James Baraz's most recent Dharma talks (Dharma Seed)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A description of how the meditation practice unfolds

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) In one discourse the Buddha taught that suffering can be a causative factor for faith to arise. However, that is not always the case. In fact, often suffering leads to bitterness, fear, and ill will. Why is it that, for some people, suffering is the catalyst to begin their spiritual journey and for others it's leads to negative patterns that contribute to...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) A follow up to a recent talk that focused on death and dying. This talk explores the other four of the Five Daily Reflections (also known as the Five Remembrances): aging, illness, loss and karma. It includes practices and discussion on how we can include them regularly in our Dharma practice, which the Buddha highly recommended.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The Buddha gave a teaching on five different methods he recommended to work with disturbing thoughts. When we are mindful of the thinking process it's possible to see thoughts simply as mental fabrications. However, when we get caught in them and the body gets activated, we spin out in the story and are caught in a negative emotional response. We become i...

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Sometimes the hardest person to send metta to is oneself. This guided meditation invites us to see ourselves through a loved one's eyes to see who we really are.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After establishing our anchor or home base in the meditation we can expand the field beyond the breath to skillfully include other body sensations and sounds.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In his teaching on The Four Wise Efforts, the Buddha taught us to maintain and increase wholesome states (kusala) when they arise. This talk explains how to make that a central part of our practice.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) As much as we would like things to be a certain way, we have limited control over the way things are. Even though that may be apparent to all Dharma students who have some practice under their belt, the mind still gets caught in the habit of attachment to things being a certain way. This week we will explore what gets in the way, how we can open to the wa...

(London Insight Meditation)

(London Insight Meditation)

(London Insight Meditation)

(London Insight Meditation)

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This Earth Day week we share an evening of gratitude and celebration for our natural world. When we get in touch with our love for something we are more motivated to care for it. Rather than going into the dire situation that most of us are all too familiar with, we can get connected with the beauty of the world that is our home We share a clip on the nat...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The Buddha suggested reflecting regularly on five aspects of life called the Five Reflections (also called the Five Remembrances). This talk focuses on what he called "the most supreme of all meditations": mindfulness of death or maranasati. Although contemplation of one's death might seem unsettling or scary, when undertaken as a conscious practice it ca...

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk explores the topic of Clear Comprehension (sampajañña in Pali) a powerful Dharma teaching on four different aspects of practice. In the Satipatthana Sutta the Discourse on the Four Foundation of Mindfulness, with regard to each foundation, the Buddha says the following: "Here, bhikkhus (practitioners), a bhikkhu (practitioner) lives contemplatin...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Many people are experiencing stress and anxiety these days. Heartbreaking scenes of victims of the Ukraine invasion and other conflicts, potential escalation of war, political divisiveness or personal challenges all create an atmosphere of tension that is in the air. How can we use our practice to calm the mind and create space to hold it all without gett...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) When a leader has the welfare of the people as a priority the country prospers. When a leader cares only for themselves the country declines. This talk explores the Buddha's teaching on the qualities that make a good leader, the influence a leader has on the people and the story of an actual leader who underwent a transformation from a feared merciless ru...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is particularly sad and disturbing Although there are conflicts like this happening around the world, an unprovoked invasion from one of the strongest military countries in the world into a European country that could feasibly escalate into another world war is deeply unsettling. We explore as a community how ou...

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Your practice affects everyone around you. When you see your practice in this wider context, it evokes a whole dimension of inspiration and “joyful responsibility“ to cultivate wisdom and compassion within us. In this world with so much suffering—including the climate crisis and injustice in the world—more than ever we need to keep this in mind and see ourselves as...

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Equanimity is always the last on every list, which shows its importance as the culmination of the mind that can be with all things. Cultivating a balance and centeredness in the midst of our joys and sorrows, we can know the peace that the Buddha encourages us to experience.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Mudita for a friend who is having great happiness, self, benefactor, and neutral categories

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Buddha taught that one should cultivate and, when possible, maintain wholesome states. This talk explores teachings on cultivating states of well-being and how to deepen them in our practice.