Sunday Dharma Talk

This dharma talk by Peter Doobinin was given on the third night of the April 2026 Eight-Day Retreat at Powell House.  As Peter explains, we should learn, as dharma students, to be heedful of how we practice.  Which is to say, the attitude that we bring to the practice.  In the talk, he describes how we learn to pay attention to our attitude, in meditation, in dharma practice in general, and in lif...

This dharma talk by Peter Doobinin was given on the second night of the April 2026 Eight-Day Retreat at Powell House.  In the talk, Peter explains how we learn to practice the dharma by making a joyful effort.   May all beings live with ease and in peace.

This dharma talk by Peter Doobinin was given on the first night of the April 2026 Eight-Day Retreat at Powell House.  In the talk, Peter describes the practice of taking refuge .... how we take refuge ... and why it's important to learn to do so. May all beings live with ease and in peace.

This is the fifth in a series of five talks on "The Jhana Qualities" given by Peter in November 2025.  In the talk, Peter describes what equanimity is; how, through the practice of breath meditation, we develop the quality of equanimity; and how we put it to use in our efforts to know a greater happiness in life.

The third jhana quality is "pleasure." In cultivating skillful pleasure we are learning to establish and maintain a pleasant abiding.  When there is a pleasant abiding we remain in the present moment.  We are in the most favorable state. We are able to function most effectively, meet the difficulties in life.  We are able to stay close to the heart. This dharma talk is the fourth in a series of ta...

The second jhana quality is 'ease." This quality of ease is sometimes known as rapture, piti in Pali.  We might think of it as physical ease.  When ease is developed we're in a position to remain present, to function effectively, to thrive.  The cultivation of ease is an effort made in the service of the heart.  May all beings have ease of being. This talk is the third in a series of dharma talks...

The first jhana quality is 'singleness of mind." Singleness of mind is focus.  When developed in this quality we're able to put our mind where we choose to put it.  And keep it there.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we develop this factor of jhana ... and why it's important to do so.  This is the second talk in a series of dharma talks on "The Jhana Qualities" offered in November 2025....

The development of concentration, the Buddha teaches, is the heart of the path.  The Buddha's concentration, the concentration he learned to develop and then taught is known as jhana.  We develop jhana, as the Buddha did, by the practice of mindfulness of breathing.  In doing so, it is in our best interests to focus our efforts on developing the 'qualities of jhana.'  This is the first in a series...

How do we free ourselves from habitual patterns of mind?  How do we change the mind?  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how the practice of awareness enables us to free ourselves from our habitual patterns ... and how we're able, in consequence, to develop skillful attitude, attitude informed by the heart.  The talk was given in May 2024. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how the skills of generosity and equanimity support us as we move forward in life, as we go through periods of transition, as we meet change and difficulty.  The talk was given in April 2024.

Compassion is a quality of heart & mind that informs skillful action.  As such, compassion is a form of action.  A verb.  We develop this action by following certain steps.  It is a skill.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains the skill for taking action informed by compassion.  The dharma talk was given in March 2025. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

In meditation we develop tranquility.  Silence.  Our task, we might say, is to cultivate silence and then to listen.  This sort of listening asks for great patience.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we develop patience ... the patience that is asked for, in finding our way to a greater happiness in life.  The talk was given in February 2025. NY Dharma:  www.nydharma.org  

The practice of letting go is just that, a practice.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the 'course of treatment' the Buddha prescribes through which we let go and gradually are freed from suffering.  The talk was given in the winter of 2025. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

As dharma students, we don't lose sight of the truth.  We remember the brightness in life.  We remember the joy in life.  We remember our capacity for happiness.  And through it all, we resolve to live live joyfully.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we learn to make the resolve to live joyfully.  The dharma talk was given in March 2026. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

As dharma students, as an admirable friend, we learn to relate to each other from the heart.  We speak the language of the heart.  In this talk Peter Doobinin describes why it's so necessary to have admirable friends.   "With regard to external factors, I don't envision any other single factor like friendship with admirable people as doing so much for a monk in training, who has not attained the g...

As dharma students, as human beings, we meet difficulties in life.  We meet difficulty, in ourselves, in others, in the world.  Through it all, we stay true.  We stay true to ourselves.  We stay true to the dharma.  We stay true to the heart.  we don't lose the heart.  We keep to the heart.  And it's important to remember, as Peter Doobinin reminds us, that what enables us to keep to the heart are...

As dharma students, we develop meditation and the skills of mindfulness so that can awaken.  In the process of awakening, we learn to meet life on life's terms.  We learn to meet the difficulties and challenges of life.  In doing so, we're not simply seeking to endure the challenges of life.  We're seeking to learn.  The message of the path, as Peter Doobinin explains, is a message of joy, brightn...

In dharma practice, we could say, the elemental components are physiology, psychology & spirituality.  We develop each of these elements of the practice.  And each element supports and strengthens the others.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we might think of our practice in this ... and how these elements of dharma practice, when developed, lead us to a greater happiness in this li...

It is a tendency of the mind to fixate, to become preoccupied with certain things, with certain thoughts, with certain stories.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how, using the skills the Buddha teaches, we learn to ease fixation.  And thereby live in the body and in the heart.  The talk was given in the winter of 2026. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

Emotions, as Peter Doobinin explains, are part of life, part of what it means to be a human being.  In dharma practice, we learn to understand emotions and to develop a skillful relationship to them.  And we learn to move beyond emotions, to know those qualities that are transcendent and conduce to happiness, the qualities of the heart.  The dharma talk was given in January 2025. New York Dharma:...

The path is the path of the heart.  It's a spiritual path.  As Peter Doobinin explains, the elements of this spiritual path include generosity, virtue, renunciation, and meditation.  Following this path, we come closer to the heart.  We know happiness of heart.  The talk was given in January 2025. May all beings be happy of heart! NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

The dharma is inside.  It's found within each of us.  It's found in this body.  In this very life.  As Peter Doobinin explains, as we develop in the practice of meditation, in the practice of mindfulness of the body, we become more and more in tune with the dharma within us.  This talk was offered in February 2026. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

The dharma students seeks to know a greater happiness in this very life.  As Peter Doobinin explains, we each have the capacity to live with an awakened heart, to live joyfully, to know the joy of living.  As we learn to move beyond our doubts and self judgments, the path opens up to us; we know what it possible; we begin to realize a greater happiness.  The dharma talk was given at an NY Dharma d...

As we move forward in our practice, in our efforts to cultivate skillful, affirmative thoughts we know a greater happiness.  This, as the Buddha tells us, is something we can do.   And it's something we should learn to do, if we want to know a joyful life.  In order to have a joyful life, we have to cultivate joyful thoughts.  Affirmative thoughts.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we cul...

By asking questions in skillful ways we learn to free the heart of its burdens and know the happiness inside, the happiness of heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the skill of asking skillful questions.  The talk was given in January 2026.  It's the third in a series of dharma talks on cultivating skillful thinking that Peter offered during the month. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org