IMSB.

What do we need to know, understand, investigate, and realize through our meditation practice? In the Anguttara Nikaya. VI, 63, the Buddha described six things that should be known in six ways. The six things to be known include desires, feelings, perceptions, taints, kamma (actions of body speech and mind), and suffering. Each can be known through their presence, conditioned origin, diversity, outcome, cessation, and way to cessation. This talk explores the structure and details of this brief sutta teaching, and proposes a practical approach to investigating the mind and our relationship with life.

How does suffering manifest in attachment to views? This talk explores right view and addresses the danger of attaching to a position, philosophy, belief, or opinion. Primary sources are the teachings from the Middle Length discourses numbers 72 and 74. Recognizing the dangers of attachment and clinging to beliefs and opinions, we directly investigate what can be known in the mind and body. This is a pragmatic path of mindful awareness that results in actions that are immediately liberating.