Dharma Seed - Dharma Talks given at Insight Meditation South Bay

2016-09-29 First Noble Truth 35:05
Sharon Allen	Download Listen
The First Noble Truth is the Buddha's explanation of dukkha, or the truth of suffering. Dukkha refers to the physical and mental stress that we encounter in the process of living. Its meaning is deeper than pain and misery, and refers to our reactions to our experiences. We need to fully recognize and understand suffering as part of the path to liberation.

In collection Four Noble Truths

2016-09-29 Four Noble Truths 2:42:09

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No one wants to suffer, and yet we do. The first sermon that the Buddha gave after his awakening addressed the issue of suffering. He articulated four basic tenants that have been remembered as the Four Noble Truths. They include the full understanding of suffering, the abandoning of the causes of suffering, the realization of the end of suffering, and the cultivation of the path leading to the end of suffering. It is through a wise relationship to suffering that freedom will be known.

2016-09-29 First Noble Truth 35:05
Sharon Allen	Download Listen
The First Noble Truth is the Buddha's explanation of dukkha, or the truth of suffering. Dukkha refers to the physical and mental stress that we encounter in the process of living. Its meaning is deeper than pain and misery, and refers to our reactions to our experiences. We need to fully recognize and understand suffering as part of the path to liberation.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection Four Noble Truths

2016-10-06 Second Noble Truth 40:09
Shaila Catherine	Download Listen
Shaila Catherine gave the second talk in the five-week series "Four Noble Truths." This talk explores the causes of suffering (in Pali dukkha), and explains how conditioned mental and sensory experiences are unsatisfactory and stressful. Craving causes suffering when our perceptions are accompanied by delight and lust. Practicing mindfulness reduces suffering, because when we are present we experience things as they actually are, and do not crave something different.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection Four Noble Truths

2016-10-13 Third Noble Truth 36:21
Laura Lin	Download Listen
Laura Lin gave the third talk in the five-week series "Four Noble Truths." She discussed the third noble truth, that of the cessation of suffering. Only by giving up and relinquishing craving can we end suffering. She also discussed meditation's role in calming the mind, allowing us to explore more subtle layers of attachment, investigate them, and eventually let go to realize peace and happiness.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection Four Noble Truths

2016-10-20 Fourth Noble Truth 50:33
Shaila Catherine	Download Listen
Shaila Catherine gave the fourth talk in the five-week series "Four Noble Truths." This talk discusses the Fourth Noble Truth, the path leading to the cessation of suffering and known as the Noble Eightfold Path. We must know this path and actually travel it. This practice allows us to live a life that is noble and upright, and helps us distinguish between that which is wholesome (which leads to ending of suffering) and that which is unwholesome (which leads to more suffering).
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection Four Noble Truths

2016-09-15 Wisdom 54:47
Chris Clifford	Download Listen
Chris Clifford gave the fifth talk in a six-week series titled "Beautiful Mind-Five Faculties." She explained how wisdom grows as we gain insight into anicca, dukkha, and anatta, the Pali terms for impermanence, suffering, and "no self," respectively). This wisdom enhances our ability to respond wisely and with less suffering to moment-to-moment experience.

2016-09-01 Mindfulness 60:44
Robert Cusick	Download Listen
Robert Cusick gave the third talk in a six-week series titled "Beautiful Mind - Five Faculties." He talked about mindfulness in the service of "getting unstuck." There are two ways to think about mindfulness: 1) as a means of noticing our mental patterns without judgment, and 2) remembering, or returning to, the object of meditation. Cultivating mindfulness helps us see things more clearly. Mindfulness is a means of developing concentration, and subsequently cultivating wisdom.

2016-08-30 Joy On Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within 1:43:47
Chade-Meng Tan	Download Listen
Chade-Meng Tan, author of the best selling book, "Search Inside Yourself", and known as Google’s “Jolly Good Fellow” introduces his latest book, "Joy On Demand: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within.” In this special author event at Insight Meditation South Bay, Meng guides us through a simple series of exercises for collecting the mind, enhancing loving kindness, and accessing an immediate feeling of happiness. He then presents three effects of practicing these techniques: 1) joyful experiences become more joyful, 2) neutral experiences become more joyful, and 3) painful experiences become more manageable.

2016-08-11 Five Qualities Leading to Spiritual Maturity 32:23
Philip Jones	Download Listen
Philip Jones gave this talk using the Meghiya Sutta (Anguttara Nikaya 9.3 / Udana 4.1) as a framework for exploring the importance of spiritual friends. Having good spiritual companions leads to the development of virtue, to hearing and engaging in talk on the Dhamma, to practicing with Right Effort and to the development of wisdom through directly knowing the impermanent nature of all conditioned experience. Spiritual friendship is the means for passing the Dhamma from one person to another, generation after generation.

2016-08-10 Windows on the World: Self-View and the Four Noble Truths 33:53
Philip Jones	Download Listen
Philip Jones gave this talk on self-view (or identity-view) and the Four Noble Truths. What does self mean in terms of our own individual lives and how does one let go of it, beginning with self-view? These questions are explored using the metaphor of windows to illustrate the difference between viewing our experiences from the position of self and with the Four Noble Truths. You are invited to investigate this in your own experience.

2016-08-09 Right Action In The Face Of Climate Change: Can We Practice Non-Harming? 41:10
Jennifer Dungan	Download Listen
We are facing global warming and drastic global climate change. The resulting disruption in the seasonal patterns and the extreme weather events pose threats to all living beings. Jennifer Dungan explores how the concept of non-harming, right action, Brahma Vihara, and the three marks of existence can help a world in which activities that involve fossil fuel perpetuate or worsen climate disruption.

2016-08-04 Refrain From Killing 68:12
Ayya Santussika	Download Listen
Ayya Santussika gave the fifth talk in a six-week series titled "Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts." She takes an in-depth look at the first precept: refraining from killing. She explores harming, how to live a life of non-harming, and facing difficult situations non-violently.

In collection Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts

2016-07-28 Refrain from False Speech 29:28
Shaila Catherine	Download Listen
Shaila Catherine gave the fourth talk in a six-week series titled "Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts." Speech is given particular importance in the Buddhist path because wrong speech can cause tremendous harm, and right speech can be profoundly beneficial. Practicing right speech is given emphasis because it's a very vivid way of applying our practice to daily life. When we lie based on delusion and greed, our intention usually is to benefit ourselves. When we lie based on delusion and hatred, our intention is usually to harm others. Even when we lie to cause less harm than would be caused if we spoke the truth, we should be aware of the potential karmic consequences.

In collection Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts