Sharon Beckman-Brindley gave this dharma talk on Mar 28, 2017 at the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville.

Zen Master Yun-Men was asked “What is the highest, most profound teaching of all the buddhas and the patriarchs?”

He replied, “An appropriate response.”

In our practice, we cultivate awareness and wise discernment in order to see in each moment The presence of suffering, its cause and its end.

Such wise discernment gives us the ability to respond appropriately to whatever it is that arises, both internally in our own minds and emotions and externally in the world of our family and friends and jobs and political climates and national and international concerns.

Tonight's talk will explore the cultivation of this wise discernment which can guide our lives through all kinds of internal and external storms.

For more information, please visit: imeditation.org

Hugh Byrne gave this dharma talk on Mar 21, 2017 at the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville.

Habits—the ways we regularly think, feel and act—flow on super-efficient pathways in the brain formed by their repetition over time. Similar to automatic reflexes, habit patterns handle nearly half of our daily activities, from brushing our teeth to driving a car. While some of these habits are necessary and helpful, some are unhealthy and even harmful.

For more information, please visit: imeditation.org

Bob Hodge gave this dharma talk on Feb 28, 2017 at the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville.

Mindfulness of the Breath is the first meditation practice in the Satipatthana Sutta (The Four Foundations of Mindfulness), the most well-known discourse by the Buddha. He held mindfulness of breathing in high regard:

Twenty years after the Buddha attained enlightenment, a senior monk by the name of Ananda became his personal attendant. One day he asked the Buddha, “Venerable sir, if people ask me whether you are still practicing meditation, what shall I tell them?” The Buddha replied that, yes, he was still meditating “What kind of meditation do you practice, venerable sir?” Ananda asked. “Mindfulness of breathing,” the Buddha answered.

In this session, we will explore and practice mindfulness of breathing to experience its benefits.

For more information, please visit: imeditation.org

Pat Coffey gave this dharma talk on Feb 14, 2017 at the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville.

The Buddha taught the precepts, not as an arbitrary set of rules, but as a crucial part of a skillful path of freedom from suffering. Following the precepts, he taught, leads to sane and joyous living that binds all beings together by cultivating goodheartedness, compassion and restraint. In this talk we investigate the meaning and practice of wise and wholesome speech.

For more information, please visit: imeditation.org

Jeff Fracher gave this dharma talk on January 24, 2017 at the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville.

The Buddha taught the precepts, not as an arbitrary set of rules, but as a crucial part of a skillful path of freedom from suffering. Following the precepts, he taught, leads to sane and joyous living that binds all beings together by cultivating goodheartedness, compassion and restraint. In this talk we investigate the meaning and practice of non-harming.

For more information, please visit: imeditation.org

Susan Stone gave this dharma talk on Jan 17, 2017 at the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville.

The precepts are fundamental ethical guidelines for sane and joyous living. In a world filled with competing views and an overabundance of choices, the five precepts provide a commonsense framework, a trellis, that guides our efforts and promotes integrity and well-being. As part of our series focusing on the precepts, tonight we will focus on mindful consumption. One formulation of this precept is, in part: Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming.

For more information, please visit: imeditation.org

Sharon Beckman-Brindley gave this dharma talk on Jan 10, 2017 at the Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville.

The Buddha taught the precepts, not as an arbitrary set of rules, but as a crucial part of a skillful path of freedom from suffering. Following the precepts, he taught, leads to sane and joyous living that binds all beings together by cultivating goodheartedness, compassion and restraint. This talk provides an overview of the five Buddhist precepts.

For more information, please visit: imeditation.org