10/13/2016 “Better Than, Worse Than, The Same As” with Diane Wilde

 

Better than, worse than, the same as…

The habit of fault-finding and comparison is part of a larger pattern of insecurity in which we always feel the need to judge ourselves in regards to other people. It is as though we need to convince ourselves that we are okay, which we can only do indirectly, in comparison to people who we feel are superior, are less okay or just like us.

The point is not to dwell on our own faults—or our own virtues, for that matter. It is to see ourselves and others in a clear and unbiased way. It is to see, but not to dwell on the seeing. The first step in this practice is awareness of what we are doing, actually seeing and experiencing the discontent of the comparing mind! We will discuss the judging mind and the Buddha’s advise on how to abandon it.

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10/06/2016 “Depends on What?” with Rich Howard

Depends on What?: An Exploration of Causes and Conditions

You may have heard about the importance of “causes and conditions” but what does that mean to our practice in formal meditation and daily life? Can we learn to recognize how causes and conditions work in our lives experientially without making it into an intellectual analysis? What would it be like to know a peace that does not depend on outside circumstances?

Rich Howard will lead this evening exploring the practical application of the Buddhist understanding of conditionality. As a start, notice how the experience of finding a parking place near the Friends’ Meeting House affects your mood!
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09/22/2016 “Being Of Service to Ourselves and Others” with Dennis Warren

BEING OF SERVICE TO OTHERS & OURSELVES

It’s not unusual to think of “service” as something special we do: working at a soup kitchen, homeless shelter, dog shelter, the pediatric unit in a hospital, a clothing donation center. But “service”, in a Buddhist sense, is a much bigger idea that encompasses even small acts of supporting or helping a relative, a friend or our spiritual community, such as SIM.

This evening will explore the nature of service, its values and its benefits. Dennis has been leading a year-long course entitled “How Can I Help” which includes each participant doing service in the community each month. A number of the insights and experiences from the course will be included in the discussion.

Dennis will also discuss a new effort by SIM to establish a sound, new SIM volunteer infra-structure in anticipation of moving to the Sacramento Dharma Center building sometime in October.


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SIM 2016 Residential Retreat

SIM 2016 Residential Retreat with Dennis Warren, Diane Wilde, and Rich Howard.2016 SIM Retreat Summary

** If you would like to download any of the following dharma talks, please right click on the talk’s link “talk x of y” and select “save as”.

“An integrated path of practice (1)” – talk 1 of 7 with Dennis Warren

“Metta” – talk 2 of 7 with Diane Wilde

“Compassion” – talk 3 of 7 with Rich Howard

“An integrated path of practice (2) Key elements” – talk 4 of 7 with Dennis Warren

“Sympathetic joy” – talk 5 of 7 with Diane Wilde

“Equanimity” – talk 6 of 7 with Rich Howard

“An integrated path of practice (3) Spiritual and Daily Life” – talk 7 of 7 with Dennis Warren

 

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09/08/2016 “Directions to the Middle Path” with Tony Bernhard

Thursday, September 8, 7-9 pm. Sitting and Dharma Talk with Tony Bernhard, Visiting Teacher. Directions to the Middle Path: the Buddha’s roadmap to the end of suffering…

This talk references a handout: click here

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08/25/2016 “Analog or Digital?” with Rich Howard

Nature is a seamless whole, flowing and changing continuously. The world we inhabit is increasingly digital, measured, quantified, and reduced to numbers and words. How do you think of your practice? Minutes on the cushion? Days in retreat? Years of practice? Or does the practice flow through every waking moment? We spend this evening examining our view of practice as analog or digital. We  ask ourselves if it makes a difference. We think about our own practice and discuss how it might be digital, analog, neither, or both. And how that serves our life and the world.


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08/18/2016 “The Power of Negative Thinking” with Laura Rosenthal

In Buddhist teaching, ethical conduct constitutes an essential training: sila, one of the three trainings that form the ennobling eightfold path. While contemporary teachers frequently discuss the ethical precepts in positive terms, emphasizing the wholesome qualities we are cultivating, traditional Buddhist teaching frames them in the negative, as core unwholesome behaviors with respect to which we practice renunciation. In this dharma talk and group discussion, we will explore why the precepts may have been framed in this way as well as the freedom and richness found in exploring this path of “not doing.”

This talk references a handout: click here

Laura Rosenthal, a long-time participant in the SIM community, is a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP 4) and is currently participating in Spirit Rock’s Advanced Practitioners Program (APP).

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08/11/16: “Right Effort and Right Action” with Dennis Warren

The previous two talks (Jul 28, Aug 4) focused on Right Effort, or Energy, and the prominent role it plays in Buddhist practice. This talk has a focus on the important relationships between Right Effort or Energy, on the one hand, and Right Action on the other. Understanding these two different elements of practice; how they are similar; and how they are different is an important step in making them operational in daily life. This talk explores the meanings of Right Effort and Right Action, their role in practice and their place in Buddhist psychology.

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08/04/16: “Right Effort, Part 2” with Dennis Warren

Right Effort, or Energy, plays a prominent role in Buddhist practice. It is one of the “5 Spiritual Faculties”, one of the “7 Factors of Awakening”, one component of the “8 Fold Path”, and is a foundation for the “4 Foundations of Mindfulness.” It’s obviously pretty important for the Buddha to have included it as an element in all of these groupings of core spiritual tools.

This talk is a follow up to the initial discussion of Right Effort held July 28. We switch gears and look at Right Effort or Energy from a different perspective – as the application, monitoring, and adjustment of both physical and mental energy as the basic underpinning of all of our practice efforts.

In its most basic form, this involves non-conceptually figuring out, and using our effort to support, what works — what allows us to remain mindful and see into the nature and consequences of what is unfolding — in any moment of experience. In this sense, Right Effort’s contribution to helping us get free of suffering in our lives involves using it to stay focused on a particular way of investigating our experience and the nature of our lives. Understanding Effort in the context of meditative psychology, and how to use it as a reliable and practical tool in formal meditation practice, as well as daily life, is essential to developing, stabilizing, and maturing our practice.

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07/28/16: “Right Effort, Part 1” with Dennis Warren

This talk has a focus on Right Effort and presents a model for understanding and working with this core practice that may be a little different than you have heard before. Drawing on a number of talks of the Historical Buddha and other teachers, Dennis explores a practical approach to jump starting your practice.

If you would like to download this talk, please right click and select “save as” here.

To listen to Part 2 of the series, click here.

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