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Dharma Talks
given at Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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2015-09-01
Make Me One with Everything
59:50
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Lama Surya Das
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Lama Surya Das speaks about his most recent book, “Make Me One with Everything, Buddhist Meditations to Awaken from the Illusion of Separation.” Becoming one with everything, by seeing through separateness, is the heart of what Lama Surya Das calls “co-meditation.” “Co” means with. So, co-meditating is not just meditating with other people, but with everything that arises. This opens the door to what Buddhists call “everyday Dharma,” which integrates mindful Dharma into daily life. Everything is the object of our meditation; there are no distractions. When we co-meditate, we are being one with everything, not against it nor apart from it. This is the meaning of “inter-being.” This is also the answer to our great loneliness and the alienation that we feel today.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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2015-08-25
Refrain from Taking Intoxicants
23:19
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Jason Murphy
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This talk by Jason Murphy is the sixth in the speaker series Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts.The five training precepts are not commandments nor are they a list of “don’t dos.” Instead, they have an over-arching principle of ahimsa, or do no harm. In other words, following the precepts can be seen as a way to stop us from spilling our suffering onto the rest of the world. In addition, the aim of observing the precepts is to allow practitioners to be blameless and at ease, thereby preparing their minds for meditation. The fifth precept deals with not taking alcohol, drugs or other intoxicants that will lead to heedlessness. This precept is really about seeing clearly: we cannot see clearly and develop our wisdom when we intoxicate our mind.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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In
collection:
Ethics, Action, and the Five Precepts
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2015-08-18
Refrain from False Speech
24:16
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Steve Gasner
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This talk by Steve Gasner is the fifth in the speaker series titled Ethics, Action, and the Five Precepts. The training precept of refraining from false speech is one of the components of Right Speech in the Noble Eightfold Path. The other three components of Right Speech include refraining from harsh speech, divisive speech and idle chatter. (The other four training precepts fall under Right Action.) Although virtue (sila) will enhance our meditation, unfortunately, we have a tendency to lie, especially telling white lies. We may think white lies are not harmful, however they could create basic trust issues in relationships, because someone is always fooled. So one of the general rules that the Buddha gave is to speak truthfully, usefully and timely.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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In
collection:
Ethics, Action, and the Five Precepts
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2015-08-17
Ignorance and Delusion
28:12
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Shaila Catherine
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Shaila Catherine discusses how ignorance (sometimes referred to as delusion) is the root of all unwholesome activities. Ignorance is present any time that we fail to see the three characteristics of experience: impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self. The wisdom that develops through insight meditation practice can overcome and uproot even deeply conditioned ignorance. Wisdom helps us to understand suffering and the cause of suffering, and awaken compassion for ourselves and others who suffer due to ignorance.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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2015-08-11
Refrain from Sexual Misconduct
46:53
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Sharon Allen
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This is the fourth talk in a speaker series titled Ethics, Action, and the Five Precepts. This precept deals with abstaining from sexual behavior that causes pain, suffering or injury to others, including sexual activity that is damaging to relationships. Looking at our behavior in relationship to the precepts, they protect us and others from harm. The precepts are not commandments, but rather training rules that support our spiritual development and the quality of our personal character. They are how an awakened person acts through intention, sensitivity, and a pure heart. They are principles to live by.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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In
collection:
Ethics, Action, and the Five Precepts
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2015-08-06
Three Poisons
44:02
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Bob Stahl
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This talk by Bob Stahl is the fifth in a speaker series titled Fundamental Buddhist Principles 2015. The Three Poisons are greed, hatred and ignorance. They are called the three poisons because they fuel suffering. For example, the nature of desire keeps us wanting something that we can’t quite get. The suffering is the misconception that we need to get that something outside of ourselves in order to be whole. Fortunately, the antidote is simply the relinquishment of the poison. By relinquishing greed, in its place arises contentment. By relinquishing hatred, in its place arises open heartedness. By relinquishing ignorance, in its place arises clear seeing into the nature of things and into the causes of suffering and the path to freedom.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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In
collection:
Fundamental Buddhist Principles 2015
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2015-08-04
Refrain from Stealing
45:15
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Tony Bernhard
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This is the third talk in a speaker series titled Ethics, Action, and the Five Precepts. How does the training precept of refraining from stealing differ from the Biblical Commandment of “thou shall not steal?” The precept of not to steal is based on the Buddha’s teaching of ending suffering. Instead of a black and white rule, this precept is meant to protect our mind from impulses to take what is not freely given. At the deepest level, this precept is designed to end tanha, our thirst, our grasping, our greed. It is a raft that carries us to liberation, rather than a rule to be clung to.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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In
collection:
Ethics, Action, and the Five Precepts
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2015-07-30
Three Characteristics
45:07
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Kim Allen
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This is the fourth talk in a speaker series titled Fundamental Buddhist Principles 2015. As we observe our daily and meditative experience, the mind naturally begins to notice "universal" qualities of experience: impermanence (anicca), unsatisfactoriness (dhkkha), and emptiness (anatta). These three - especially impermanence - are gates to spiritual freedom. It's how we relate and react to these three characteristics that determine whether we suffer or be at peace.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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In
collection:
Fundamental Buddhist Principles 2015
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2015-07-28
How Conduct Bears Fruit: Training in Not Killing
37:52
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Shaila Catherine
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This is the second talk in a speaker series titled Ethics, Action, and the Five
Precepts. This talk by Shaila Catherine explores kamma (karma) and the training precept to refrain from killing. The Abhidhamma presents a detailed analysis of both wholesome and unwholesome mental states to explain how some actions lead to suffering, and other actions lead to happiness. The conditions that surround an action, the intentions that instigate it, and the reflective understanding of potential consequences will influence the intensity of the patterns that affect our options. If you find that you have killed a living being, perhaps an insect, notice your mental state. Was hatred or greed present? Learn what happens in the mind to enable killing, and what happens in the mind when you refrain from violence. The act of restraint is a particularly potent action. When virtue (sila) is pure, reflections on the abstention from harming can be a source of joy. The potency of wholesome restraint can be increased by reinforcing it with the wisdom that understands the causes and end of suffering—right view of the path.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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In
collection:
Ethics, Action, and the Five Precepts
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