This progressive, guided meditation on the breath explores the beginning tetrads in the Ānāpānasati Sutta.

Idle speech appears at the end of Right Speech. To the uninformed observer, mentioning pointless conversations can seem like a throwaway category, an insignificant one at that and only tagged on for good measure. That would be a grave misunderstanding. What we allow to run in our mind either imprisons us or frees us. Non-stop self-talk is the internal expression of “idle speech.” Though seemingly innocuous, this running commentary is a major barrier to awakening and is the primary infrastructure propping up the imagined “self.”

(This talk was given at Santa Barbara’s Open Door Sangha on September 22, 2022.)

Mettā is a delicious state of profound wellness and points to a mind drenched in kindness and subtle happiness. From this lofty dwelling, a lavish generosity naturally flows. Anchored in joy, we want the best for everyone.

The belief that knowledge, education, and technology can save us is delusion. What can protect us is morality and the Eightfold Path.

The truth about ceaseless stress of saṃsāra is everywhere, including in commercials which often aim at fixing the endless problems which assail us. Unlike the Dharma, TV commercials offer only a temporary fix. They never get at the root of the problem.

In the Simile of the Saw, MN21, the Buddha shows us how a boundless mind makes it impossible for critical remarks to land anywhere and gain traction. We train to be able to modulate our awareness. We narrow our awareness when that serves us and expand the mind when that is needed.

Why do we meditate? To see reality accurately so the mind can be freed from the absurd expectation that some manipulation of mental states and matter can bring enduring happiness. This work centers on how we interact with unfolding reality.

In Samyutta Nikkaya 22:27 the Buddha speaks candidly about his meticulous and exhaustive investigation into the many enjoyable things about body and mind. He then sets out with equal determination and scrupulousness to uncover the drawbacks and perils of delicious experiences. And finally and most importantly, he discovers how to escape the allure of these dangerous pleasures. This talk focuses on saṅkhāras, on mental and emotional amusements and joys, that drive continued becoming.

Restlessness is the second to the last fetter before full awakening and is an essential driver of becoming. When restlessness dominates our mind, we reject what is and search for pleasant contacts and enticing activities. Unsettled, discontented, we want something else, almost anything will do, other than what is presently unfolding. We might prefer existence as a reader of an absorbing novel or a gardener planting roma tomatoes. When we resist restlessness, we engage in hand-to-hand combat with the mind’s tendency toward proliferation and the urge to be. Not doing something is doing something exceptionally challenging. Until we utterly extinguish the longing to do, to be, we remain mired in the inescapable suffering endemic to samsara.

Recognizing defeating desires and resisting their pull is a singular practice that can completely liberate the mind.

When we have the “right information” operating at all times in the background, we recognize whether resistance or craving are present or absent. Freeing the mind hinges on overcoming these obstacles to freedom and peace.

The hindrances prevent us from being alert, informed, and free to act in our best interest regardless if we are formally meditating or engaged in daily life.

Producing a “me” in the flux of the aggregates is a way of trying to freeze reality, a maladaptive reaction to the stress of continual change.

The opportunity to choose is the very thing that makes awakening possible. The thousands of intentional acts we make in a year determine whether we become more entangled with mind and matter or become free and completely unfettered.

Becoming an adept meditator is a skill we master like any other life skill. It simply requires good instructions, commitment, patience, and persistence.

Meditative dexterity expands when we meditate even when we are tired or suffering in some other way. Anticipating occasional physical challenges and devising strategies for them will strengthen our ability to maintain a daily contemplative practice.

The rioting and insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, driven by delusion (moha) and hate (dosa), exploded in a torrent of violence, destruction, cruelty, racism, and anti-Semitism. We witnessed what happens when lies, enmity, and grievance are sanctioned. Hate only creates more hate.

This simple sutta is a straightforward instruction manual on how to attain the ultimate state of bliss, Nibbāna.

Taming, guarding, protecting, and restraining our mind generate enormous rewards and advantages.

Wild Sutta AN 4.31

Complacency, delusion, and overestimation of our attainments spell trouble for anyone wishing to put an end to endless becoming, rebirth, and suffering.

The Buddha provides guidance on how and when to confront a person about problematic or self-destructive behavior. He also recommends praising those who are deserving of praise.

This talk focuses on correcting the misperception that an enduring “me” can be found in the maelstrom of mental and material states. The process begins with recognizing when the feeling of a “self” arises. Deconstructing the misperception of a “self” can be understood as the definition of striving for full awakening.

When the habit of generating a self ceases, bliss spontaneously floods the mind, a reality which has always been there but has been covered over by thoughts, emotions, moods, narratives, biological hard-wiring and assorted drives.

When contemplating dependent co-arising, we are instructed to notice the feeling tone of any contact. Is it pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral? We can choose to respond with craving or aversion, creating more dukkha in the process, or respond with insight and equanimity, and not grasp at the source of sensation, nor push it away. The Buddha reveals that “For those who have fully understood contact, who, having known it, delight in peace (Nibbana).”

Over time, with continued training, we see the 5-aggregates of clinging as not-self, ephemeral, and sources of suffering. With these insights, we naturally wish to cast off the aggregates and turn the mind to the Unconditioned.

Views play a crucial role in the fabrication and clinging to a “self.” When our cherished views are invalidated or dismissed, we feel diminished and often react in anger. Undoing attachment to views dismantles the “me” that is endlessly seeking affirmation and security.

The Buddha explained that views and craving stitch together a “me” from the maelstrom of life. Even though the “self” is a source of great suffering and is the final barrier to ultimate freedom and bliss, nevertheless, we find it hard to let go of it. Out of compassion, the Buddha left us with detailed instructions on how to dismantle the habit of “I-making.”

The defilements of others pose an existential threat to everyone. This insight motivates us to end clinging to any constellation of mind and matter.

It is useful to examine our motivation for giving. When we give without an agenda or thoughts of gaining recognition or prestige, our generosity produces joy. Ultimately, the best gift we have to offer is a purified mind. (Drawn from AN 7.52)

The Eightfold Path instructs us on ways to dissolve obsessions about old wounds and grievances as well as giving us a blueprint for making choices that lead to more freedom and happiness.

Injustice provokes a desire for change. Our challenge is to transform that spark of outrage into compassionate action while maintaining a kind heart.

Restlessness of mind can be a deeply set hindrance on our path to Nirvana. Developing strategies to dismantle this uncomfortable state helps settle the mind and supports concentration in our meditation practice.

Patience is one of the ten perfections or virtues needed to cross to the Far Shore, to become fully awake and free. Let’s welcome the opportunity to develop this essential strength.

In times of great upheaval, training our minds to see reality can ease our suffering. When we look into the nature of dukkha, we understand the emotional stress that comes from  expecting things to be different than they truly are..

If we reflect on the causes and conditions we are experiencing through the current pandemic, we can see how they drive our decisions and behaviors. This gives us the opportunity to  see directly into impermanence.  When we understand that all phenomena arise and vanish, we can lessen our suffering by letting go of clinging to the Five Aggregates.

The “self” is actually rapidly stitched together mental phenomena. When alertness is able to identify distinct “frames” of consciousness, we discover there is no enduring “me” to be found.

We are all emissaries of the Buddha, tasked with bringing peace, wisdom, harmony, and compassion wherever we go.

The Four Noble truths and their tasks:

1. This is the noble truth of suffering.
This noble truth of suffering is to be fully understood.
This noble truth of suffering has been fully understood.

2. This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering.
This noble truth of the origin of suffering is to be abandoned.
This noble truth of the origin of suffering has been abandoned.

3. This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering.
This noble truth of the cessation of suffering is to be realized.
This noble truth of the cessation of suffering has been realized.

4. This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.
This noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering is to be developed.
This noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering has been developed.

The Three Turnings and Twelve Aspects from the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma, Saṁyutta Nikāya 56, no. 11, translated by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

This talk by Deborah Ventura and Susan Pembroke is based on notes and observations from a 4-day training with Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi on the Four Noble Truths and their tasks.

As practitioners, we are charged with penetrating each noble truth as well as completing their associated task, namely, fully understanding the pervasiveness of suffering, dukkha; secondly, abandoning all craving, tanha, that is the origin of suffering; and thirdly, realizing the cessation of all suffering.

From these instructions, it is apparent that these truths are not articulated as philosophical or dogmatic abstractions but are to be fully understood experientially and are to be known on a visceral level. The Buddha’s remarkable discovery is the promise of a complete end of suffering.

In this talk, The Four Foundations of Wisdom, Truth, Relinquishment, and Peace are explained, as well as the ways they serve to stabilize and free our mind.

As we develop skill in the Brahma-vihāras, we strengthen our goodness and naturally turn away from hurtful thoughts, words, and actions. Recognizing and practicing the Brahma-vihāras purifies, transforms, and frees the mind.

Being mindful of the Four Positions of our body throughout the day can improve our concentration. These are opportunities throughout the day to remove the clutter of our mind by merely turning our attention to the body. These informal meditations of the body support our practice of formal meditation and can lead to insight.

Karma means to do.  Good acts through our mind, speech, and body have real results for us and others.  We create our future by inheriting the results of our actions and thought patterns we return to again and again. Because karma is driven by intentions which could be out of our awareness, we can use meditation to examine them.

Mindfulness is the topic of many articles and research which point to the benefits of meditation and mindfulness.  However, mindfulness taken out of the context of Buddhism and the Eightfold Path leads to misunderstanding, sometimes dangerous practices, and unrealistic goals.  Right Mindfulness benefits us by aiding in the purification of the mind through meditation and following the Eightfold Path.

Tendencies in our minds can get in the way of becoming fully free because they make us vulnerable to the hindrances. These proclivities support a sense of self and, therefore, distort our perception of reality. Through meditation we can see past these distortions into the unchanging reality of Nibbāna.

If allowed to settle into stillness, even the most turbulent body of water becomes clear. Developing this kind of tranquility in our mind provides clarity and supports the work of deepening our meditation practice. Lovingly examining the state of our mind during the course of the day can strengthen our ability to settle our mind.

Living with kindness and compassion for others is an essential part of following the Eightfold Path.  True kindness is not tied to any expectation of positive outcomes that might come from a kind act.

Though often beyond our awareness, sensations are always occurring in our bodies. Whether they are pleasant or unpleasant, when we do focus on our sensations, we can add mental suffering because of the thoughts we attach to them.  Merely observing these sensations can free us from this cycle.

Clinging, craving and aversion drive our thoughts and create suffering. By developing strategies for dealing with thoughts and looking at the mind, we can develop skills which will help us live in the moment, slow our minds, and understand better the mind and body relationship.

Labeling is a powerful strategy to dissolve negative and stress-creating mental habits as well as a critical tool in developing happiness-inducing, positive mental habits.

The Buddha’s generosity to one person leads to the man’s freedom from suffering. He teaches if we see clearly, we develop wisdom and become disenchanted with the senses and their objects. In this way, our craving and aversion cool and pass away.

With mindfulness and attention, we see how desire and aversion shape thoughts as well as witness how mind and matter condition each other in an impersonal, ceaseless way. The rapid rising and falling of mind and matter prevents us from seeing how the “self” is constructed millisecond by millisecond.

People are like us- flawed. Understanding this can be a source of compassion for ourselves and others.

When we observe thoughts in meditation, we see firsthand how thoughts are constructed and how the delusion of self drives their ongoing fabrication.

One reason we suffer is that we cling to an idea of a self. In Buddhism, the self is understood to be something we construct. Through meditation, we can go into a silence that helps us recognize the small mind as well as train in developing a vast mind. With training, even an infinite mind can be surpassed.

This oral reading of the Sutta, as well as the dharma talk, provides insight into freeing the mind of comments that assert the self. “When for you there will be only the seen in reference to the seen, only the heard in reference to the heard, only the sensed in reference to the sensed, only the cognized in reference to the cognized, then, Bāhiya, there is no you in connection with that. When there is no you in connection with that, there is no you there. When there is no you there, you are neither here nor yonder nor between the two. This, just this, is the end of stress.”

Buddhism is without the concepts of evil or free will. Instead we follow the Eightfold Path to understand how delusion generates suffering.