This talk was given as a part of the series "Where Rubber Meets the Road: A Series on Mindful Living." Vipassana takes our untrained mind as a starting point -- with its unruliness, hindrances, clinging and aversion -- and gives it a clear and systematic way of developing awareness. With practice, this awareness of what's happening within us and around us in any given moment is the key to not being a slave to our thoughts. It also teaches us to rebel against, or turn away from, our mind's tendencies towards greed, hatred and delusion; and instead, to incline our mind towards openness, freedom from attachment, freedom from suffering, loving-kindness, compassion, wisdom, and equanimity. This is the liberating power of awareness and mindfulness.

Do the actions we perform lead us to liberation or continued suffering?

Ayya Anandabodhi and Matty Weingast read from their new translation of the Therigatha - The First Free Women: Poems of the Early Buddhist Nuns.

This talk focuses on a style of practice that could be called “training in opposites.” We deliberately engage contrasting functions of the mind in order to broaden and stretch, or opposing viewpoints in order to hone our understanding.

In the chaos of our everyday lives, we often run on auto-pilot finding ourselves caught in unhealthy habit patterns. In our attempts to help ourselves, we might watch too much news, plan for every possible situation, reach for our favorite comfort food or engage in other unhealthy behaviors, unwittingly feeding our anxiety and making things worse. Fortunately, mindfulness provides practices and skills that can help us change unhealthy habits and live in greater harmony with life. But how? The Buddha taught that disenchantment is key. In this evening session, we will explore self-reflections to illuminate habit loops and explore how we can tap into the direct experience of disenchantment.

The Buddha’s teachings are often compared to a finger pointing to the moon. Without that finger, we might never lift our gaze and see for ourselves. Tonight’s talk offers encouragement to stay present and awake as a lived experience so that we can lead a more centered, caring, ethical life. As Dharma practitioners, we make efforts to be more present for the experiences in ourselves and others. As we do so we’ll surely hear and see things we didn’t expect or want. Here, the teaching of the five hindrances supports us to shift our gaze yet again, recognize more clearly and respond differently when wisdom and caring are weakened. With these skills, we will know for sure there is no bad habit or difficult situation that cannot be softened and worked with—even liberated.