Sunday Dharma Talk

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.

What Can I Give?

In dharma practice, we seek to change our way of thinking.  In doing so, we learn to move from asking, "what can I get?" to "what can I give?"  This question supports our efforts to develop in generosity and the opening of the heart.  It leads us toward a greater happiness.  The dharma talk was given in January 2022.

The Present Moment

What does is mean to be in the present moment?  Why is it difficult to remain in the present?  How can we learn to maintain ourselves in the present moment?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin discusses these simple, yet often misunderstood, questions.  The talk was given in February 2022.

Strength of Compassion

We find our greatest strength in the heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter explains how we learn to connect to the sublime abiding of compassion in the course of our days.  The talk was given in January 2022.

Coming Back to Ourselves

Meditation is a practice of coming back to ourselves, to the body, to the heart.  In this talk, given on the first night of the Eight-Day Retreat in April 2022, Peter Doobinin talks about the importance of having a sense of purpose in dharma practice.  And he talks about the importance of seclusion, how it supports us in our efforts to come back to ourselves.  

Learning to be Alone

If we don't learn to "be alone" in a skillful way in this life, we'll be sure to meet difficulty.  Why is this?  Because to be alone is an elemental aspect of the human condition.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin discusses how, by developing certain skills, we learn to be alone.  

Coming to the Heart

We may think that happiness is found when we're able to come into pleasant emotional states.  But the teachings of the Buddha suggest a happiness greater than the happiness that emotional states offer:  the happiness of the heart.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how the dharma student learns to cultivate disenchantment with emotions and, in turn, turns to the the heart.  The talk was given in December 2021.

As a mother would risk her life
to protect her child, her only child,
even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
with regard to all beings.
(Sn 1.8)