Awakening Despite Baggage
Date: 2022-04-07 Thursday
For any of us who wonder if we’re too compromised to awaken, the history of the dharma is replete with beings who awakened despite heavy burdens.
Many over the centuries have been inspired by the story of Angulimala, likely history’s first serial killer, who became an awakened arahant.
Then in Tibetan tradition there’s Milarepa, who killed 35 relatives in a revenge murder, but continued on to become one of Tibet’s most revered masters.
The lives of both of these beings hold possibilities for us now, no matter our life conditions. We’ll explore these potentials together at Eastside Insight, and see what we can bring into our spiritual journeys.
Click here to listen to or download the talk on the Seattle Insight page.
Life of the Buddha Through Images
Date: 2022-03-17 Thursday
During his own lifetime the Buddha also encountered multiple challenges, from warring kingdoms to ill-intentioned relatives. And yet it was right in the middle of this that he shared his message of the path to freedom from suffering, across what is now northern India.
For this talk, we’ll be sharing the life of the Buddha in images. Some of these will be photos from my own travels, some from other sources. We’ll get a chance to better understand the Buddha’s life, how he coped with difficulties, and to place in your minds some of the sites so often referenced in the suttas.
Click here to view the talk on Vimeo.
Click here to listen to or download the talk on the Seattle Insight page.
Buddha’s First Sermon
Date: 2022-02-03 Thursday
Welcome to the possibilities of awakening and freedom as we move into 2022. Things may get wild, even uncomfortable, but with our practice we can bring some equanimity, some kindness, even to the most irascible moments.
For the first session of February we’ll be exploring the Buddha’s very first dharma talk, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, in which he set out the direction of all his future teachings.
We’ll explore the second of these talks during the second session.
These suttas are remarkable in their naked essence, in the way he so clearly stated his revolutionary awakening, and in the way this opened the mind-hearts of the people he’s speaking to.
Click here to listen to or download the talk on the Seattle Insight page.
Keeping Practice Alive in the Coming Year
Date: 2022-01-06 Thursday
For this session we’ll explore ways to keep our mindfulness practice alive, and growing, in the coming year. A strong practice takes tending, like a garden, if it is to bear fruit filled with vitality. Let’s explore tending a healthy practice together, and I’ll be offering some tips, ideas and angles, out of my own experience and the teachings of the Buddha and others.
Click here to listen to or download the talk on the Seattle Insight page.
The Buddha’s Encounters with Mara
Date: 2021-12-16 Thursday
For this last gathering of the year we will explore a story of the Buddha’s time, a circumstance that brings alive who the Buddha was, and how as an awakened one he navigated the times of his lifetime. Those times were troubled in their own way, not so different from these times, making the light of the Buddha’s awakened mind stand out even more vividly.
Click here to listen to or download the talk on the Seattle Insight page.
Mindfulness of the Hindrances
Date: 2021-08-05 Thursday
For this sit we’ll be exploring the five hindrances, but in a way showing how they are opportunities instead of problems. The Buddha included the five hindrances – grasping, aversion, sloth-and-torpor, restlessness and doubt – as the first of the fourth foundation of mindfulness, and therein lies the secret about how to approach them.
As we develop mindfulness toward the hindrances we see that they no longer grip us as they once did, in an opening of freedom that is incremental. We hope to see you there. This exploration can be very helpful on the spiritual path.
Click here to listen to or download the talk on the Seattle Insight page.