Sunday Dharma Talk

The practice of letting go is just that, a practice.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the 'course of treatment' the Buddha prescribes through which we let go and gradually are freed from suffering.  The talk was given in the winter of 2025. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

As dharma students, we don't lose sight of the truth.  We remember the brightness in life.  We remember the joy in life.  We remember our capacity for happiness.  And through it all, we resolve to live live joyfully.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we learn to make the resolve to live joyfully.  The dharma talk was given in March 2026. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

As dharma students, as an admirable friend, we learn to relate to each other from the heart.  We speak the language of the heart.  In this talk Peter Doobinin describes why it's so necessary to have admirable friends.   "With regard to external factors, I don't envision any other single factor like friendship with admirable people as doing so much for a monk in training, who has not attained the g...

As dharma students, as human beings, we meet difficulties in life.  We meet difficulty, in ourselves, in others, in the world.  Through it all, we stay true.  We stay true to ourselves.  We stay true to the dharma.  We stay true to the heart.  we don't lose the heart.  We keep to the heart.  And it's important to remember, as Peter Doobinin reminds us, that what enables us to keep to the heart are...

As dharma students, we develop meditation and the skills of mindfulness so that can awaken.  In the process of awakening, we learn to meet life on life's terms.  We learn to meet the difficulties and challenges of life.  In doing so, we're not simply seeking to endure the challenges of life.  We're seeking to learn.  The message of the path, as Peter Doobinin explains, is a message of joy, brightn...

In dharma practice, we could say, the elemental components are physiology, psychology & spirituality.  We develop each of these elements of the practice.  And each element supports and strengthens the others.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we might think of our practice in this ... and how these elements of dharma practice, when developed, lead us to a greater happiness in this li...

It is a tendency of the mind to fixate, to become preoccupied with certain things, with certain thoughts, with certain stories.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how, using the skills the Buddha teaches, we learn to ease fixation.  And thereby live in the body and in the heart.  The talk was given in the winter of 2026. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

Emotions, as Peter Doobinin explains, are part of life, part of what it means to be a human being.  In dharma practice, we learn to understand emotions and to develop a skillful relationship to them.  And we learn to move beyond emotions, to know those qualities that are transcendent and conduce to happiness, the qualities of the heart.  The dharma talk was given in January 2025. New York Dharma:...

The path is the path of the heart.  It's a spiritual path.  As Peter Doobinin explains, the elements of this spiritual path include generosity, virtue, renunciation, and meditation.  Following this path, we come closer to the heart.  We know happiness of heart.  The talk was given in January 2025. May all beings be happy of heart! NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

The dharma is inside.  It's found within each of us.  It's found in this body.  In this very life.  As Peter Doobinin explains, as we develop in the practice of meditation, in the practice of mindfulness of the body, we become more and more in tune with the dharma within us.  This talk was offered in February 2026. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

The dharma students seeks to know a greater happiness in this very life.  As Peter Doobinin explains, we each have the capacity to live with an awakened heart, to live joyfully, to know the joy of living.  As we learn to move beyond our doubts and self judgments, the path opens up to us; we know what it possible; we begin to realize a greater happiness.  The dharma talk was given at an NY Dharma d...

As we move forward in our practice, in our efforts to cultivate skillful, affirmative thoughts we know a greater happiness.  This, as the Buddha tells us, is something we can do.   And it's something we should learn to do, if we want to know a joyful life.  In order to have a joyful life, we have to cultivate joyful thoughts.  Affirmative thoughts.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we cul...

By asking questions in skillful ways we learn to free the heart of its burdens and know the happiness inside, the happiness of heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the skill of asking skillful questions.  The talk was given in January 2026.  It's the third in a series of dharma talks on cultivating skillful thinking that Peter offered during the month. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

Our happiness in this life depends on the way that we think and the actions that follow.  As dharma students, our task is to abandon unskillful thinking and to cultivate skillful thinking.  In this talk, Peter explains the skill for cultivating skillful thinking, thinking that leads us to true happiness.  The dharma talk is the second in a series of talks on "Skillful Thinking" offered in January...

This dharma talk is the first in a series of talks on the theme of "Skillful Thinking" given by Peter Doobinin in January 2026.  As Peter explains, the Buddha's path is a path of developing skills.  The skill of skillful thinking is integral to the path.  Through developing skillful thinking we are able to shape our lives, we are able to live with wisdom & compassion, we are able to know the h...

Meditation is often difficult.  But, as Peter Doobinin explains, it's time well spent.  This talk was given by Peter in December 2025.

The practice of the dharma is the practice of being aware in the here & now.  Being aware of our experience, as it is, in the moment.  And, in turn, shaping our experience of the here & now.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains what it is to live in the here & now; and how we're able to do that.  The dharma talk was offered on December 21, 2025. You shouldn't chase after the past or...

The truths of the heart, the dhamma, are timeless and deathless.  The dharma has always been there and will always be there.  The Buddha didn't invent the dharma.  He found it.  And he taught a way, a path, by which we might find it.  Our task is to follow the path and, in turn, to be alert to the dhamma, that timeless quality.  It is from this place, that we seek to live.  The talk was offered by...

The dhamma is found inside.  Inside each of us.  It is found inside and it is always there.  It is timeless.  This talk was given by Peter Doobinin at the end of the year in December 2025. New York Dharma:  www.nydharma.org  

There is that which is subject to birth & death; and there is that which doesn't die.  As we understand the truth of impermanence, we gradually move toward knowing the happiness that doesn't die:  the happiness of the heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explain how our understanding of impermanence leads us to a greater happiness in this life.  He encourages us to ask, "Is there a happ...

In dharma practice, we learn to change.  We change our karma.  We change our actions.  The skills the Buddha teaches enable us to no longer act our on our past karma ... and in turn, to act in support of the heart.  As we practice these skills, we come to know a greater happiness in this life.  This dharma talk is the fourth in a series of four talks on "The Law of Karma" that Peter Doobinin gave...

All skillful qualities, the Buddha teaches, are rooted in heedfulness.  The practice of heedfulness enables us to discern which actions to take, which actions will lead us to a greater happiness in this life.  In this talk, Peter explains the skill of heedfulness, how we develop it, and the importance in doing so.  The dharma talk is the third talk in a series on "The Law of Karma" offered in Sept...

As the law of karma suggests, our happiness in this life depends on our actions.  As dharma students, we seek to take action that is skillful, informed by lovingkindness and compassion, in the service of knowing a greater happiness.  However, in order to develop in skillful action we have to transcend our habitual way of doing things:  our past karma.  In this talk, Peter explains the process we l...

Understanding of the law of karma is central to the Buddha's path.  In awakening, we awaken to the law of karma.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the law of karma; and, importantly, he explains how we come to develop this elemental understanding.  The talk is the first in a series of dharma talks on the law of karma offered in September 2025. NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org  

The practice of the dharma is, when developed, a way of life.  It is the way of the heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the way of the heart and how we learn to develop the heart.  He talks about making the resolve to cultivate the way of the heart and encourages us to ask: what is my resolve to follow the way of the heart?  The talk was given in summer 2024. NY Dharma: www.nydha...