Undefended Dharma with Mary Stancavage

One of the basic teachings of Buddhism, the Eightfold Path is not only the path to awakening and the end of suffering, but it also provides a foundation in this world of constant change and impermanence. In this talk, Mary discusses how the Path is a place of refuge and of power enabling us to live in harmony with the world. Recorded Jan 25, 2020 in Los Angeles Send me a text with any questions or...

In this first class of 2020 Mary revisits the Buddha's teaching on intention and how powerful it is in shaping our lives on a path towards freedom. Additionally she speaks about the book My Grandmother's Hands by Resmaa Menakem, an investigation of racialized trauma and body-centered psychology. Although not Buddhist, it is aligned with the need to connect and be with our deepest experie...

Taking time away from our daily activities is an important way to take care of ourselves. When we couple this with meditation practice, it can support the cultivation of wisdom and seeing clearly our relation to the world. Whether we can attend a residential retreat, or simply keep up with a consistent meditation practice, this time we take is extremely important and extremely beneficial. Recorded...

The Satipatthana Sutta is the Buddha's teaching on mindfulness and is called the direct path of realization. In this brief overview, Mary discusses each of the foundations and how they flow so beautifully into each other and yet are each so important on their own. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included au...

Along with wisdom, compassion is considered to be one of the Wings of Awakening. Although offering compassion for ourselves and others can be an extremely difficult undertaking, it is so necessary for living a balanced life. Cultivating compassion is the work of connection to all beings. Recorded on Nov 30, 2019 in Los Angeles. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and e...

Gratitude can be considered a heart practice and worthy of cultivation. We often let the judging, comparing mind take over and we leave gratitude behind, but it is one of the most powerful ways to stay connected to the present and to our humanity. Recorded on Nov. 23, 2019 in Los Angeles Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it&#3...

Renunciation is a fancy way to say 'let go'. In this talk Mary uses Phillip Moffitt's teaching on self-restraint to show how it's a different way to practice renunciation and letting go. Stop being the star of your own movie is one of these ways. Recorded Nov 16, 2019 in Los Angeles Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a r...

Taking care of ourselves means paying attention to where we ignore ourselves or gloss over our discomfort and dissatisfaction. Lovingkindness, compassion and being willing to change our perspective on our lives is important and the Buddha's teachings support us all the way. Loving ourselves is a radical act. Recorded Nov 9, 2019 in Los Angeles. Send me a text with any questions or comments! I...

It's often said that we experience 10,000 joys and sorrows throughout our lifetime. How do we stay balanced as our lives unfold and not be taken over by the sorrows or miss the joys? Recorded Oct 26, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info...

FROM THE ARCHIVES : Based on Stephen Batchelor's writings in After Buddhism , Mary investigates and discusses what emptiness means and how we can relate to the concept in our lives. Recorded in Los Angeles on Nov 7, 2015 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's websi...

The Buddha taught not to chase after the past or place expectations on the future but that's often where we end up when we're trapped in an unexamined mind. He says to nourish the present in order to break the trance of tomorrow and yesterday. This talk discusses how we might become trapped and how to break out of the cycle of past and future and stay attuned to the present. Recorded Oct...

Mary discusses Rick Hanson's chapter in Buddha's Brain on Letting in the Good. This is how we can discover and cultivate beneficial qualities while letting go of the non-beneficial qualities that do not serve at all. This is held in the context of the Four Efforts and also brings ideas from neuroscience that support this cultivation. Recorded at Against the Stream March 27, 2017, in Los...

Greed, hatred, delusion, the hindrances and so many other unskillful and harmful behaviors can be grouped under ignorance. Inspired by Arinna Weisman, Mary talks about the beautiful qualities the Buddha offered us as an antidote to these and their timeliness in today's world. Recorded Oct. 5, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a r...

This is a set of phrases we commonly use, especially when doing walking meditation or to build our concentration. In this talk, Mary takes a closer look at these phrases and what they mean in our daily lives. Recorded Sept 28, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's...

"Hatred never ceases through hatred, only through love. This is the eternal law." The Buddha offered us this teaching thousands of years ago and it is as timely now as it ever was. Leading with the heart is a way we make sure we keep the focus on love and avoid slipping off into hatred.  Recorded Sept. 21, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if...

Cultivating wisdom allows us to see more clearly what is beneficial or not in our actions. Setting an intention or aspiration helps us act more skillfully and wisely and in alignment with our values. Mary discusses how we do this in our daily lives. Recorded Sept 5, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included...

The Paramis are a lovely teaching on ten qualities that are suggested we develop in order to become enlightened. They are accessible to everyone and can be practiced in our daily lives. Sylvia Boorstein calls these perfections of the heart, "the Buddhist path of kindness".  Recorded Aug. 31, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like...

Pema Chodron says that much of our discomfort stems from our need to be okay all the time and our 'resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation." How do we come to terms with our shifting experience and let go of the need to have everything figured out? Mary talks about working with this fluidity and holding it with ease. Recorded Aug. 24, 2019 Send me a text with any quest...

Celebrating the 11th anniversary of teaching this class, Mary talks about her life and her dharma journey. She also weaves in Joanna Macy's teaching on the Shambhala Prophecy which says we must cultivate wisdom and compassion as we move through the world. Recorded on Aug 10, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's...

Spiritual Bypass is a term which means using our practice to avoid actually doing the work. It's a common defense mechanism or distraction that is important to recognize and let go of. Are you spiritually bypassing? Recorded 8/1/2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary...

We yearn to get to a place where everything is good and we have it all figured out. Unfortunately if that place exists, it will surely change. In this talk, Mary discusses William Bridges' book, "The Way of Transition" and how it offers another view of the core Buddhist teaching of impermanence (without being a Buddhist book) and how understanding this truth will lead to equanimity....

The Hindrances are described as five obstacles that overwhelm awareness and cloud the mind. Most of us are familiar with craving, aversion, restlessness, dullness and doubt during meditation, but they show up everywhere. How do we recognize them in our daily lives and how do we let them go? Recorded July 20, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you wou...

The Buddha invited us to find our own way with the teachings and not believe it just because we hear it or read it. However, this is not just an invitation to do as we please but ask us to ground our investigation in practice, integrity and effort in order to know deeply whether our experience and action will lead towards or away from suffering. Recorded July 13, 2019 Send me a text with any quest...

When we finally let go, we have the chance to just be. What does that mean and how do we get there?  "There's nowhere to go; there's nothing to do; there's no one to be." Recorded July 6, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for m...

Not many of us are interested in facing our demons. In fact, we've developed all kinds of ways to distract ourselves from what is really going on. Unfortunately, the longer we ignore them, the longer they hang around. The Buddha offers us a way to turn towards what makes us uncomfortable and make peace with what scares us.  Recorded June 13, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments!...