Suburban Dharma

In this Dhamma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on May 21, 2023, Subodha discusses five of the six characteristics of the Dhamma and how they relate to a teaching from the late Upasika Kee Nanayon, a laywoman Dharma teacher from Thailand. The translation of her teachings referenced in the talk is Pure and Simple , translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

In this Dhamma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on April 16, 2023, Subodha discusses the misconception that it is the torture and strict asceticism that the Buddha did while still a seeker that led to his awakening. It is his overcoming of his fear of pleasurable meditation and pleasures not associated with sensuality or unskillful mental qualities that led to his r...

In this Dhamma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 3/19/23, Subodha shares his thoughts on Ven. Thich Thien-An’s legacy as the founder and first abbot of IBMC. Sharing from Ven. Thich Thien-An’s book, Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice , Subodha gives his interpretation of three essentials of the practice: great faith, great doubt, and great determination.

A Dhamma talk given at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 2/19/23. Subodha shares his first encounter with Buddhism as a child and the story of the Buddha overcoming Mara, the Buddhist personification of death that appears in several stories attempting to dissuade people from living the holy life and attaining liberation. How can the belief in Mara be used skillfully in ou...

A Dhamma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 1/15/23. Subodha shares a story from the Pali Canon about two monks who get into a fight and one commits a transgression that the other does not forgive. The Buddha weighs in on the matter, saying what is unwise and wise in regard to transgressions and pardoning. Subodha then relates this to his own past and a humbling le...

A Dhamma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 12/18/22. Subodha shares lessons from the Pali Canon on what constitutes true happiness and why it is worth pursuing.

A Dhamma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 11/13/22. Subodha shares thoughts on living a quiet life in the forest being a waste if the mind is not also secluded. He shares a reading from the Viveka Sutta (SN 9:1) on the importance of training the mind away from the hindrances. The third tetrad of the Anapanasati Sutta (Mindfulness of Breathing Sutta), dealing with...

A Dhamma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 10/23/22. Subodha discusses what it means to practice the Buddha’s teachings in our modern time and place.

A Dhamma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 9/18/22. Subodha shares a story about driving by a casino and then shortly after witnessing a murder of crows making a game out of consuming roadkill as they dodge oncoming cars. These events are then related to the eight worldly conditions and how the Buddha teaches us to be free of them.

A talk at IBMC Los Angeles on 8/14/22. Subodha begins with a story about an encounter with a rattlesnake to build on the themes of kindness, skillfulness, and discernment.

A talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 7/10/22. Not getting caught up on arguing over maps when they can be so different from the terrain. Maps are useful when they an accurate guide and put to use, but we still need to be innovative and adapt when needed. And we eventually transcend the need for a map at all because we’ve reached the destination.

A Dharma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 6/5/22. Subodha shares his experience of practicing meditation while sick and severely short of breath.

A Dharma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 4/24/22.

A Dharma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 3/13/22

A Dharma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 1/2/2022. Subodha shares the Yoga Sutta (AN 4:10) and the four burdens of sensuality, becoming, views, and ignorance. Craving and clinging to these burdens impact the way we think and our existence in the present and future.

A Dharma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles on 12/12/21. Subodha reflects on the importance of simplicity and contentment on the path especially as it relates to the hectic holiday season.

A Dharma talk at the IBMC Sunday service on Zoom 11/21/2021. Subodha talks about the problem with the modern temptation to view traditional Buddhism as repressive and unnecessary in the pursuit of a peaceful mind. He shows how the precepts, especially those kept by dedicated lay disciples of the Buddha on the four moon phases, are taken on voluntarily to emulate the way of life of the Noble Ones,...

A talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles Sunday service on 10/10/21. In memory of his late friend, Subodha gives a Dharma talk on the seven treasures as a guide to living and dying well.

A Dharma talk at the International Buddhist Meditation Center Los Angeles Sunday Zoom service on 9/12/21. Tragedies large and small are discussed, including the attack on September 11. The five hindrances are framed as coping mechanisms for troubled times. And then some tactics for working with the five hindrances are offered.

A Dharma talk at the IBMC Sunday service on Zoom, 8/15/21. Subodha shares how the lesson he is preparing for the kids in Dharma school on the Eightfold Path reminded him of a book he read over twenty years ago called Way of the Peaceful Warrior. He then contrasts one of the teachings from the book about the present moment with the Buddha’s teachings on “appropriate attention” sho...

A Dharma talk at the IBMC Sunday service on Zoom 7/25/21. Subodha shares some of his thoughts on teaching the Noble Eightfold Path to children at an online Dharma school. This leads to a reflection of how Buddhism and the Eightfold Path encompass one’s whole life.

A Dharma talk given at the IBMC Sunday Service on Zoom, 6/20/21. The Buddha’s lessons on developing path factors to a reliable happiness and transcend suffering and stress are shared as a contrast to the popular view that the stresses of life are to be accepted.

A Dharma talk at the IBMC Zoom Sunday Service. Subodha talks about the five aggregates not as an objective description of a human being, but as the Buddha’s explanation of why we suffer and how to find liberation by changing the activities of the mind by abandoning desire and developing dispassion.

A Dharma talk at the IBMC Sunday service on Zoom, 4/25/21. Subodha discusses the Devadaha Sutta (SN 22:2) as a good summary of the path and why we follow it. He also talks about meditation and its role in measuring progress, looking at heart and mind. When developing skillful mental qualities and abandoning unskillful mental qualities, how does the heart feel? Is it heavy, like dragging a cart beh...

Subodha gives a Dharma talk at the IBMC Zoom Sunday service on 3-7-21. He shares life lessons with his grandfather and lessons that the Buddha shared with his son. Rahula, on meditation and equanimity. The Sutta discussed is MN 62, Maha Rahulovada Sutta.