Dharma Talks
given at Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
2016-04-24
Equanimity: Finding Balance in Our Practice
2:55:56
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James Baraz
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This daylong includes general talks on the theme of cultivating equanimity into your dharma practice. In addition to the talks and discussion, I offer the following practices with instructions that can be used to incline the mind toward equanimity (edited to remove lengthy periods of silence during the guided meditations):
Practice #1 - Seeing things as they are
Practice #2 - Looking through the lens of impermanence
Practice #3 - Looking through the lens of vedana
(feeling tone; 2nd foundation of mindfulness)
Practice #4 - Equanimity with Big Mind meditation
Practice #5 - Equanimty using traditional Brahma Viharas phrases
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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IMCB Regular Talks
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2016-04-14
Sacred Activism Part 4: Holding a Vision
54:31
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James Baraz
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Besides learning how to work with various emotions and reactions that come up in response to various events, it's important to hold an inspiring vision of possibilities so that we are motivated to work toward that desired outcome. Dharma concepts such as Clear Comprehension of Purpose can be applied to help us create an inspiring vision. Joanna Macy's Active Hope and Andrew Harvey's outline of current positive developments that give one hope are included.
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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IMCB Regular Talks
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2016-03-24
"Sacred Activism Part. 2: We Don't Know What We Don't Know"
59:04
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James Baraz
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In our response to unsettling news we can easily react with self-righteousness, sure that our "dharmic" view is the "right one" and feeling superior to those who act in ways we don't understand. But the Buddha asked us to put aside any such arrogance. Through genuinely trying to understand another's perspective, we can cultivate true humility for our ignorance of their reality and greater understanding about the thinking behind their actions. Then our response, which might be one of fierce compassion, is not coming from hatred and ill will but from compassion and wisdom.
This talk includes some thoughts on white privilege as well as Andrew Harvey's brilliant audio clip on Sacred Activism.
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
:
IMCB Regular Talks
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