Tea with Mara

“Gratitude Balancing Rage” is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation on how the heart can widen even in moments when it feels tight, hot, and reactive. We explore why rage contracts our world down to a single point and how gratitude gently expands it again. We cover a lot, including some practical ways to bring gratitude into real-time moments of anger without bypassing or pretending. Enjoy! ht...

" Despite All My Rage"  is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha about the fire we feel when we’re hurt, unseen, or misunderstood, and the cage we end up building around our own hearts. We explore what the Buddha taught about anger, why revenge never brings real freedom, and how we can reclaim our power by tending to the wound beneath the rage. If you’ve ever felt trapped in your ang...

"More Ferris, Less Cameron" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation on the topic of strong fixed views, and the pain and suffering that holding those can introduce to our lives. We dive into the subtle ways our beliefs hold us tight, and how compassion and curiosity can set us free. In a nutshell, we hold our views, but our strong fixed views hold us in a clenched fist. I hope you&#...

“Empire of Noble Silence”  is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha that looks at how Christopher Ruocchio’s wonderful book Empire of Silence unexpectedly echoes one of the oldest Dharma stories we have; the prince who leaves the palace and finally sees the world as it is. Hadrian’s journey reminds us that awakening begins the moment we step outside our own comfort and truly see . The dharma c...

"A Gentle Strength" is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha exploring what it really means to stay grounded and clear when emotions run high, especially when we feel protective of the people we love. Gentleness isn’t weakness. It’s steady, courageous presence. And it’s a strength we can all cultivate, one breath at a time. I hope you'll find this talk useful. Enjoy! https://bio....

“Nothing Truly Disappears” is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation about loss. How we meet it, how we hold it, and how we continue on with love instead of collapse. We looked at the Buddha comforting his father at the end of his life and how presence, compassion, and the simple truth of continuation eased his fears, and how those same teachings can help us when grief touches our lives. Loss h...

"Intruder Alert!" is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha about intrusive thoughts. Those strange, sudden, unwanted flashes the mind throws at us that can feel scary, shameful, or completely out of character. The Buddha understood this long before psychology named it. These thoughts aren’t signs of who we are, they’re simply impermanent, conditioned events that come and go on their...

"Preparing For The Holidays" is a Dharma talk and very brief meditation offered in MindfulnessVR on the topic of how we can start preparing ourselves now for the many ways that the holiday season can challenge us, so that we are not reacting, but responding skillfully. Seasonal Affective Disorder, family gatherings, and loneliness are just a few of the ways we get triggered in the season...

"The Dharma of Delayed Gratification" is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha that explores what happens when our desire for instant pleasure replaces our patience for lasting peace. We’ll look at why the fast way is actually the long way, how craving disguises itself as progress, and how to rediscover the slow joy of contentment that doesn’t need constant feeding. I hope this will...

"Read The Room" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation offered for the MindfulnessVR community in VRChat. It's also a sort of love letter to the Buddha and to the Bookish community. A shameless mashup of the two worlds I spend nearly every waking moment immersed in. I was thinking about mood readers in the bookish community the other day and I decided that this was a way I coul...

“Turning Toward Winter ” is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha about how, as the world cools and slows, we’re reminded that not every season is for blooming. This talk looks at what it means to practice winter, to rest without guilt, to honor darkness as teacher, and to tend the small lamp of wisdom that burns steady through change. We’ll explore the Buddha’s teaching on balance, effort, an...

“The Demon God” is a surprise bonus Spooky Season Dharma talk about the so-called “Demon God Mara” from Buddhism. We all have our demons. The Demon God is a story about the night the Buddha faced his. Māra the demon god, (SPOILER ALERT) was his own mind! The mind that is filled with fear, craving, and doubt. It’s about the great battle that led to awakening, and the quiet truth that awareness is s...

“Slayer To Saint” is the last of our Spooky Season Dharma talks! We explore the story of Aṅgulimāla the man born “Harmless” who became feared as a serial killer, and then found his way back to harmlessness again. It’s a story of fear, obedience, and transformation. Of how a good student can lose his way trying to please the wrong teacher. And how even the most violent karma can ripen into peace wh...

“Nothing To Fear ” is a spooky season Dharma Talk on death. Most of us grow up thinking cemeteries are scary places full of ghosts, reminders of loss, and stories we’d rather not face. But the Buddha taught that when we look closely, what we find is honesty. When we truly understand impermanence, fear transforms into peace. We stop clinging to what we can’t keep, and stop fearing what we can’t avo...

“The Spookiest of All Ghosts” isn’t about haunted houses or things that go bump in the night. It’s about the restless hungers that haunt our own hearts and minds. The cravings, habits, and addictions that whisper “just one more.” Drawing on the Buddha’s teachings and Dr. Gabor Maté’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, we explored how to face those inner ghosts with compassion, not fear. And how to fee...

"Outing Our Inner Demons" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation on working with our less appealing, or shadow side aspects. It's not so hard to work with our good bits, but sometimes we push away and resist facing our darker side. This talk is all about how we can transform those fiendish imps into useful tools and teachers. A bit of Spooky Season fun with a serious topic! I h...

“Ghosts of the Mind ” is a dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha to get in the spirit of Spooky Season!; the perfect time to talk about fear. Not the kind in haunted houses, but the kind that lives in our heads. The Buddha knew that most of the ghosts that haunt us come from the stories our minds tell when we don’t see clearly. The rope we mistake for a snake. The fear that turns a quiet night i...

“There You Are” is about the wandering mind, the doubts and distractions that convince us we “can’t meditate”, and why none of that has to stop us. Meditation isn’t about sitting perfectly still or holding perfect focus. It’s about learning to meet the mind with patience, and gently return… again and again. Every return is the practice. Every return is progress. Every return is enough. I hope you&...

"Stop, See, Soften, Serve" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation about Wise Action. Actions tend to be greater than words, and this week’s talk is about making the Dharma visible through what we do. We explored Wise Action’s three threads of non-harming, not taking what isn’t freely given, and honoring intimacy and consent as well as how they braid with Wise Speech to make our liv...

"Wise and Free" is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha on the topic of Wise Speech. We often celebrate the idea of  free speech ( the right to say what we want, when we want). But the Buddha taught something deeper:  wise speech . Wise speech isn’t about restriction, it’s about freedom. The kind that comes from words that heal instead of harm, and which connect instead of divide. T...

"Pumpkinheads"  is a Dharma talk and short guided meditation inspired by my daughter’s first job at a pumpkin patch and a graphic novel we read together to celebrate,  PumpkinHeads . The story brought to mind what’s sometimes called the  Vipassanā Romance .; that tendency we all have to create elaborate stories in our minds about people and situations long before we know the truth. We be...

"All I Wanted Was A Pepsi" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation about respecting and honoring our parents, even when we don't always agree with our parents. It's about how we can always practice respect, gratitude, and compassion. The Buddha taught that even if we carried our parents on our shoulders for a hundred years, we could never fully repay them. What he asked inst...

"Don't Fear The Reaping" is a Dharma talk and brief guided meditation on the topic of karma. Karma isn’t punishment, reward, or judgment. It’s simply the seeds we plant with our intentions, words, and actions. The Buddha taught:  “Whatever seed is sown, that is the fruit that will be reaped.”   We only need to pay attention to what we’re planting in this moment. Hope this is helpful....

“Bend, Not Break” is a dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha on the topic of resilience in troubling times. We explored how true resilience isn’t about hardening ourselves or pretending to be untouchable, but about staying flexible, grounded, and compassionate in the middle of life’s storms. We also talked about the role of community and everyday kindness in keeping one another steady, so no one...

“A Noble Mind” is a Dharma talk offered at Two Hands Sangha on Mudita. True joy doesn’t shrink when shared, it multiplies. This talk explores mudita  (Appreciative Joy), the practice of rejoicing in the happiness of others, and how it transforms envy into connection and the ordinary into the noble. I hope this will be useful in your life. Enjoy! https://bio.reverendgeorgebeecher.com