Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Sunday Dharma Talk

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

The dharma student, resolved to following the Buddha's path, strives to live her life along spiritual lines.  What does this mean?  How do we develop in our resolve?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explores these questions.  The talk was given on New Year's Eve in 2023.

In making the journey of awakening, it's essential that we take joy in our goodness and the goodness in the world.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we learn to reflect on our goodness ... and how, in turn, we come to know the truth of our goodness.  The talk was given in December 2023.

In following the path the Buddha put forth, the dharma, we learn to take a step back and reflect.  As Peter Doobinin describes, it's important to reflect on what matters in this life.  To know what matters.  In this talk, given in December 2023, Peter discusses the elements of making this reflection and developing in understanding. 

Renunciation and seclusion are integral elements to dharma practice.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how these renunciation puts us in position to practice mindfulness and thusly know the fruits of the path.  The talk was given in November 2023.

As we journey through the fields of our past karma, we have to be mindful, alert, ardent, resolute.  If we're able to embody these, qualities, the Buddha tells us, we can avoid the pain of afflictive emotions and habitual patterns of suffering.  In this dharma talk, given in September 2022, Peter Doobinin describes how we learn to navigate the field of karma.

What would if be like if we could let go of our stories...? In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin desribes how we learn to "not hold on" to our painful narratives about ourselves and the world.  The talk was given at a daylong retreat in 2013.

In meditation practice, we learn to find a rhythm.  We learn to come in to tune.  We learn to be in tune with life.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how our practice leads us to being in tune.  The talk was given in April 2024.

The dharma is found inside.  Although our tendency, as Peter Doobinin explains, is to look for happiness in things outside ourselves, in sense pleasure, in other people, in material things, we find a true, reliable happiness inside.  In this talk, Peter explains what this means and how we come to the dharma inside.  The talk was given in February 2021.

The practice of meditation enables us to "make space."  We become more and more able, in doing so, to find refuge; to bring awareness, and thusly understanding, to our experience; and to know true happiness, a happiness that doesn't die.   In this talk, given in January 2023, Peter Doobinin describes how, by making space, we move toward a greater happiness in our lives.

When we pay close attention to our experience, we understand that what we share with others is timeless and profound.  In following the Buddha's path, we're asked to live in tune with all beings.  What does this mean?  What is our commitment to solidarity with all beings?  In this talk, given in September 2023, Peter Doobinin explores these questions.

We practice meditation so that we can be here, present, and wake, and openhearted, for this life.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we develop the resolve to be present ... and how the practice of breath meditation brings us to the present moment.  The talk was given in March 2024.

When we develop the practice of breath meditation, we come to know ease, contentedness, tranquility, peace.  We have a mind that's at peace.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how the steps of breath meditation bring us to this sublime state of peace.  The talk was given in August 2023.

Through the practice of awareness, we learn to understand our experience.  In this talk, Peter explains how through this practice of awareness we come to understand the obstacles to meditation ... and the obstacles to happiness in this life.  The talk was given in the summer of 2023.

In this dharma talk, given at a daylong retreat in the spring of 2023, Peter Doobinin describes how we make the journey to the heart and, in turn, learn to develop in self love.  As he explains, to move ahead in life, beyond fear, toward a greater happiness, we must learn to develop self love.  And this is something, if we follow the path, that we can do.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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 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.

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.

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.

As dharma students, we learn to follow the heart.  We learn to understand what the heart wants.  We learn to discern what it is we need to do so that we know happiness of heart.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the skills we develop so that we come to know what the heart wants.  The talk was given in the winter of 2023.

In following the path of the Dharma, we learn to know the joy of life.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin, explains how, when we reflect skillfully on the truth of the impermanence, it leads us to an appreciation for the gift of life.  It leads to joy.  The talk was given in December 2022.

In this talk, Peter Doobinin, discusses what it means to be on the Buddha's path.  As he explains, in being on the path, we're asked to engage in an ongoing process of moving forward.  The dharma talk was given on June 4, 2023.

All that we are, the Buddha tells us, begins with our thoughts.  For the student of the dharma, the task is to abandon unskillful thoughts and to cultivate skillful thoughts.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the skills for cultivating skillful thoughts.  The talk was offered in the winter of 2022.

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin takes a close look at the skill for being mindful of emotions, including blatant and subtle emotions.  He describes the role of equanimity and acceptance in bringing simple awareness to the experiences of mind; and how when these qualites are developed, there is the potential for wisdom.  The talk was offered on 3 December 2023.

What are our priorities for our dharma practice?  What are our priorities for life?  How can we change our priorities?  In this talk, Peter Doobinin discusses these questions; questions that dharma students are asked to ask.  The talk was given on 6 February 2022.

In making a noble escape, dharma students seeks escape from the prisons of painful thought worlds, from habitual patterns of desire and aversion, from ways of living that can't bring a reliable happiness.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin, describes how we learn to find this kind of noble escape.  The talk was given at a daylong retreat in New York City in November 2023.

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how the development of ethical conduct - the practice of non-harming - leads to happiness of heart.  In the talk, Peter explains why it's important to learn to prioritize the cultivation of our goodness, in the form of virtue, and how, when we do this, it has a great benefit in our lives and the lives of others.  The talk was given in the autumn of 2023.

As Peter Doobinin explains, spiritual growth depends on our ability to be truthful.  About ourselves.  About our habitual attitudes.  In this talk, Peter describes how we develop in truthfulness; and how, in turn, this leads us to a greater happiness in life.  The talk was given in August 2023.

Much of our capacity to find a greater happiness in life depends on the degree to which we're able to change our attitudes.  The dharma student learns, by developing her skill, to abandon unskillful attitudes and cultvate skillful, sublime attitudes.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin decribes the skills we seek to develop in this effort.  The talk was given in the summer of 2023.

Our dharma practice is one of gradually letting go of that which obscures the heart.  As we develop in concentration and insight, we're more and more able to access the heart, to find the light within.  And as we're more able to find the light in the heart, we're more able to take action that will lead to a greater happiness in our lives.  In this dharma talk, offered in September 2023, Peter explains how, little by slowly, we find the light within.

What is our attitude?  As Peter Doobinin explains, being able to develop a sublime attitude is crucial to achieving good results in meditation ... and to knowing a greater happiness in life.  In this dharma talk, Peter describes the skill for developing a sublime attitude in meditation and in all postures.  The dharma talk was given in the summer of 2023.

As the Buddha, perhaps famously, said, he taught, "Suffering and the end of suffering."  What does this mean...?  As Peter Doobinin explains, as dharma students we come to understand that suffering and the end of suffering are not simply intellectual concepts.  They're objects for awarness.  We're meant to bring awareness to suffering.  And, in turn, to the end of suffering.  In this talk, offered in the spring of 2023, Peter describes how we learn to do this.  .

In practicing the dharma, we're learning that we don't have to "be somebody."  Instead our practice, as Peter explains in this talk, is about learning to be who we are.  Each of us is uniquely different.  And each of us has everything we need to know happiness in this life.  The talk was given at a daylong retreat in New York City in September 2023.

Not an intellectual or academic process, dharma practice is a process of coming into rhythm.  In "coming out of the head" and into the body, we move toward having a felt experience of life.  More and more we meet life from the place of our innate wisdom.  We come into rhythm.  This dharma talk was given by Peter Doobinin in April 2023.

Change is a integral condition of life.  And our ability to find happiness in life depends on how well we meet the experiences of change.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the skills that we learn as dharma students that enable us to meet the changes in life with wisdom, compassion & grace.  The talk was given in April 2023.