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Dharma Talks
given at Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2021-12-30
New Year's Gathering: Letting Go and Moving On
51:53
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James Baraz
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| As the year comes to an end, we mark and celebrate this transition point by reflecting on where we are in our lives and consciously get in touch with our vision for the coming year. The Buddha talked about the power of having Wise Intention and "Clear Comprehension of Purpose" to keep us facing in the right direction. As a community we can support each other through reflecting on what we've learned in 2021 and share a ritual to call forth our vision for the coming year. |
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2021-12-02
Women’s Bodies: How mindfulness and compassion can help us heal
the effects of toxic messaging
57:48
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Eve Decker
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| There is an unintentional but unfortunate blend in mainstream culture of patriarchy (“a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property”) and consumerism (“the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods. The need to sell things.”) This combination has led to decades of massive cultural messaging around “ideal” female bodies that are both childlike and sexualized. Eve Decker takes a look at how this messaging affects our thinking minds and how Buddhist practices can help us heal. |
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2021-11-11
Letting Your Heartbreak Open to Active Hope
53:05
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James Baraz
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| How can we keep open and stay engaged when our hearts are breaking and we just want to shut down? How can we cultivate a "no-matter-what commitment" as Terry Patten teaches? How can we develop "Active Hope" as Joanna Macy calls it. That is the topic of this week's exploration. The talk includes a powerful 20-minute conversation between Joanna Macy and Thanissara that took place a month before this recording. |
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2021-11-04
Showing Up for Reality with Humility and Grace:
Terry Patten's Last Teaching
50:16
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James Baraz
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| Beloved Philosopher, Teacher and Sacred Activist Terry Patten sadly passed away a few days before this talk. His last book, A New Republic of the Heart, is an inspiring teaching on how to face the global crises we are in. As he went through his own final journey he shared how one can face death with courage, wonder, grace and trust. It was a blueprint for how to meet the pain and sorrow of the world with those same qualities. This talk includes a powerful, clear, deeply moving clip excerpt of Terry's last teaching a week before he passed plus some of his teachings that have touched so many. |
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2021-10-28
Am I Enough?
53:06
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James Baraz
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| A great Zen treatise says that someone truly enlightened is "without anxiety about non-perfection." It's no wonder that, with such impossible standards that most people hold themselves to, they always seem to fall short. How is it that others can so easily see our goodness while we're often the last ones to see our "True Nature"? The talk includes a short excerpt of Ram Dass sharing his primary practice to remember who we really are. |
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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2021-10-07
Emptiness and the Big Perspective
50:29
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James Baraz
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| The Heart Sutra teaching famously states: "Form is Emptiness Emptiness is Form." This liberating perspective is the gateway to understanding the inter-connectedness of all phenomena and the spaciousness and freedom that comes from seeing our place in the bigger scheme of things. The talk includes a recording of Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweikart's moving account of the profound shift he experienced upon seeing the Earth from outer space. |
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Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley
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