Listen to Dharma Talks – Orlando Insight Meditation Group

This talk, provided by Lezlie Laws, continues reviewing elements of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, focusing in the Third Foundation, Mindfulness of the Mind.  Lezlie uses a Zen question to foster internal understanding of how the mind creates a self:  “What Is This?”  The question is not intended to be abstract and intellectual, but rather to invite direct subjective knowledge of how the mind is created in and ongoing way. During the talk, Lezlie refers to a YouTube interview involving Ezra Klein and Stephen Batchelor, a well-respected Buddhist teacher and author who suggests the value of this question.  Here is a URL recording that conversation:  https://secularbuddhistnetwork.org/ezra-klein-interviews-stephen-batchelor-on-what-is-this/  

During this meditation, Lezlie Laws provides suggestions that involve a useful question for exploring the nature of the mind–“What is this?”.  The question curiosity regarding how the mind creates the experience of selfing and is intended to diminish the demands of craving and clinging.  This contemplation is intended to support her comments during the Dharma talk that followed this contemplation reviewing the Third Foundation of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of the Mind.  She also suggests ways to apply this question directly to one’s subjective experience while meditating and participating in daily life experiences.

During this talk, Allie Vaknin provides a review of the second of the four foundations of mindfulness, vedanupassana, traditionally translated as mindfulness of feelings.  Her comments include references to how feelings can be understood not only as emotions, but also as craving pleasant experiences orexperiencing unpleasant feelings with aversion.  The goal of practice is to directly know a feeling as just a feeling, not a person, without impulsive reactivity. Here is the Emotion Wheel illustration she refers to in the talk:  Feeling Wheel

This talk, presented by Susan Baxter, focuses on the first of the four foundations of mindfulness, which contemplates how the mind makes meaning and responses to physical stimuli.  She describes how she learned how to skillfully use various mindfulness practices to cope with chronic pain.

During this first of a series of talks reviewing the Four Foundations of Mindfulness Discourse, a key teaching in all the Buddhist traditions.  Peter describes the repetitive passages in each of the foundations were required for centuries in a pre-literate culture.  He reviews how some of those passages have profound importance for understanding and practicing what is in the discourse. Here are the notes prepared for the talk:  Overview of the Satipatthana Sutta Here is an excellent translation of the Sutta:  Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta by Thanissaro

Periodically, Peter will be available to answer questions about Buddhist concepts and practices.  During this talk, he focuses on how consistent meditation practice develops internal awareness skills in the same way that consistent practice with a musical instrument develops musical skills.

During this talk, Allie Vaknin continues reviewing the Paramis, a grouping of mind conditioning functions that, when developed to full potential, cooperatively liberate the mind from distress and confusion.  Energy is described as the driver of Right Effort in the mind and body, and must be freed up from attachment to unwholesome views to be purified.

This talk is part of a series reviewing the Four Noble Truths by April Koester, specifically focused on Right Mindfulness.  During the talk she reads sections of the Satipatthana Sutta, which translates as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness a key teaching within Buddhism.  Her comments are followed up by questions and comments from those attending the meeting. Here are the notes April prepared for the presentation, including access references regarding important articles and books that are organized around the Satipatthana Sutta:  Talk Notes_ Right Mindfulness as Strategic Agency (1)

We provide an opportunity for those among us who have completed a significant retreat to “think out loud” about the experience, as this helps the person integrate the retreat more fully into their understanding of the Dharma.  Additionally, the talk and questions from the other participants may inspire others to participate in the immersive experience that a retreat provides. Here are the notes Peter prepared for this review, which includes a review of how the retreat supports deeper understanding of the Seven Awakening Factors:  Peter December 2025 Self Retreat Review

During this talk, Allie Vaknin continues to review the Paramis, qualities of consciousness that, when perfected, support the realization of Nirvana, the Unconditioned.   The topic focuses on the cultivation of the Parami of Wisdom from a Buddhist perspective.

R.A.I.N. (Recognize Accept Investigate Non-Identification) is an acronym which has been useful for meditators, and during this talk, Lezlie Laws provides a review of how two meditators can work as a team with this to understand how the mind can get trapped in an unwholesome self-identity and how to effectively create a more wholesome self-identity.  This talk is meant to be supported by the  “Guided RAIN Contemplation” recording that can be accessed through the Guided Meditation section of the website.

R.A.I.N. is described as a useful approach to cultivating insight.  During this guided contemplation, Lezlie Laws provides suggestions for inner reflection that supports including  R.A.I.N. in one’s meditation practice.  It is intended to support “Working With Rain”, the Dharma talk that follows this meditation, and which has been posted within the website archive.

During this talk, Peter responds to various questions regarding Buddhist concepts and coaching regarding meditation practice.  One topic frequently questioned about involves his current meditation practice and intentions regarding his annual self-retreat.

During this talk on Thanksgiving Eve, Peter describes how the cultivation of mindfulness of breathing meditation frees energy from being bound up by the Hindrances, creating the buoyantly engaged interest characteristic of the Awakening Factor of Joy, which provides the foundation for the experience of gratitude.  Gratitude often involves a reciprocal interpersonal manifestation of generosity.  He describes how different areas of brain/body interactions create the subjective experience of joy, gratitude and generosity.  The explanation is followed by questions and comments from those participating in the meeting. Here are the notes prepared for this talk:  Thoughts On Gratitude This talk was preceded by a guided meditation:  Contemplating Joy, Gratitude, and Generosity, which is posted in the guided meditation archive of the website.

During a meeting on Thanksgiving Eve, Peter leads a guided contemplation describing the progression from mindfulness of breathing meditation to joy and then through gratitude to generosity.  Concentrating the mind frees up energy normally bound up by the Hindrances, and when that energy is available, the experience of joy occurs.  Joy provides the heart/mind conditions for nurturing gratitude, which leads to generosity.  This contemplation precedes a Dharma talk presented by Peter that describes the various conditioning factors of the mind that make manifest joy, gratitude and generosity.

During this talk, Lezlie Laws describes the acronym RAIN: Recognize, Accept, Investigate, Non-Self as a way to approach the challenges of everyday life.  She is a proponent of spiritual journaling, and shares an excerpt from her personal journal entry to demonstrate how mindfulness, investigation and acknowledging the impersonal nature of our internal selfing process brings insight into our intrapersonal conflicts. Here are two  URL’s that provide descriptive content regarding RAIN: https://www.tarabrach.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/TaraBrach_RAIN_A-Practice-of-Radical-Compassion.pdf Here’s a link of Michele McDonald’s version of RAIN, including the second half – DROP.  https://vipassanahawaii.org/resources/raindrop/

During this talk, April continues her review of the Noble Eightfold Path, focusing on Right Effort, describing the Four Noble Efforts and how to develop them skillfully.  Her review includes questions and comments from those participating in the meeting. Here are the notes prepared for the talk:  Right effort notes

This talk continues a series of reviews presented by Allie Vaknin focusing on the paramis, those wholesome conditions of the mind that, when cultivated to their greatest potential, create the conditions for Awakening, the direct realization of Nirvana.  Allie emphasizes the importance of direct subjective awareness of unwholesome conditions and the intentional “letting go” of the craving/clinging that creates the unwholesomeness.  Her presentation is accompanied by various comments and questions by those attending the meeting.

Each generation must understand the principles found in the Noble Eightfold Path in the context of the culture of that time.  During this talk, April Koester continues to review the Virtue component of the path, specifically how current developments such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the pressures of contemporary life can be associated with Right Livelihood.  The talk follows up on her previously posted talks on Right Speech and Right Action that were recently recorded. Here are the notes prepared for this talk:  RIGHT LIVELIHOOD DHARMA TALK – Google Docs

During this talk, Lezlie Laws continues her review of the Five Hindrances, emphasizing how various teachers such as Joseph Goldstein, Shaila Catherine, and Gil Fronsdal approach effectively setting them aside.