A dharma talk given by Peter Doobinin offered weekly on Sunday.
In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin discusses the integral role that skillful pleasure plays in the development of the Buddha's path. In the talk, Peter describes how we cultivate skillful pleasure and why we should learn to do this. The talk was given at an eight-day silent retreat in April 2017.
The dharma talk "The Middle Path" was given at a Downtown Meditation Community daylong retreat in February 2018. The middle path is one of the most misunderstood subjects in the Buddha's teachings. As Peter Doobinin explains, the middle path is the path of skillful pleasure. When we learn to develop skillful pleasure, we're able to maintain ourselves in the present moment, cultivate wisdom, and live from the heart. In the talk, Peter describes the path of skillful pleasure and how we develop it.
It's through training the mind that we come to know true happiness in life. Knowing this, the dharma students makes it a priority to train the mind, to abandon aversion and desire, and, in turn, to cultivate the qualities of the heart. This dharma talk by Peter Doobinin was given in May 2012 at the Downtown Meditation Community Sunday Night Meditation class.
It's the heart, always, that will see us through. In practicing the dharma, we learn to meet life, in all its manifestations, with the heart. We learn to meet our days and nights with love and compassion. When we do this, we know the happiness of the heart. The dharma talk was given at Downtown Meditation in New York City in the winter of 2019. May all beings live with ease and peace.
What are we doing with our time in this life? What kinds of actions are we talking? Is what we're doing bringing us closer to the heart? As dharma students, following the Buddha's lead, we seek to live more and more from the heart. We seek to know the happiness of the heart. In this talk, given at a Downtown Meditation daylong retreat in April 2018, Peter Doobinin describes how we learn to reflect, as we make an effort to come closer to the heart.
Our practice, the effort we put forth to meditate and develop the path, is a profound expression of our goodness. As dharma students, we learn to take joy in our practice, our effort to train the mind and heart. The path is joyful. Life is joyful. As we practice the dharma, we come to know this. The talk was given in 2013 at the Sunday Night Meditation class.
"Over there are the roots of trees; over there, empty dwellings. Practice jhana, monks. Don't be heedless. Don't later fall into regret. This is our message to you."
(MN 19)
When we have ease of being, we're able to maintain ourselves in the present moment. We're able to live more effectively. We're able to live more wholeheartedly. Cultivating ease, in meditation and through our daily life, is an act of lovingkindness for ourselves and others. In this dharma talk, Peter talks about how we develop ease of being and the great benefits in doing so. The talk was given in the summer of 2019. May all beings live with ease!
Although we may have a wish to have compassion for ourselves, we may find it difficult to cultivate this quality of the heart. As Peter Doobinin explains, developing compassion requires that we learn a skill; in this dharma talk Peter describes the basics of this important skill. The talk was given at the Downtown Meditation Community Sunday night class in 2015.
For many of us, regret about the past is a burden that we carry through our days. But we can find freedom from regret. In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we develop the skills that enable us to let go of painful emotions and thoughts of regret. The talk was given at the Downtown Meditation Community weekly Sunday class in the winter of 2016.
To move skillfully through life, we need equanimity. Equanmity enables us to stay balanced and strong in the midst of the joys and sorrows of life. Equanimity is rooted in insight, in understanding of "the way it is," including understanding the truth of aging, illness, death, and separation, and the pain that is unavoidable in human experience. In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we develop in this understanding and learn to meet life with wisdom and an open heart. The talk was given at a Downtown Meditation Community daylong retreat in the autumn of 2017.
