Awake in the World Podcast

Michael Stone leads a guided meditation beginning with grounding the body, opening to sound, and feeling the breath as an anchor to present experience. Recorded on May 2, 2011.

How many kalpas, ages, eons, did the Buddha sit still before he could wake up? Why did it take so long? It takes a while for the light to shine into the darkest places. What is our relationship to time? Recorded on April 12, 2011.

One of the last days of the 6 month Precepts course. Following chanting the Heart Sutra, five students present on the five ethical values of the course, and then Michael discusses three ways of thinking about ethics. And how to look at a flower and smile. Recorded on April 7, 2011.

A son leaves his father and 50 years later the father finds ways of healing the son's low self-esteem. You don't have to be good or walk on your knees for a hundred miles, just love what you love. Recorded at Centre of Gravity, Toronto, on April 5 2011.

Michael begins by discussing death and Japan's earthquake. Using the image of the burning house and a father trying to save his children, he teaches how we need to leave our burning houses on our own steam, nobody can do it for us. The father in the parable, like the Buddha, uses skillful means to teach a path of freedom. And, is it ok to lie to uphold compassion? Recorded on March 29, 2011.

Question and answer period with Michael after Lotus Sutra, Part 4 talk. None of the teachings are true! Even the ones about your own life. Part 2 of 2. Recorded on March 22, 2011

Michael talks about Fukushima, Japan, and Libya, and how lucky we are to practice in a place that is safe. How Mahayana Buddhism developed after the death of the Buddha with an emphasis on serving others and putting off personal enlightenment to serve the world. The talk ends with a moving story about a high school student rubbing the back of an elderly man at an evacuation centre in Japan. Part 1...

Contemporary debates about intellectual property and the practices of meditation and yoga are both built around a questioning of ideas of property, ownership, self and other. In this talk, Marcus Boon, writer, journalist and Professor of English at York University in Toronto, explores the relationship between interdependence and imitation, on the yoga mat and off, along the way reflecting on recip...

Michael Stone gives a talk during the ethics course about the precept of Aparigraha, and using our imagination. Recorded at Centre of Gravity, Toronto, on March 17, 2011.

It's not enough that our intentions are clear, our actions need to make a difference. Being a Bodhisattva means serving all beings including one's self, yet this can only occur when we see all beings as Buddhas. Recorded on March 16, 2011.

Michael introduces the first section of the Lotus Sutra where the Buddha casts a light from the centre of his eyebrows and wakes up 18,000 worlds. Is this a reminder that the light of the awakening goes everywhere, leaving nothing out. Maybe we can put off enlightenment in order to serve others. Recorded on March 8, 2011.

Michael teaches the basics of Mahayana Buddhism, defines what a Bodhisattva is, and explains the context of the Lotus Sutra. This talk has a good description of the history of Mahayana Buddhism as it applies to waking up ourselves and others, until every blade of grass is free. Recorded March 1, 2011.

Roshi Enkyo gives a morning dharma talk during a weekend retreat with Centre of Gravity. Recorded at Hart House, Toronto on February 26, 2011.

An incredible talk by Roshi Pat Enkyo O'Hara on Zen poetry and practice during her annual visit to Centre of Gravity. Enkyo Roshi is the abbot of Village Zendo in Manhattan (www.villagezendo.org). Recorded at Hart House, Toronto on February 25, 2011.

After surviving "the dry place", slowly our relationship transforms and appreciation arises. Appreciation leads to love and finally to letting go. Recorded on February 22, 2011.

Michael teaches the in-person ethics course on the wise use of energy (brahmacharya) - encountering all with respect and dignity. Recorded February 17, 2011.

Cathleen Hoskins, Psychotherapist/Philosopher, gives a lecture on the work of Martin Heidegger, philosophy, interconnectivity and being. Martin Heidegger is widely acknowledged as an original and important, yet controversial, philosopher in the 20th century. Recorded at Centre of Gravity in Toronto on February 15, 2011.

Michael begins talking about the reasons for bowing. Then he dives into what it's like to be caught in the dry place during relationship with practice and with others. Fear and its transformation. How to heal the wounds of abandonment. Recorded February 8, 2011.

Michael teaches the ethics course and discusses not-stealing, right after his computer is stolen at the NYC airport. Not taking what is not given freely and being satisfied with what we have. Recorded February 3, 2011. Please note, the recording cuts off at the end.

Michael goes through detailed instructions on sitting meditation posture and talks about lineage. Then he discusses our urges to run away when commitment arises and how commitment has departure built into it. Recorded Feb. 01, 2011.

Drawing on Norman Fischer's essay Michael explores how the honeymoon period of practice comes to an end and about the ten obstacles that show up which we tend to miss in deep practice. Psychologically, there are so many ways we get caught in practice and can't see how we are caught. Recorded Jan. 25, 2011.

Drawing on Norman Fischer's essay on monastic practice & it's maturation, Michael talks about 8 stages that we all encounter during any relationship. Also, how we get wounded & repeat our relational wounds in our relationship with our body, with others & with our spiritual practice. Recorded Jan. 18, 2011.

Drawing on Instructions to the Cook, Michael offers a talk on the teachings of the insentient. The snow and silence are teaching us. Can you give attention to the way the insentient teaches us? Recorded December 29, 2010.

Michael offers an introduction to the the five day silent New Year's Retreat. Michael talks about what can show up on retreat, and Dogen’s idea of the Way Seeking Heart. Recorded December 28, 2010.

Michael talks about how the person in us who is sick has the resources to take care of the parts of us that are not sick. This paradox is the entry point of maturing meditation practice. Recorded December 21, 2010.