Tea with Mara

Dharma Talk and Meditation on the topics of Emptiness and Non-Self. Inspired by a wonderful conversation about "souls" with a friend, these thoughts barely scratch the surface but I hope it helps a little with these ideas, which can be confusing to many of us! Enjoy!

Less of a dharma talk, and more of an opinion piece with some dharma viewpoints on the topic of April Fools Day. Do you like it? Not like it? Don't care? What would the Buddha have thought? Join the discussion and see! Enjoy!

Inspired by a couple of questions a friend and listener asked me, I decided to try and address things that people find confusing or confounding about Buddhism tonight. Since I don't claim to have all the answers, I called it Questions and Responses, instead of Questions and Answers. I hope this will clarify more than it causes confusion! :)

Dharma Talk and meditation based on the chapter called "The Three Bodies of the Buddha" in Thich Nhat Hanh's book Heart of The Buddha's Teachings. I hope you'll enjoy this venture into a little Mahayana territory!

Dharma Talk from Two Hands Sangha one The One Cookie Loophole! Actually, it's about the Three Dharma Seals, or Four, as it turned out. I read mostly from Thich Nhat Hanh's book Heart of The Buddha's Teachings and commented along the way. It's a wonderfully clear teaching, as you always can expect from Thich Nhat Hanh. Enjoy!

For this episode, I am reposting a dharma talk from almost exactly a year ago. Around this time, roughly, a year ago... Metallica blessed the world with the 72 Seasons Album, giving us the best album they've had since the Holy Trinity imho. It was so good, that it inspired this dharma talk based on the song Shadows Follow , which I recorded while I was in a hotel room in Boston I think. Forgiv...

Finishing up the third of a series of three talks on the Five Faculties/Powers in the dharma. Monday of last week we talked about Faith and Wisdom, Thursday we talked about Energy and Concentration. Here we finish off with number 5, Mindfulness, which holds and makes possible the other four. Hope you enjoy this Dharma Talk and Meditation, and also...don't forget...you're amazing!

Dharma Talk from Two Hands Sangha on 03/10/24 on what the Buddha said about avoiding theatrical productions! Which is really a talk about the Sigalovada Sutta (thought of as the Vinaya for Householders) and store consciousness. Enjoy!

Dharma Talk and Meditation on Energy and Concentration, with a random bit of wisdom from Run DMC. Hope you enjoy!

Dharma Talk and Meditation from Mindfulness Monday with the Together with TRIPP Community on the topic of Faith and Wisdom, two balancing factors of the Five Spiritual Faculties. I hope you will enjoy them!

Two Hands Sangha dharma talk on inspired by two pieces of lumber. Yep. Newer isn't always better, and this is true for homes as well as dharma practice and teachers as you'll hear in this talk. This talk covers a lot of ground but the main message is about discerning the best teachers and practices for you. I hope you find it helpful!

Amidst all the suffering of the moment...A dharma talk and short meditation on the three kinds of suffering! Had technical difficulties, life difficulties, and other fun at the beginning, but this talk picks up just after all that and - appropriately - discusses the different ways we suffer. Hope you find it beneficial!

New dharma talk and meditation, requested by the community, on the difference between Metta (Loving-Kindness) and Karuna (Compassion). This was a lovely night with community on a topic that's so important. I hope you enjoy!

Two Hands Sangha Dharma Talk on returning to practice, and remembering the purpose of practice. All The ways the Buddha encouraged us to stay the course. Pardon the audio, as the in-person session setup isn't as good as my VR setup, and I continue to work on that. Hope you enjoy!

Dharma Talk and Meditation from our "Right Now, It's Like This!" session on the topic of working with being mentally exhausted and working with that. Enjoy!

Mindfulness Monday's Dharma Talk and Meditation on the topic of problem solving and the dharma. This was inspired by several things going on for people in our Together with TRIPP community and is really about the importance of a routine practice, and how the dharma can solve any problem as long as we understand that sometimes that solution is not to solve the problem, but to be with it. Please...

Dharma Talk and Meditation from Thursday's 'Right Now, It's Like This!' on the topic of Teacher Student relationships and what the Buddha said about them. This is a continuation, of sorts, from Monday's session on friendships. I hope you'll enjoy!

A Dharma Talk and Meditation on the topic of friends, both spiritual and otherwise, and what the Buddha had to say about them all. I hope you'll enjoy this one as much as I did. Even my sniffly nose and stuffy head (which I apologize for) didn't prevent this important topic from having its time. Be sure to check out Kara Baldus (Mehrmann?) who was my inspiration for this talk.

A Dharma Talk and guided meditation on the topic of how the dharma can help us sleep more peacefully, and also help us stay awake during our meditation practice, and how similar these two seemingly opposed things are treated. I hope you can stay awake to enjoy this one! ;)

Dharma Talk and Meditation on the topic of "love", as requested by a community member. This was a beautiful subject to discuss and not one I feel gets enough attention, so I hope you enjoy this chance to discuss this broad topic from a dharma view.

Dharma Talk from Two Hands Sangha this past Sunday on the topic of Wise Speech, particularly around gossip and complaining. It's been coming up a lot lately and a conversation with a friend finally convinced me it was time for a reminder on the topic. I hope you'll enjoy this talk, and would like to hear from you if you have any questions or comments.

Dharma Talk on the vicissitudes of life, or "Eight Worldly Winds". This topic is one of my favorites. My logo on www. ReverendGeorgeBeecher.com has a pendulum in it, and this topic is why. I find the image and function of the pendulum to be a great example of many aspects of the dharma. In the midst of this talk (edited to reduce the boring audio while I fixed it) my tech failed and I ha...

Dharma Talk and Meditation on letting go by being present, among other things. Enjoy this talk that, of course because it's me, invokes a number of songs that talk about the present moment, and offers instructions and practices from the Buddha on how to appreciate the present moment instead of ruining it by comparison.

Dharma Talk reflecting on 12 years of Sangha, and the Counterfeit Of The True Dhamma Sutta (Saddhammapatirupaka Sutta) as it relates to the importance of Sangha. I originally posted the audio from our local sangha on 01/28 saying it was our 14th anniversary, but math is hard, so I had to make corrections to the audio and repost. Enjoy!

Dharma Talk and Meditation on negativity and toxic positivity. Enjoy the talk and meditation now with bonus barking dogs occasionally! XD