Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley: dharma talks and meditation instruction

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Truthfulness in Buddhism has two components - perceiving truthfully and behaving/speaking truthfully. Being in alignment with the truth of things is a crucial aspect of freedom. This talk dives into these teachings and practices

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The Buddha called patience "the supreme virtue". This talk looks at the energies of both patience and impatience through a Buddhist lens, and explores some of the different ways to practice with patience in our lives.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) For many, wishing well and extending metta to others can come relatively naturally. The hard part is not sending out love, but letting it in. This is one of the most supportive practices for counteracting self-judgment and developing kindness and metta for ourselves. This talk will explore this topic and practice together.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The Buddha famously said, "I teach dukkha [suffering or reactivity or a sense of unsatisfactoriness] and the cessation of dukkha.” We explore this core teaching as it is expressed in the Four Noble Truths and the teachings of the Two Arrows and Dependent Origination, including ways that it can be confusing. We suggest ways to understand and implement this...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk explores an important topic that James has not spoken on before. We often think of practice as simply noticing our experience in the present moment. However, the Buddha explicitly pairs heedfulness (appamada) and wise attention (yoniso manasikara) as the two primary internal factors responsible for giving birth to the Noble Eightfold Path. This...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Integrity (Sila in Pali) and Simplicity (usually translated as 'Renunciation', Nekkhama in Pali) are two practices in Buddhism that can support our journey to peace and freedom. This talk offers an exploration of some of the Buddha's teachings on these practices and the reasoning for their profound value.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) One of the well known Buddhist lists is called the 'Paramis', or Perfections, which represent both qualities that the Buddha cultivated himself and also recommended that we cultivate on the road to freedom. The first one, considered a doorway to the rest, is generosity. This talk is a brief look at the ten Paramis and a deeper dive into the teaching on ge...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The topic of this talk is Wise Concentration. What is it (as opposed to regular concentration, and how is it different from mindfulness); why did the Buddha teach it as an essential element on the path to freedom; and how do we practice it.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Wise Mindfulness is the 7th of 8 practices the Buddha offered to help us move toward peace and freedom. It involves non-judgmental clear seeing of present moment experience, along with awareness of awareness itself. This talk looks at this powerful practice and consider ways to bring it more fully into our lives.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Wise Effort is the 6th of 8 practices the Buddha offered to help us move toward peace and freedom. It involves understanding, discernment, and choice. This talk looks at this powerful teaching and considers ways to bring it more fully into our lives.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Wise Action and Wise Livelihood are important components to Buddhism: deliberately choosing actions and jobs rooted in non-harming. This talk explores the what, why, and how of these two steps on the Buddhist path.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The Buddha emphasized Wise Speech as an important part of the path to freedom. This talk takes a look at the what, why and how of Wise Speech.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The fourth Noble Truth is the Eight fold Path. The second of the paths is Wise Intention. In this talk Eve discusses Wise Intention.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Introduction to the 8 Fold Noble Path

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Adam will give the talk. Over the past seven months, Adam traveled through Bali, Nepal, and Japan on a pilgrimage that became both an outer journey and an inner exploration. At the heart of this journey was a simple question: What allows a human being to feel truly at home within themselves? Drawing from meditation, spiritual pilgrimage, and somatic pract...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Margaret is the author of the just released book, Quiet Strength: Find Peace, Feel Alive, and Love Boundlessly through the Power of Equanimity. In this she leads in an exploration on this key quality that is so needed in these times. As a therapist, Margaret facilitated psycho-social support groups for cancer patients and their loved ones for over 30 year...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk is an exploration of the Anattalakkhana Sutta (Teaching on No Separate Self); one of the Buddha's first teachings after awakening. How can this teaching support our ease, insight, and compassion?

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk explores the "two truths" doctrine in Buddhism. This teaching defines reality through two concurrent perspectives: conventional truth (relative, everyday experience) and ultimate truth (absolute, empty nature). While we move toward accessing the freedom of ultimate truth, we are always human with human lives. Wisdom and compassion guide us to br...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Practice can sometimes feel complicated with so many different techniques and instructions on how to extricate oneself from identifying with our experience. Using approaches from Tibetan Dzogchen and other non-dual teachings this talks explores the profound simplicity of letting go of all trying as a way to come back to our true nature.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) James has been offering reflections on the Dhammapada, the Buddha's collection of pithy teachings, and how they can be practically applied in our lives. Dhammapada Verse #165 emphasizes that individuals are responsible for the direction of their own spiritual unfolding. No external force or person can do it for us. This talk explores the implications.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Eve has been offering reflections on the Buddha's teaching - MN 20 - on dis-identifying from non-useful thoughts. After a quick review of the Buddha's five suggestions, we'll take a deep dive into #4 - 'Focusing on stilling the formation of non-useful thoughts', which means bringing awareness directly, with curiosity and respect, to the physical tension o...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Eve has been offering reflections on the Buddha's teaching - MN 20 - on dis-identifying from non-useful thoughts. Some of these practices are straightforward, like simply ignoring difficult thoughts. And, we all know that some challenging thoughts will not just be ignored. One of the more complex but deeply rewarding practices, particularly for overcoming...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk continues exploring teachings from the Dhammapada, the most well-known collection of the Buddha's words. It shares the Buddha's teachings on harmlessness and the consequences of causing harm or threatening to cause harm. These verses seem relevant to current times.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Thoughts driven by greed, hatred, or delusion lead us farther and farther from both inner and outer peace, and yet they are rampant. How do we work with them when they arise? One way the Buddha taught was to deliberately substitute spinning painful thoughts with thoughts that incline toward peace. These sorts of thoughts are often connected to the Brahma...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Thoughts driven by greed, hatred, or delusion lead us farther and farther from peace, and yet they are rampant. How do we work with them when they arise? In this talk we'll look at some Buddhist teachings that offer a framework for dis-identifying from and working skillfully with thoughts that don't serve us or others.