Sunday Dharma Talk

Being In Tune

The Buddha described the quality of "being in tune with the dharma."  When we're in tune our practice flourishes.  Our life flourishes.  We live in accord with the heart.  In this talk, Peter explains what it means to be in tune ... and how we learn to be in tune.  The dharma talk was given on the third night of the April 2024 Eight-Day Retreat.

Inclination of Awareness

The habits of our minds often lead us to difficulty and pain.  But we can learn to train our awareness.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how by learning to incline our awareness in a skillful way, we move toward a greater happiness in life.  As he explains, the ability to cultivate ease and sukkha (pleasure), to maintain a pleasant abiiding in all our postures, is integral to this process.  The talk was given at the April 2024 Eight-Day Retreat.

Changing the Mind

All that we are, the Buddha tells us, begins with our thoughts.  As dharma students, we learn to cultivate thinking that is skillful:  thinking that will lead us to a true happiness in this life.  We can do this.  We can change our minds.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin, describes the processes for changing the mind.  The talk was given on the first night of the April 2024 Eight-Day Retreat.

Reliable Things

The Buddha's path, the dharma, is a path of knowing a true and reliable happiness.  In making this path, as Peter Doobinin describes, ,we learn to put aside our preoccupation with things that aren't reliable, things, including the pleasures of the world, that can't bring reliable, lasting happiness.  The talk was given at a Downtown Meditation Community Three-Day Retreat in 2016.

Taking Care of the Mind

Are we taking good care of the mnd?  What does this mean?  How do we take good care of the mind?  Why is it so important?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explores these questions.  The talk was given at Downtown Meditation Community on a Sunday night in 2014.

Bringing Insight to Thinking

In our efforts to know a greater happiness in life, it's essential that we learn to abandon unskillful thinking.  But simply making an effort to put aside unskillful thinking isn't enough; we need to learn to bring insight to thinking.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we develop this skill.  The talk was given in September 2014.

Taking Refuge

As dharma students, we seek to live in a certain way.  We live in the world but we don't follow the ways of the world.  What does this mean?  As Peter Doobinin explains in this talk, we come to understand how to make this path, the path of the dharma dharma, through the process of taking refuge.  The dharma talk was given in January 2015.

What Freedom Is

What is freedom?  It's a term we might often use ... but perhaps we're not so sure about what it is.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains what, in the Buddha's teaching, freedom is ... and how we practice it.  The talk was given at a Downtown Meditation Community retreat in the winter of 2013.

Commitment to Happiness

In this dharma talk, given in 2015, Peter Doobinin discusses the effort we make to abandon clinging and know true happiness.  To what extent is it a priority for us to let go of aversion & desire?  What is our commitment to happiness?  These are questions we learn to ask in making this noble effort.

The Joyful Path

It's a joyful path.  When we practice the dharma, in accord with the dharma, what the Buddha taught, we know great joy.  And although the path asks us to comprehend our pain and suffering, as Peter Doobinin explains, when we do this skillfully, it's joyful.  The dharma talk was given in January 2024.