This talk was given as a part of the series "Where Rubber Meets the Road: A Series on Mindful Living." Most of us come to the Buddhist practice because of meditation, and not for the precepts. In our Western culture, we have an antipathy to ethical practices. It sounds to us that ethics is about right and wrong, and rules of conduct that involve judgment. However, ethical practices according to the Buddhist understanding is an investigation to the cessation of suffering. In the Buddha's teaching of the Four Noble Truths, the fourth truth is the path that leads to the cessation of suffering. Three of the Eightfold Paths -- right speech, right action, and right livelihood -- deal with ethical practices. It's the way we live off the cushion; the way we live in interaction with other people. Notice that sila is a growth out of the Eightfold Paths, and the Eightfold Paths is the way of being without suffering. Notice also that sila consists of forms of practices, just like meditation, instead of commandments. So in our ethical practices, we ask ourselves, "What is the best action in the circumstances? What can I say or do that won't enhance suffering?" We investigate in our hearts in terms of understanding dukkha and the end of dukkha.

This talk was given as a part of the series "Where Rubber Meets the Road: A Series on Mindful Living."

This talk was given as a part of the series "Where Rubber Meets the Road: A Series on Mindful Living." A real place for us to check our practice is in our relationships. After all, we are deeply relational beings. Sometimes, our deepest grooves in our minds are only stimulated in relationships. Defilements and habits of mind, such as greed, anger, and delusion, arise in ways that they don't in other situations. In other words, forces of suffering that are latent in other situations can arise in the context of close relationships. Fortunately, this is actually not bad news. Rather, it offers us opportunity to practice, to see ourselves more clearly, to become more free, and to see how we can untangle the love from clinging.

This talk was given as a part of the series "Where Rubber Meets the Road: A Series on Mindful Living." When we think of service, we think of people like hospice companions, volunteer hospital chaplains, volunteers in prisons. However, there are compassionate services in a wider sense, including services that are very personal and individualized. No matter what form service takes, wisdom and compassion are its foundations. Indeed, service is the fulfillment of our practice. When we deepen our daily practice of meditation and mindfulness, when we realize the Four Noble Truths in a very personal way, and when our hearts find the rhythm of the living Dharma, service will find us, and we will be willing, energized and ready. The talk also includes inspirational accounts of people who walk with suffering for the sake of others.

This talk was given as a part of the series "Where Rubber Meets the Road: A Series on Mindful Living." This talk described what helps us to stay motivated in our meditation practice, and the importance of knowing ourselves inside and out as a part of that motivational factor.

This talk was given as a part of the series "Where Rubber Meets the Road: A Series on Mindful Living." When we start to meditate, we notice how much our body and mind influence each other. In the teachings of the Buddha, he highlighted a quality of mind at which this point of connection between body and mind happens. It's a factor in the mind he called "intention" or "volition." Intention or volition is a mental urge that impels us to act. Every action that we do of body, of speech, of mind, has this impulse that precedes it. With practice, it is possible to see this urge or impulse. With an intention to act comes motivation -- the reason why we are going to do something or say something. The Buddha said that this is an interesting place to pay attention to, because when we are not aware of our motivations, our habits of mind (such as greed, aversion and delusion) are choosing our motivations for us, and often those habits are not so helpful. So at this moment of choice when we have this intention to act, the motivation that accompanies that intention is what will either lead us down the path towards more struggle in our lives, or lead us down the path towards more happiness in our lives.

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.

This talk was given as a part of the series "Where Rubber Meets the Road: A Series on Mindful Living." Note: This recording was improvised when our usual equipment failed. There is some ambient sound during the first several minutes, but the lecture can still be heard and it clears up as the talk progresses.

This talk was given as a part of the series "Where Rubber Meets the Road: A Series on Mindful Living." This talk focused on bringing mindfulness into the small details of our daily life as a way of making ourselves both centered in the present moment and be prepared for whatever arises. This talk also described how we can take the wonderful and serene mind that we develop during our meditation practice into our everyday life. After all, the whole point is for there to be no separation between our everyday world and our spiritual world. It should be seamless. Can we meet each moment with full attention, full interest, full compassion, and full wisdom?

This series of talks provides insight and practical advice as to how to take the wonderful and serene mind that we develop during our meditation practice into our daily lives, into our relationships with others. Sometimes, the deepest grooves in our minds are only stimulated in our relationships to others. Defilements and habits of the mind, such as greed, anger and delusion, arise in ways that they don't in other situations. Fortunately, these daily life encounters offer us opportunities to practice, to see ourselves more clearly, and to become more free. This is the liberating power of awareness and mindfulness.