Sunday Dharma Talk
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Through the practice of awareness, we learn to understand our experience. In this talk, Peter explains how through this practice of awareness we come to understand the obstacles to meditation ... and the obstacles to happiness in this life. The talk was given in the summer of 2023.
In this dharma talk, given at a daylong retreat in the spring of 2023, Peter Doobinin describes how we make the journey to the heart and, in turn, learn to develop in self love. As he explains, to move ahead in life, beyond fear, toward a greater happiness, we must learn to develop self love. And this is something, if we follow the path, that we can do.
It's essential to learn acceptance, if we're going to know happiness in this life. As Peter Doobinin explains, we all have the potential for acceptance; this potential has to be developed. In the dharma talk, Peter describes keys elements of the skill for developing acceptance. The talk was offered in June 2023.
It's essential, in meditation practice, and in life, to keep the mind bright. The bright mind is imbued with gratitude and appreciation. It's a joyful mind. In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the skill for keeping the mind bright. And he explains why it's important to do. The dharma talk was given on 2 July 2023.
In practicing meditation, we develop the qualities of mindfulness, alertness, and ardency. In this talk, given in September 2023, Peter Doobinin explains what ardency comprises and why it's essential to the development of meditation practice. As he tells us, ardency is a function of wisdom. And love.
In the goodness of the silence, we know the dharma. In a noisy world, we're asked, as dharma students, to cultivate silence. Externally and internally. Ultimately, through our practice of meditation, we're able to develop inner silence. This is our task, to develop silence, to know silence, to know the goodness of the silence. The dharma talk was given in the winter of 2024.
In following the path toward a greater happiness, we need to have patience. It's an essential quality, one of the ten paramis, that we're asked to develop. In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we cultivate the skill of patience; and why patience is an element of our goodness, a blessing. The dharma talk was given in November 2022.
As the Buddha teaches, we shape our lives, in the direction of a greater happiness, by learning to use thinking in a skillful way. As Peter Doobinin explains in this dharma talk, if we can learn to skillfully shape our meditation, we can shape our lives. We can know a greater happiness. The talk was given in August 2022.
Most beings spend most of their lives in thought worlds, lost in thought. The practice of the dharma, as the Buddha explained, is to abandon these thought worlds. In this talk, Peter Doobinin explicates key elements of the skill for finding freedom from thought world and, in turn, for living in the present moment. The talk was given in the summer of 2022.
The Buddha's teachings guide us to a greater happiness: a happiness that's not dependent on conditioned things, a happiness that's reliable, a happiness that's true. In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how, in following the path, we gradually lessen our preoccupation with conditioned things ... and how, more and more, we turn to the unconditioned, the happiness that doesn't die, the happiness of the heart. The talk was offered in March of 2023.
As dharma students, we make a determination to train for peace. In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains the elements of this profound training. As the Buddha tells us, the greatest happiness is peace. The dharma talk was given in March 2023.
We change by changing how we think. All that we are, the Buddha tells us, begins with our thoughts. In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we learn to change by changing our habitual ways of thinking. The talk was given in February of 2023.
As dharma students, we learn to follow the heart. We learn to understand what the heart wants. We learn to discern what it is we need to do so that we know happiness of heart. In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the skills we develop so that we come to know what the heart wants. The talk was given in the winter of 2023.
In following the path of the Dharma, we learn to know the joy of life. In this talk, Peter Doobinin, explains how, when we reflect skillfully on the truth of the impermanence, it leads us to an appreciation for the gift of life. It leads to joy. The talk was given in December 2022.
In this talk, Peter Doobinin, discusses what it means to be on the Buddha's path. As he explains, in being on the path, we're asked to engage in an ongoing process of moving forward. The dharma talk was given on June 4, 2023.
All that we are, the Buddha tells us, begins with our thoughts. For the student of the dharma, the task is to abandon unskillful thoughts and to cultivate skillful thoughts. In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the skills for cultivating skillful thoughts. The talk was offered in the winter of 2022.
In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin takes a close look at the skill for being mindful of emotions, including blatant and subtle emotions. He describes the role of equanimity and acceptance in bringing simple awareness to the experiences of mind; and how when these qualites are developed, there is the potential for wisdom. The talk was offered on 3 December 2023.
What are our priorities for our dharma practice? What are our priorities for life? How can we change our priorities? In this talk, Peter Doobinin discusses these questions; questions that dharma students are asked to ask. The talk was given on 6 February 2022.
In making a noble escape, dharma students seeks escape from the prisons of painful thought worlds, from habitual patterns of desire and aversion, from ways of living that can't bring a reliable happiness. In this talk, Peter Doobinin, describes how we learn to find this kind of noble escape. The talk was given at a daylong retreat in New York City in November 2023.
In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how the development of ethical conduct - the practice of non-harming - leads to happiness of heart. In the talk, Peter explains why it's important to learn to prioritize the cultivation of our goodness, in the form of virtue, and how, when we do this, it has a great benefit in our lives and the lives of others. The talk was given in the autumn of 2023.
As Peter Doobinin explains, spiritual growth depends on our ability to be truthful. About ourselves. About our habitual attitudes. In this talk, Peter describes how we develop in truthfulness; and how, in turn, this leads us to a greater happiness in life. The talk was given in August 2023.
Much of our capacity to find a greater happiness in life depends on the degree to which we're able to change our attitudes. The dharma student learns, by developing her skill, to abandon unskillful attitudes and cultvate skillful, sublime attitudes. In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin decribes the skills we seek to develop in this effort. The talk was given in the summer of 2023.
Our dharma practice is one of gradually letting go of that which obscures the heart. As we develop in concentration and insight, we're more and more able to access the heart, to find the light within. And as we're more able to find the light in the heart, we're more able to take action that will lead to a greater happiness in our lives. In this dharma talk, offered in September 2023, Peter explains how, little by slowly, we find the light within.
What is our attitude? As Peter Doobinin explains, being able to develop a sublime attitude is crucial to achieving good results in meditation ... and to knowing a greater happiness in life. In this dharma talk, Peter describes the skill for developing a sublime attitude in meditation and in all postures. The dharma talk was given in the summer of 2023.
As the Buddha, perhaps famously, said, he taught, "Suffering and the end of suffering." What does this mean...? As Peter Doobinin explains, as dharma students we come to understand that suffering and the end of suffering are not simply intellectual concepts. They're objects for awarness. We're meant to bring awareness to suffering. And, in turn, to the end of suffering. In this talk, offered in the spring of 2023, Peter describes how we learn to do this. .
In practicing the dharma, we're learning that we don't have to "be somebody." Instead our practice, as Peter explains in this talk, is about learning to be who we are. Each of us is uniquely different. And each of us has everything we need to know happiness in this life. The talk was given at a daylong retreat in New York City in September 2023.
Not an intellectual or academic process, dharma practice is a process of coming into rhythm. In "coming out of the head" and into the body, we move toward having a felt experience of life. More and more we meet life from the place of our innate wisdom. We come into rhythm. This dharma talk was given by Peter Doobinin in April 2023.
Change is a integral condition of life. And our ability to find happiness in life depends on how well we meet the experiences of change. In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the skills that we learn as dharma students that enable us to meet the changes in life with wisdom, compassion & grace. The talk was given in April 2023.
In the heart, we find our innate wisdom. In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains what the heart is and how we come to this place of wisdom. The talk was given on the last night of the Eight-Day Retreat in 2017.
In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin talks about how the development of mindfulness of death leads to the opening of the heart. The talk was given at the Lovingkindness Retreat in the summer of 2016.
