Sunday Dharma Talk

Journey to the Heart

Where do we look for happiness?  Is our practice leading us to a happiness of heart?  A reliable happiness?  A greater happiness?  In this talk, Peter Doobinin talks about how we make the journey to the heart ... and how, in making that journey, we come to know a greater happiness.  The talk was given at a daylong retreat in 2015.

A Different Way of Learning

In dharma practice, we are developing a wisdom that's found in the heart.  Typically, we seek intellectual wisdom, the wisdom attained by thinking.  In dharma practice, we're engaging in a different way of learning.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes this way of learning, the way in which we develop liberating wisdom, the wisdom in the heart.  The talk was given in the summer of 2016.

Making a Commitment to the Heart

We should take care of the heart, the Buddha tells us, the way a mother would take care of her newborn baby.  As dharma students we learn to make a commitment to the heart.  In this dharma talk Peter Doobinin discusses what i means to make a commitment to the heart ... and how we're able to do that.  The talk was given in 2016 at a Downtown Meditation Community Lovingkindness Retreat.

Joy & Faith

This dharma talk was offered by Peter Doobinin at the end of the year in December 2024.  In the talk, Peter discusses how we might bring joy and faith into the year to come.  
May all beings find true happiness in their days!

According to Reality

As meditation students, as Peter Doobinin explains, we learn to see things "according to reality."  Much of the time, we're enmeshed in thought worlds.  Lost in thought.  In our practice, we begin to see things as they are.  We abandon our stories.  And in the process, we come to know the truth of our goodness, the truth of the dharma inside us.  The talk was given in December 2024.

What You Are

The dharma student resolves to follow a spiritual path in an effort to find freedom from grasping and to free the heart of its burdens.  In doing so, we come to learn that what we're grasping on to, our stories, our suffering, is not who we are.  We come to learn what we are, our true nature.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we come to understand these truths.  The talk was given in December 2024.

The Effort to Be Where You Are

Spiritual practice requires that we make great effort over a period of time; at the same time, we're asked to know the present moment and find happiness in it.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin discusses this paradox of the spiritual path.  He explains how we learn to bring skillful effort to the moment ... and how by doing so, we learn to know happiness of heart.  The talk was given in January 2024.

The True Path

This dharma talk was given at a daylong retreat in New York In November 2024.  In the talk, Peter Doobinin explains the Buddha's path, the story of his awakening, and the three knowledges he came to in his journey.  These three knowledges provide for the basis of right view.  The story of the Buddha's awakening offer us a way, a dharma, that we can follow; but, as Peter describes, it is us to us to make the effort to follow the path.  If we're true to the path, we'll come to a greater happiness.  As the Thai meditation master Ajaan Lee said, "if we're true to the dhamma, the dhamma will be true to us."

Basic Skills: Skillful Intention

We shape our lives, in the service of knowing a greater happiness, through the cultivation of skillful intention.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains skillful intention, what it is, how we develop it.  The dharma talk is the fifth in a series of five talks on "Basic Skills" that were offered in June 2024.

Basic Skills: Heedfulness

Heedfulness, the Buddha teaches us, is the root of skillfulness.  The practice of heedfulness enables us to take action in support of the heart, action that will lead us to happiness of heart.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the elements of this essential skill.  The talk is the fourth in a series of talks on "Basic Skills" that Peter gave in June 2024.