Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley: dharma talks and meditation instruction

(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.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk shares a teaching from the great 10th Century Tibetan master, Tilopa. Tilopa and his succession of Dharma heirs formed the core of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He passed his teachings on to Naropa, whose student Marpa transmitted them to Milarepa, who then gave transmission to Gampopa. Tilopa's teaching is summed up in his timeless "Si...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) We often need something to be special to catch our attention. It takes practice to be mindful of ordinary experiences like the breath, a sound or a sensation. When we practice looking at reality through the lens of Sacred Perception, however, everything becomes holy and worthy of our attention. This talk explores Sacred Perception as a practice that makes...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Equanimity is a quality the Buddha described as essential to awakening. This talk discusses what that means and how do we practice?

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Amma Thanasanti began meditating in 1979 under the guidance of Jack Engler, Ajahn Chah, and Dipa Ma. She spent 28 years as a Buddhist nun, including 20 years in Ajahn Chah monasteries, and has taught internationally since 1996. She is the founder of Awakening Truth (awakeningtruth.org) and developed the Integrated Meditation Program (IMP), an attachment-r...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Compassion - turning toward suffering with care and wise responsiveness - is a familiar tenet of Buddhism. Renunciation is also a central teaching. What does that mean for lay practitioners and how does it relate to compassion?

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk discusses the Buddha's words on holding to fixed views from The Paramatthaka Sutta (Sn 4.5) followed by an open Q&A. While the Buddha warned against attachment to views, some views are clearly aligned with the Dharma such as: causing harm will lead to suffering for oneself or another. How can we reconcile not holding to fixed views when you're c...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) It seems with every day of news, there is more uncertainty, deep concern and unease. As much as we would like to, we can't control reality. However, the great gift of practice is that we can choose how to skillfully relate to our experience. This is a time for our practice to hold us. Instead of reacting impulsively in ways that just contract us more or w...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The Awakened heart dwells in the present moment and chooses wise response to the unfolding, ever changing, less-predictable-than-we-think experience of now. The Buddha taught four basic qualities of the awakened heart: friendliness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. These qualities frequently overlap, are innate (though sometimes/often not in charge) and c...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk will 1. Look back at 2025 reviewing what we've learned 2. Open to where we are in the present 3. Get in touch with our intention for the 2026 envisioning the qualities that will be most needed for us to deepen our understanding and inner peace We will also share a New Year's ritual of letting go and cultivation. If you're at home bring a candle....

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) As we head into the darkest period of the year we are processing dark forces of ignorance and hate in the news each day. The light and loving awareness can hold all the forces of ignorance-- both inside us and around us--with compassionate understanding This is a time to remember all that is good.

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The capacity to be touched by and love goodness is, in some sense, the heart of spiritual practice. Something in us loves the truth and is drawn to goodness around us. It makes us yearn to activate the good inside. It requires commitment to choosing wholesome qualities as our default instead of being drawn to the forces of attachment, aversion and ignoran...

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The Buddha taught transcending (and not identifying with) the thinking mind through present moment awareness. He also taught about using the thinking mind skillfully to incline toward wholesome, well-being inducing states. These two bodies of practice are different but each crucial in their own way, and support each other. This talk looks at working with...