Sunday Dharma Talk

The Freedom of Simplicity

What are the burdens we're carrying through this life?  The things of life may bring us some happiness.  However, as dharma student, Peter Doobinin explains, we come to know a greater happiness when we let go of these things.  In this talk, Peter describes how the simplicity the path asks us to develop leads to awakening, freedom, bliss.  The dharma talk was given at the Eight-Day Retreat in April 2022.

A Light Touch

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we develop a light touch in meditation and in life.  As dharma students, this is elemental to our practice:  we seek to move through life with ease, connected to an internal pleasure, in tune with our aliveness.  The talk was given in July 2022.

And better than a hundred years
lived apathetic & unenergetic, is
          one day
lived energetic & firm.
(Dhp 110)

Courage

Dharma practice is a process of change.  A practice of moving forward.  As such, it requires courage.  But what is courage in the context of the Buddha's teachings?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes what courage is and how we develop it.  The talk was given in April 2022.

How the Path Develops

If we understand how the Buddha's path develops, it will serve us greatly as we make the journey toward a greater happiness.  In this dharma talk, Peter discusses three metaphors that the Buddha offers in the service of helping us understand how the path unfolds.  The talk was given in April 2022.

How the Body Feels is Important

When the body feels good, we function most effectively.  How the body feels is important.  To this end, the dharma student seeks to cultivate, in meditation, a pleasant abiding in the body; and she seeks to maintain this pleasant abiding in all postures.  In this talk Peter Doobinin explains how we develop skillful internal pleasure and why it's so important to learn to do this.  The talk was given at the Eight-Day Retreat in April 2022.

Awareness, Breath, Compassion

What does it mean to bring awareness to our experience?  Why is this skill important to develop?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the simple practice for bringing awareness to our experience of mind and body.  The skill is captured in the acronym ABC:  Awareness, Breath, Compassion.  The talk was given at the Eight-Day Retreat in April 2022.

Seclusion & Action

In dharma practice we develop seclusion & action.  The practice of seclusion, including meditation, enables us to take action.  Action, specfically, that is driven by compassion and love.  The path asks that we take action.  This action, supported by the qualities we develop in meditation, is in fact the fruition of the path.  The dharma talk was given by Peter Doobinin on the closing night of the April 2022 Retreat.

Look After Your Mind

Our happiness in this life, the Buddha tells us, depends on what we do.  In large part what this means is, our happiness depends on what we do with our mind.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains why it's important to look after your mind ... and how we learn to do this.  The talk was given in October 2021.

Be heedful, monks,
mindful, virtuous.
With your resolves well-concentrated,
look after your minds.
(DN 16)

The Felt Experience of Life

What is our experience of life?  As dharma students we seek to have a felt experience of life.  A felt sense.  In fact, our capacity to know happiness in life depends on developing a deeper understanding, an understanding that transcends intellectual knowledge, an understanding that we apprehend in the body, and, ultimately, in the heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter explains how we cultivate a felt experience of life.  The talk was given at a daylong retreat in New York City in May 2022.

To Comprehend Suffering

The Four Noble Truths comprise a set of four tasks that as dharma students we're asked to accomplish.  The task of the First Noble Truth is:  to comprehend suffering.  What does this mean?  What is suffering?  How do we learn to comprehend suffering?  In this talk Peter Doobinin addresses these crucial questions.  The dharma talk was given in February 2022.