The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Dharma Talks given at Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2024-05-23 Thursday is Wesak! Thursday is Wesak! Honoring the Life and Teaching of the Buddha 49:51
James Baraz
This Thursday, May 23rd is Wesak, the most special day in Theravada Buddhist countries (Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka). The full moon in May is said to be the day that the Buddha was born, became enlightened at the age of 35 and died at the age of 80. The three holiest of days all rolled into one! On this Wesak, we can reflect on who this person was, what he discovered on his journey and the legacy he's left us.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

2024-05-09 A Sword and a Lotus Discernment, Energy, and Wise Action 55:56
Eve Decker
Compassion for self, others, and the world is essential for well-being and freedom. This form of love often needs to manifest tenderly - and - just as often, needs to be fierce. Join Eve for a look at bringing together 'a sword and a lotus'.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

2024-05-02 The Power of Collective Intelligence: The Magic in Community 48:35
James Baraz
The Buddha spoke of like-minded friendship as "the whole of the spiritual life." He encouraged us to take refuge in the Sangha. What makes community so powerful? Have you ever been part of a group that felt quite magical, where it was more than merely a collection of individual members? What are the ingredients that make a group like that come together?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

2024-04-25 Tender and Fierce Self-Compassion: Two Essential Ways to Practice 57:28
Eve Decker
Self-Compassion requires us to cultivate capacities of presence with difficulty, kindness, and awareness of common humanity. But this doesn't mean that it always must be tender and internal. Often, our self-compassion requires us to be action-oriented and courageous. Join Eve for a look at these two forms of self-compassion and some ways to practice.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

2024-04-18 Loving the Earth through Joyful Connection 56:26
James Baraz
April 22 is Earth Day. How can we express our care and appreciation for life on this planet through meaningful action? I look forward to exploring this with you at our Thursday sangha. I hope you join us.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

2024-04-11 Supporting our Peace with Mindfulness of Feeling Tone 50:13
Eve Decker
During mindfulness practice, we might anchor our awareness through a focus on breath or body. We can also become mindfully aware of vedena, or feeling tone: whether we experience something as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Becoming mindful of this mental function helps us interrupt our own reactivity, in order to both experience and offer greater levels of equanimity and peace.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

2024-03-28 Practices to Increase Contentment 50:13
Eve Decker
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).
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

2024-03-21 Great Female Disciples of the Buddha 50:09
James Baraz
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
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

2024-03-14 Appreciation of Goodness 54:32
Eve Decker
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
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

2024-03-07 Groundlessness: A Doorway to Liberation 60:09
James Baraz
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.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley

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