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Dharma Talks
given at Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2024-03-28
Practices to Increase Contentment
50:13
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Eve Decker
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Mindfulness helps us see our minds. Neuroscience and our own observations make clear that the natural negativity bias is there, and can be overridden in favor of intentional practices that increase contentment. Join Eve to explore two of these practices - appreciating others ('mudita' in Pali) and appreciating ourselves (noticing and savoring our innate and expressed goodness).
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2024-03-21
Great Female Disciples of the Buddha
50:09
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James Baraz
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Most of the Buddha's disciples whose names we are familiar with, such as Ananda and Sariputta, are men. The Buddha also had women disciples who were wise and profound practitioners like Mahapajapati, the Buddha's aunt/foster mother, responsible for the establishment of the order of nuns or Patacara, revered teacher, who tragically lost her family and eventually became fully enlightened.
“If the measure of a human life is a chance to have significance that extends beyond itself, then we’ve hit the jackpot. We are alive at game time on the planet, when everything we value is genuinely threatened, when it’s time for all hands on deck.”
—Terry Patten, A New Republic of the Heart
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2024-03-14
Appreciation of Goodness
54:32
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Eve Decker
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The Dalai Lama said “The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.” And the Buddha taught that the wholesome energies that support goodness are the stepping stones to freedom. Join Eve for a deeper look at appreciation for goodness, the ensuing increase of inner ease, and ways we can practice.
With metta, Eve
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2024-03-07
Groundlessness: A Doorway to Liberation
60:09
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James Baraz
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Pema Chödrön writes: "It's not impermanence per se, or even knowing we're going to die, that is the cause of our suffering, the Buddha taught. Rather, it's our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation. Our discomfort arises from all of our efforts to put ground under our feet, to realize our dream of constant okayness. When we resist change, it's called suffering. But when we can completely let go and not struggle against it, when we can embrace the groundlessness of our situation and relax into its dynamic quality, that's called enlightenment, or awakening to our true nature, to our fundamental goodness."
Let's investigate the underlying feeling of insecurity to see how it can be used as a path to real freedom.
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2024-02-01
Sudden Awakening, Gradual Cultivation:
The Process of Purification
52:56
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James Baraz
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Sometimes it feels as if our practice is taking one step forward and two steps back. Or two steps forward and two steps back. In this talk I want to explore the process of awakening in the context of understanding the trajectory of practice.
Even though it might not seem as if much is happening or that you're truly growing, it's happening anyway. However, there are some things to know about how the process works that can help you develop patience, confidence and inspiration.
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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