Sunday Dharma Talk

Ways of Acceptance

It's essential to learn acceptance, if we're going to know happiness in this life.  As Peter Doobinin explains, we all have the potential for acceptance; this potential has to be developed.  In the dharma talk, Peter describes keys elements of the skill for developing acceptance.  The talk was offered in June 2023.

Keeping the Mind Bright

It's essential, in meditation practice, and in life, to keep the mind bright.  The bright mind is imbued with gratitude and appreciation.  It's a joyful mind.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the skill for keeping the mind bright.  And he explains why it's important to do.  The dharma talk was given on 2 July 2023.

Wisdom of Ardency

In practicing meditation, we develop the qualities of mindfulness, alertness, and ardency.  In this talk, given in September 2023, Peter Doobinin explains what ardency comprises and why it's essential to the development of meditation practice.  As he tells us, ardency is a function of wisdom.  And love.

The Goodness of the Silence

In the goodness of the silence, we know the dharma.  In a noisy world, we're asked, as dharma students, to cultivate silence.  Externally and internally.  Ultimately, through our practice of meditation, we're able to develop inner silence.  This is our task, to develop silence, to know silence, to know the goodness of the silence.  The dharma talk was given in the winter of 2024.

The Blessing of Patience

In following the path toward a greater happiness, we need to have patience.  It's an essential quality, one of the ten paramis, that we're asked to develop.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we cultivate the skill of patience; and why patience is an element of our goodness, a blessing.  The dharma talk was given in November 2022.

Shaping Your Life

As the Buddha teaches, we shape our lives, in the direction of a greater happiness, by learning to use thinking in a skillful way.  As Peter Doobinin explains in this dharma talk, if we can learn to skillfully shape our meditation, we can shape our lives.  We can know a greater happiness.  The talk was given in August 2022. 

Thought Worlds

Most beings spend most of their lives in thought worlds, lost in thought.  The practice of the dharma, as the Buddha explained, is to abandon these thought worlds.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explicates key elements of the skill for finding freedom from thought world and, in turn, for living in the present moment.  The talk was given in the summer of 2022.

The Conditioned & the Unconditioned

The Buddha's teachings guide us to a greater happiness:  a happiness that's not dependent on conditioned things, a happiness that's reliable, a happiness that's true.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how, in following the path, we gradually lessen our preoccupation with conditioned things ... and how, more and more, we turn to the unconditioned, the happiness that doesn't die, the happiness of the heart.  The talk was offered in March of 2023.

Train for Peace

As dharma students, we make a determination to train for peace.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains the elements of this profound training.  As the Buddha tells us, the greatest happiness is peace.  The dharma talk was given in March 2023.

Voices in the Mind

We change by changing how we think.  All that we are, the Buddha tells us, begins with our thoughts.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we learn to change by changing our habitual ways of thinking.  The talk was given in February of 2023.