Dawn Neal gave the last talk in a speaker series titled "Goals in Meditation." Dawn offered a perspective on how to relate to assessments of practice in day-to-day practice, as well as over the arc of a practioner's journey. Beautiful experiences in practice, including great sits, concentration states, and even insight, can be celebrated, and assessed in ways that can nourish confidence in the Dharma and increase spiritual maturity. The same milestones can also become impediments -- dead-weight on the spiritual journey -- if clung to or identified with in an unhelpful way.

We invited several local teachers to share both the personal aims that guide their practice and their understanding of the goals of the Buddhist Path. We asked them the following questions: What is the goal of Buddhist practice? What do you personally hope to achieve through your practice? What is a reasonable way to assess our progress – how can we tell if we are on track? How can we work skillfully with goals in the context of mindfulness-based practices that emphasize present moment awareness? This series will explore both the ultimate and relative goals of Buddhist practice. It will address the benefits and limitations of having goals, and explore some related practice issues: comparing, expectations, craving for attainments, inspiration, and the potential for discouragement. Join us for an illuminating look into some aspects of your practice you may never have considered!

This is the third talk is a speaker series titled "Recollective Meditations." Dawn Neal discussed the roles of compassion and intention in giving gifts. Recollecting generosity closely relates to the practice of recollecting the Buddha, because it is out of compassion that the Buddha shared his Path of awakening. There are various forms of generosity, including sharing the Dhamma, sharing material things, renunciation, generous attitude (i.e., giving oneself completely to the service of others), and charity (i.e., giving without expecting reciprocity).

The Buddha taught a broad range of meditation practice -- far more extensive than simply observing sensations and breath. Practitioners can use six classic meditation subjects to nurture calmness, focus attention, inspire patience persistence, gain confidence in the efficacy of the path, and contemplate the nature of kamma, action, and mind. The six recollections are: Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Virtue, Generosity, and Heavens.

This talk by Dawn Neal is the third in a speaker series titled "Eight-Fold Path of Awakening." Mindfulness is an important component of the Eightfold Path and supports the development of the other Path factors. By practicing Right Mindfulness, we can become aware of any state of mind and soften habitual reactions such as blame and inner criticism.

This series explores the Noble Eight-fold Path as a liberating practice. The Eight-fold Path is among the most practical and powerful core teachings of the Buddha. If offers practitioners a comprehensive approach for training the mind in the context of meditation, action, relationship, and life.