The House of Inner Tranquillity Podcast

We are making the audio files from the House of Inner Tranquillity YouTube channel available. This is a series concerning the practical application of the Buddha's teaching through the development of vipassana (Insight meditation). This episode explores more deeply the universal characteristic of impermanence.     Paul Harris is the Spiritual Director and principal teacher at the House of Inner Tr...

In nature we can find self organising systems and highly complex processes that appear to happen by themselves. Paul describes a radio documentary about a marine animal that is able to reassemble its parts after they have been separated. Despite the automatic nature of our bodies, (as well as their unstable and unsatisfactory nature), we identify with them as self. Paul goes on to explain the medi...

We are making the audio files from the House of Inner Tranquillity YouTube channel available. This is a series concerning the practical application of the Buddha's teaching through the development of vipassana (Insight meditation). This episode explores what is meant when we say that all ultimate phenomena are transient, suffering and non-self.     Paul Harris is the Spiritual Director and princip...

Wanting is the cause of suffering - wanting things to be different. Most people ignore this fact, and they are also unaware of ethical action, kamma, and its inevitable results. For happiness in the world we need to live restraining harmful action. Attachment to things of the world is the problem, and leads to continued rebirth in Samsara. To transcend unhappiness altogether we have to gain direct...

Upheavals in the geopolitical landscape have left many feeling vulnerable and anxious. Can we trust what politicians and the media tell us and what does the future hold? Disillusioned and seeking peace, freedom and truth, we cast about looking for an alternative meaning to life. Those that turn towards Buddhism discover a completely different way of looking at the world. This talk looks at what ta...

We are making the audio files from the House of Inner Tranquillity YouTube channel available. This is a series concerning the practical application of the Buddha's teaching through the development of vipassana (Insight meditation). In this episode we try to clarify what was said in the last one concerning the nature of ultimate reality.   Paul Harris is the Spiritual Director and principal teacher...

There are differences of opinion in society, with people wanting others to conform to their own views. We believe that if they agree with us, we can improve the world and reduce suffering. This goes against the grain of the Buddha’s teaching, which encourages us to align with life’s flow. By  following the precepts and developing gratitude and appreciation, we can generate happiness and equanimity...

We are making the audio files from the House of Inner Tranquillity YouTube channel available. This is a series concerning the practical application of the Buddha's teaching through the development of vipassana (Insight meditation). In this episode we consider the nature of ultimate reality, how it differs from the more conventional way of describing the world and why we need to learn to clearly de...

What do we mean by an emotion? That is really the first question to ask. Buddhism is quite precise on this, although it does not actually speak of emotion directly. An emotion is in fact a volitional activity accompanied by a feeling. Alan James founded the House of Inner Tranquillity, along with his wife Jacqui James in 1980. He continued to teach the way to enlightenment until his retirement in...

We are making the audio files from the House of Inner Tranquillity YouTube channel available. This is a series concerning the practical application of the Buddha's teaching through the development of vipassana (Insight meditation). This episode looks at how feelings affect our ability to put aside thinking and using sense-contacts as the basis for developing insight-wisdom.   Paul Harris is the Sp...

The Buddha taught that there are many more realms and dimensions to life than just the human. Paul describes life as an infinite game of snakes and ladders. Dependent on the kinds of actions we perform we can experience different levels of existence.  Paul Harris is the Spiritual Head and principal meditation teacher at the House of Inner Tranquillity.                  This talk was given in Octob...

Sally Passfield is a long-standing member of the HoIT community. Together with the Centre's spiritual director Paul Harris they answer some questions posed via social media. Running order: 00.30 - Conway's game of life 05.00 - What happens to "signature" consciousness at death? 11.25 - How does kamma work? 18.17 - How can you live without views? 22.20 - Investigating the "subtle sense of self" 27....

We are making the audio files from the House of Inner Tranquillity YouTube channel available. This is a series concerning the practical application of the Buddha's teaching through the development of vipassana (Insight meditation). This episode looks at the different kinds of knowledge that are generated and utilised as insight practise develops.   Paul Harris is the Spiritual Director and princip...

The main reason for meditating is to become conscious of unconscious areas of mind, in order to understand and let go of habitual patterns of mind that create dissatisfaction. Most people try to find happiness through acquiring external wealth. With practical examples, Jacqui describes how one develops the ‘inner wealth’ of a soft, accepting, non-judgemental and loving mind.  Jacqui James was a Bu...

We are making the audio files from the House of Inner Tranquillity YouTube channel available. This is the third episode in a series concerning the practical application of the Buddha's teaching through the development of vipassana (Insight meditation). Explores why and how views are clung to and why and how they are to be surrendered through the practice of Insight meditation.   Paul Harris is the...

In answering a meditator's question about how to respond to current concerns about the climate, Paul widens the scope to dealing with any view that is based in resistance to unfolding reality. Acceptance of the unfolding reality, however, in no way suggests passivity. In eliminating greed, hatred and confusion from our nature, we are better able to face life's inherent uncertainty.  Paul Harris is...

Jason Rebello is a long-standing member of the HoIT community. Together with the Centre's spiritual director Paul Harris they answer some questions posed via social media. Running order: 1:07 - "Is there a supreme God?" 7:40 -  "On keeping a meditation journal" 18:25 - "What is the relationship between jhana and vipassana?" 25:14 - "Farming and being harmless" 28:58 - "Is it possible to ask too ma...

We are making the audio files from the House of Inner Tranquillity YouTube channel available. This is a series concerning the practical application of the Buddha's teaching through the development of vipassana (Insight meditation). This episode looks at what is required for the mind to rest undistracted for protracted periods of time, in order to mindfully investigate unfolding experience.    Paul...

Alan James founded the House of Inner Tranquillity, along with his wife Jacqui James in 1980. He continued to teach the way to enlightenment until his retirement in 2010.   This talk was originally given in March 1987.

We are making the audio files from the House of Inner Tranquillity YouTube channel available. This is the first episode in a series concerning the practical application of the Buddha's teaching through the development of vipassana (Insight meditation). Covers the context for why we practise in the way that we do, where to place one's attention, dealing with habitual tendencies and calming the mind...

Most people get caught up in the appearance of things and attempt to get the world to conform to desires and expectations. Paul’s talk guides us through the alternative. Rather than entailing worldly action of any kind, it requires a head-on confrontation with our suffering. By fully accepting the way things really are, one can escape the wheel of samsara forever, through the elimination of ignora...

Two types of truth, conventional and ultimate, are distinguished. Conventional truth is based in generalisation, e.g. 'All men have 2 legs'. Problems can arise from making such truths into laws which are expected always to be true. Ultimate truth is based in analysis of experience; investigation. Doing this, the meditator finds that you can only experience one thing at a time - the senses don't ov...

Masculine and feminine sides to personality; double messages and super-image; total relationship with oneself needed before possible with another. Recognition that it is the feelings, not the person, we are reacting to. Reduction of self-hatred through accepting mental states rather than repressing them. Jacqui James was a Buddhist Insight meditation teacher and the co-founder of the House of Inne...

Looking back at all the revolutions and transformations through which humans have gone, be they cultural, political or technological, we find there are fundamental aspects of life that have not been touched at all. Instead of trying to effect meaningful and lasting change in the external world, The Buddha's path leads to an internal revolution, in terms of how we see and understand life to be. Rat...

A video of Tibetan monks playing a game demonstrates how to take joy in the simple things in life. Meditators need that same guileless and unpretentious approach to following a spiritual path. We know that there are difficult times to be faced that will need courage and determination, but we learn also that the key to success in this is not to take ourselves too seriously. Through continued commit...