Seattle Insight Meditation Society

Note: The recording begins as Cheryl is already speaking. This talk and sit explores a few of the many dharma teachings and practices that can help us effectively respond to afflictive emotions...

The question is not whether we suffer, everyone struggles, but whether we have struggled enough. Like a football player who endures the concussions and bodily pains in order to reap the praise and exhilaration of team sports, we can overstay our struggles for many reasons. Some of us may feel deserving of our pain and reluctant to release its causes and conditions...

The Buddha taught, 'hatred does not cease by hatred, only through love'. When, in our life, we encounter conflict and pain, what does this mean? Through the cultivation of awareness and non-resistance, we can discover a radical ability to meet both our ‘inner' and 'outer' experience with profound harmlessness...

For science to be valid, the results must be replicable trial after trial. The techniques we use to accomplish the unvarying outcomes then become the mechanistic way toward similar findings in the future. Dharma practice begins mechanically for most of us. We have heard that if we do such and such, this outcome can be expected. For example, if we follow the breath, over time, we can expect that our ability to focus our attention will improve. And it does...

When we open to the gift of Sangha there is but one response – gratitude. Gratitude is made up of connection, appreciation, generosity and love. Being a part of Sangha provides us the opportunity to serve others, express our generosity and to inspire a fellow practitioner. Gratitude goes hand in hand with forgiveness. Together they diminish the influence of greed, hatred and delusion and fill our practice with motivation, reassurance and enthusiasm...

The three trainings of the Buddha’s noble eightfold path purify our speech and behavior by restraint, purify the mind by mindfulness, and purify our understanding through insight...

Kalyana mitrata – spiritual friendship – is at the heart of Sangha. This spiritual friendship keeps us all strong and committed as we walk this path to awakening together. We sit with one another and at the same time we sit for one another. Together we can have the courage to move into the unknown, to abandon our habits of mind and to step into our Buddha nature. We can experience both the relative and ultimate realities of practice...

Brahma Viharas means ‘divine abodes’ in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist teachings. The term refers to four meditation practices that can help enrich our lives, developing concentration, fearlessness, happiness and a greater ability to love. The techniques, known as lovingkindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joy in the happiness of others (mudita) and equanimity (upekkha) cultivate our natural capacity for an open and loving heart.

Brahma Viharas means ‘divine abodes’ in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist teachings. The term refers to four meditation practices that can help enrich our lives, developing concentration, fearlessness, happiness and a greater ability to love. The techniques, known as lovingkindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joy in the happiness of others (mudita) and equanimity (upekkha) cultivate our natural capacity for an open and loving heart.

Brahma Viharas means ‘divine abodes’ in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist teachings. The term refers to four meditation practices that can help enrich our lives, developing concentration, fearlessness, happiness and a greater ability to love. The techniques, known as lovingkindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joy in the happiness of others (mudita) and equanimity (upekkha) cultivate our natural capacity for an open and loving heart.