Sunday Dharma Talk

Contentedness

What does it mean to know contentedness...?  And how do we develop this sublime state of being...?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin discusses what it is to be content ... and why it is something that we should aspire to.  The talk was given at the NY Dharma April 2025 Eight-Day retreat.

www.nydharma.org 

Strength of Mind

When developed in strength of mind we're able to meet the difficulties and challenges in life; and we're able to make the most of life, to know the joy of living.  What does it mean to have strength of mind?  How do we develop it?  And why should we?  In this dharma talk Peter Doobinin discusses these important questions.  The talk was given at the April 2025 Eight-Day Retreat.

Training the Mind

Meditation is the practice of training the mind.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes some essential skills for training the mind.  Particular attention is paid to working with the "fetters" of restlessness, doubt, and self identity view.  The dharma talk was given on the second night of the NY Dharma April 2025 Eight-Day Retreat.

The Path of Skillful Resolve

Why, in practicing the dharma, is it important to learn to establish skillful resolve?  What does it mean to establish skillful resolve?  How do we establish skillful resolve?  In this talk Peter Doobinin discusses these essential questions for every dharma student.  The dharma talk was given at the NY Dharma April 2025 Eight-Day Retreat.

Freedom from Doubt

As we make an effort to be present, to practice the dharma, we'll encounter doubt.  Doubt in ourselves.  Doubt in the path.  All beings experience doubt; those who are able to move forward on the journey of awakening are those who learn to meet doubt skillfully.  In this talk Peter Doobinin explicates the skill for practicing mindfulness of doubt.  And how, in turn, we develop in conviction.  The talk was given in the winter of 2024.

A Window of Time

Life is short.  If we learn to understand, truly, the brevity of the time we have in this life, we'll be able to make the most of the time we have.  In this talk, offered in the winter of 2024, Peter describes how to skillfully reflect on the truth of death.  As he explains, this practice of 'mindfulness of death' is an essential element of practice for the dharma student looking to know a true happiness.

Compassion for Thinking

Through wisdom and compassion we're able to abandon habitual patterns of unskillful thinking, our painful narratives.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we develop mindfulness of thinking and, in turn, how we develop compassion for thinking.  The dharma talk was given in September 2024.

Faith in the Goodness of Life

There is a goodness in life.  But we're often not bringing our awareness to it.  In this talk Peter Doobinin explains how we develop faith in the goodness in life, how we learn to know this goodness, why it's essential that we make this effort.  The talk was offered in the spring of 2025.

Compassion & Freedom

Our capacity to know happiness in the this life - true happiness - depends on our ability to open to difficulty, pain, suffering.  Meditation practice enables us to meet difficulty ... and to respond with the heart, with wisdom and compassion.  From the heart, we move forward in life, happily, joyfully.  In this dharma talk Peter Doobinin explains how our practice leads us to the heart, to freedom, to true happiness.  The talk was given in July 2023.

The Challenge of Compassion

The skillful response to suffering - our own suffering, the suffering of others, the suffering in the world - is compassion.  As dharma students, we're asked to cultivate this sublime attitude of the heart.  But it's not always so easy to do.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin discusses the challenges we face in developing compassion ... and how to develop in our skill so that we're able to cultivate compassion.  The talk was given in the summer of 2023.