Dharma Seed - Dharma Talks given at Insight Meditation South Bay

2019-07-16 Taking the Problem out of Pain 47:45
Shaila Catherine	Download Listen
In this talk, Shaila Catherine encourages practitioners to view illness and pain as opportunities to practice equanimity, patience, and mindfulness of the body. When we are sick or in pain, we can still practice being attentive to present conditions, and reflect that all beings are all also subject to illness and death. Illness is not wrong; it is inevitable. The more we resist this fact, the more mental suffering we add to our physical difficulties. When we learn to be present with both pleasant and unpleasant feelings, we will know an experience of profound peace.

In collection Meditation in Hard Times

2019-07-16 Realizing Resilience 48:24
Diana Clark	Download Listen
Diana talks about how to develop resilience in the face of difficulties. By practicing noticing one’s thoughts and emotions, starting with the easier and gradually moving toward the more difficult can be a compassionate and skillful way to develop strength. She talks about how this resilience creates the conditions that can allow one to help others as well as oneself.

In collection Meditation in Hard Times

2019-06-19 Intention and the Power of Thought 46:18
Shaila Catherine	Download Listen
How are we using our minds? Where do our thought incline? The Buddha's teachings focus on the practical application of intention and the power of thought, rather than ritual, as the potent force behind action. Working with thought, we see how habits and tendencies develop and form patterns known as kamma (karma). We must be honest with ourselves and see any conceit, agitation, anger, greed, or restlessness that might be lurking as tendencies of mind. We can learn to use our thought skillfully, and guard the mind with diligent mindfulness. Wholesome and unwholesome thoughts are explored. There is nothing to fear from wholesome thoughts such as intentions toward renunciation, letting go, loving kindness, compassion, and generosity, and yet a concentrated mind will bring deeper rest. The path of liberation and awakening includes the development of morality and virtue, and also calmness, concentration, and wisdom.

2019-05-07 Equanimity 52:39
Stephen Fulder	Download Listen
Equanimity is a key spiritual faculty which allows us to face the known and the unknown, the ecstasies and the despairs, with steadiness and lightness. Equanimity helps us engage with life from an unlimited and interconnected perspective. In this talk Stephen Fulder stresses the role of equanimity in our practice and life, how to develop it and use it to let the world in, not keep it out.

2019-03-12 Inner Ecology 54:46
Kim Allen	Download Listen
In this talk Kim Allen develops an ecological metaphor to help us cultivate our mind and develop our practice. She outlines four approaches to our practice grounded in terms of natural ecologies: 1) Broadening our focus 2) Revising our notions of good and bad 3) Developing a coherent sense of our goal by creating a healthy ecosystem and then letting go 4) Expanding from our inner ecology and balancing with the outer ecology.

2019-02-26 Non-Clinging to Outcomes 44:51
Jennifer Dungan	Download Listen
In this fourth and last talk in a speaker series on The Engaged Buddhist, Jennifer Dungan ties together the lessons from previous speakers. She mentions precepts of socially engaged Buddhism put forward by Thich Nhat Hanh, and how various dhamma elements such as compassion, right view, right intention, and right mindfulness can work to reduce the suffering caused by clinging to even the most pro-social and aspirational outcomes.

In collection Engaged Buddhism

2019-02-19 Generosity and Compassion Inside: Teaching Buddhist Meditation in a California State Prison 51:21
Bill Kostura and Phil Goodwin	Download Listen
Bill Kostura and Phil Goodwin present the third talk in a speaker series on The Engaged Buddhist. They describe their experience teaching dharma at a California men's prison over a period of several years. Their stories evoke the feelings of traveling the long distance to the prison, the difficulties of entering a secured facility, both tender and challenging interactions with inmates, and the refuge created by the practice for the inmates and even themselves.

In collection Engaged Buddhism

2019-02-10 Communication as Daily Practice 50:24
Oren Jay Sofer	Download Listen
Oren Jay Sofer presents the second talk in a speaker series on The Engaged Buddhist. Here he speaks on our practice off the cushion, pointing out that we spend the vast majority of our days communicating in one way or another. He describes three practices to improve our relationships with others: leading with presence, cultivating the intention to understand the other, and training our focus.

In collection Engaged Buddhism

2019-02-05 Engaged Buddhism 3:44:38

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with Ayya Santussika, Bill Kostura and Phil Goodwin, Jennifer Dungan, Oren Jay Sofer

Meditation instructions are sometimes misinterpreted to imply that one should disengage from activity and suspend all judgment. Buddhist advice on “letting go” can be misunderstood to suggest that problems in the world can or should be ignored. Yet the Pali canon shows that the Buddha taught practical social and economic remedies, and urged monks to travel so they could benefit the largest number of people. Thích Nhất Hạnh coined the term “engaged Buddhism” to describe efforts to respond to the suffering in his country during the Vietnam war, work he saw as part of meditation and mindfulness practice rather than something apart from it. In this series, some local “engaged Buddhists” will share how they personally apply Buddhist wisdom to engage with the suffering around us, in areas such as social action, prison ministry, and environmentalism.

2019-02-05 Engaged Brahmaviharas 48:55
Ayya Santussika	Download Listen
Ayya Santussika presents the first talk in a speaker series on The Engaged Buddhist. Here she speaks on the role that each of the four Brahmaviharas play to help and guide us in our engaged actions, whatever they be, to promote wholesome and beneficial outcomes. She discusses lovingkindness, joy in the good fortune of others, compassion and equanimity as well as the near and far enemies of these qualities.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection Engaged Buddhism

2019-02-05 Meditating on the Brahmaviharas 29:05
Ayya Santussika	Download Listen
A guided meditation on practicing the Brahmaviharas.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection Engaged Buddhism

2019-02-10 Communication as Daily Practice 50:24
Oren Jay Sofer	Download Listen
Oren Jay Sofer presents the second talk in a speaker series on The Engaged Buddhist. Here he speaks on our practice off the cushion, pointing out that we spend the vast majority of our days communicating in one way or another. He describes three practices to improve our relationships with others: leading with presence, cultivating the intention to understand the other, and training our focus.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection Engaged Buddhism

2019-02-19 Generosity and Compassion Inside: Teaching Buddhist Meditation in a California State Prison 51:21
Bill Kostura and Phil Goodwin	Download Listen
Bill Kostura and Phil Goodwin present the third talk in a speaker series on The Engaged Buddhist. They describe their experience teaching dharma at a California men's prison over a period of several years. Their stories evoke the feelings of traveling the long distance to the prison, the difficulties of entering a secured facility, both tender and challenging interactions with inmates, and the refuge created by the practice for the inmates and even themselves.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection Engaged Buddhism

2019-02-26 Non-Clinging to Outcomes 44:51
Jennifer Dungan	Download Listen
In this fourth and last talk in a speaker series on The Engaged Buddhist, Jennifer Dungan ties together the lessons from previous speakers. She mentions precepts of socially engaged Buddhism put forward by Thich Nhat Hanh, and how various dhamma elements such as compassion, right view, right intention, and right mindfulness can work to reduce the suffering caused by clinging to even the most pro-social and aspirational outcomes.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection Engaged Buddhism

2019-02-05 Engaged Brahmaviharas 48:55
Ayya Santussika	Download Listen
Ayya Santussika presents the first talk in a speaker series on The Engaged Buddhist. Here she speaks on the role that each of the four Brahmaviharas play to help and guide us in our engaged actions, whatever they be, to promote wholesome and beneficial outcomes. She discusses lovingkindness, joy in the good fortune of others, compassion and equanimity as well as the near and far enemies of these qualities.

In collection Engaged Buddhism