Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein

Joseph explores Samadhi, the Buddhist quality of concentration, and explains how we all have the capacity to develop a well-trained mind.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the thirty-third part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This time on Insight Hour, Joseph dives into:

• Why Samadhi, aka concentration, is so important
• The quality of a non-wavering mind
• Fixed object concentration and training our minds to focus on a singular object
• Momentary concentration as a continual focus on changing objects
• Jhana and the many levels of Samadhi
• Concentration which leads to meditative insights
• Understanding concentration as a pleasant abiding here and now
• The attainment of knowledge and vision / using the divine eye
• How concentration is a necessary precursor to wisdom
• The easefulness that comes as we strengthen Samadhi

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

This episode is brought to you by Dharma Moon. Join Buddhist teachers David Nichtern and Professor Robert Thurman for a free online event on Tuesday, March 4th at 6pm ET. Together, they'll explore the power of lineage, tradition, and the evolution of mindfulness practices. They’ll also discuss Dharma Moon’s renowned mindfulness meditation teacher training program. Visit dharmamoon.com/lineage for more info and to reserve your spot for the free online event with David Nichtern and Professor Robert Thurman!

“This is the first development of concentration: understanding that it is a pleasant, abiding, here and now. This is not something to be avoided or feared; it’s a skillful state. It’s a wholesome state.” – Joseph Goldstein

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Sharing the crucial role of tranquility on the path of liberation, Joseph Goldstein explains how calmness leads to sincerity and happiness.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the thirty-second part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

Continuing the discussion on the Satipatthana Sutta, Joseph shares:

• A clear path towards awakening and cessation of suffering
• Understanding the factors that cause suffering
• Moving from book knowledge to direct experience
• Actively following the Buddhist precepts
• Living out the practice rather than just doing it
• Calmness as a central factor on the path of liberation
• How tranquility brings about sincerity
• Remaining unattached to the factor or tranquility
• Being mindful of when calmness is present vs. not present
• Tranquility and insight as elements of clear knowing
• What happens when the mind is calm and free of desire

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

This episode is also brought to you by Dharma Moon. Join Buddhist teachers David Nichtern and Professor Robert Thurman for a free online event on Tuesday, March 4th at 6pm ET. Together, they'll explore the power of lineage, tradition, and the evolution of mindfulness practices. They’ll also discuss Dharma Moon’s renowned mindfulness meditation teacher training program. Visit dharmamoon.com/lineage for more info and to reserve your spot for the free online event with David Nichtern and Professor Robert Thurman!

“This is the enlightenment factor of calm…it’s the soothing factor of mind that quiets down disturbances. It manifests in the mind as peacefulness or coolness; it manifests that way both in the mind and in the body. It’s like sitting down in the shade of a cool tree on a hot sweltering day.” ” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Distinguishing merit that leads to mundane happiness from merit aimed at liberation, Joseph Goldstein describes sources of dharmic joy.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the thirty-first part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

Continuing his lessons on the Satipatthana Sutta, Joseph discusses:

• Making a heart connection with the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
• Reflecting on our commitment to non-harming
• Contemplating what it feels like to give and receive generosity
• Celestial happiness and beings in higher realms of existence
• Merit aimed at mundane happiness vs. merit aimed at liberation
• The karmic results to our volitional actions
• Cultivating faith, generosity, and wisdom for a source of dharma joy
• Reflecting on peace and freedom from the defilements
• Tasting momentary freedom and knowing what peace of mind means

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“Aș we cultivate faith, sila, generosity, and wisdom, the merit of those wholesome actions in the mind cannot be measured. Just reflecting on this becomes a tremendous source of dharma joy, of rapture in the mind.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Priming the pump of mindfulness, Joseph Goldstein explains rapture, the joyous fourth factor of awakening.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the thirtieth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This week, Joseph brings to our attention:

• Rapture, aka joy, delight, and pleasurable interest
• The arousing, anticipatory energy of rapture
• The positive feedback loop of the factors of awakening
• Five grades of rapture according to the Buddha
• Luminosity of mind and the sensory experiences of joy
• Bringing in right view and investigative wisdom
• Recalling the impermanence of all delightful states
• Putting teachings into practice and putting full effort into each moment
• Not overly concerning ourselves with progress
• Boredom as a lack of attention and arousing interest in our current state
• What the Buddha, dharma, sangha means for each of us

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“The energy that arises from continual mindfulness and investigation leads to rapture. We could call it a dharma joy or a dharma happiness. This happiness inspires us to investigate further and as we investigate further the mindfulness and the energy gets stronger and there’s more rapture. It’s just a wonderful spiral leading towards awakening, leading towards liberation.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Considering how right effort drives our achievements and potential for happiness, Joseph Goldstein teaches us more about the dhamma.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the twenty-ninth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

In this episode, Joseph lectures listeners on:

• Energy as the root of all achievement
• How energy can be associated with both unwholesome and wholesome states
• Putting our energy to wise use
• Taking the opportunity to challenge ourselves and extend our limits
• Getting caught in efforting and in the result of an action
• Investigating our own minds
• Reflection on death and using our time wisely
• The possibilities of every happiness

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“Right effort is not an ambitious striving. Skillful effort is the effort to be present for what is already here.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Joseph Goldstein shares how unremitting mindfulness and continuous investigation of our mental states will lead us to liberation.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the twenty-eighth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This time on Insight Hour, Joseph pursues these topics:

• Establishing unremitting mindfulness
• Investigating and examining our mental states
• How truth discerning wisdom liberates the mind
• The three universal characteristics of experience
• Cultivating wisdom through investigation of the dhamma
• Looking at the motivation behind our actions of body, speech, or mind
• The two kinds of happiness according to the Buddha
• Investigating ourselves when we are in a storm of emotions
• How clear recognition can be enough to help us let go
• Discerning the difference between the knowing and the object
• How a single moment of truth-discerning wisdom can change us

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“By understanding that it is wisdom that illuminates what is true, and that we cultivate wisdom through investigation of the dhamma, we can begin to appreciate the very broad range of skillful means and methods that are in different Buddhist traditions for accomplishing this inquiry.“– Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Outlining the crucial importance of the Buddha’s seven awakening factors, Joseph explains the promise of our practice.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the twenty-seventh part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This week on Insight Hour, Joseph provides wisdom on:

• The seven treasures, or factors of awakening, of the Buddha
• How the factors of awakening act as anti-hindrances
• Mindfulness, wisdom, energy, rapture, calm, concentration, and equanimity
• The promise and purpose of our practice
• Priming the pump of the enlightened mind
• A deeper dive into the first factor of awakening: mindfulness
• Calling to mind what is skillful and what is not
• Bare attention and clear comprehension
• Knowing the purpose behind an action, and if it is beneficial

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“The Buddha called these factors anti-hindrances because they counteract those forces in the mind that keep us in delusion. It’s sort of like anti-freeze; anti-hindrances, they keep our minds from getting congealed or frozen.“– Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Teaching listeners to become masters over their perceptions, Joseph Goldstein describes the four great hallucinations of the mind.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the twenty-sixth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

In this episode, Joseph helps listeners understand:

• The latent tendencies of the mind which condition our perceptions
• How basic sense impressions can be mistaken
• The four great hallucinations of perceptions as outlined by the Buddha
• Taking what is impermanent to be permanent
• The root of suffering
• Taking what is not self to be self
• Having mastery over our perceptions
• Ways of perceiving that lead to liberation
• How moods deceive the mind

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“A good feedback for us for when we’re lost in this hallucination of perception, taking what’s impermanent to be permanent, is whenever we notice clinging or attachment. When there’s clinging or attachment what that means is that in those moments we are not seeing clearly and we are not experiencing deeply the truth of change, the truth of impermanence. We are diluted into thinking that a particular experience in some way is worth holding onto.“– Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Cutting the chain of dependent origination, Joseph Goldstein teaches wise attention and freedom from defilement as the antidote to suffering.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the twenty-fifth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

This time on Insight Hour, Joseph continues exploring:

• The timelessness of the dhamma
• How fetters of the mind arise and how to remove them
• Preventing the future arising of mental fetters
• The coming together of sense base, object, and consciousness
• Desire as the automatic response to pleasant feelings
• Aversion as our conditioned response to aversion
• Neutrality and how it can lead to delusion
• The necessity of wise attention to avoid suffering
• Cutting the chain of dependent origination
• Being mindful of what is actually arising moment to moment
• Reinforcing our understanding of the impermanence of desire
• Taking responsibility for our own minds

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“Coming to the end of suffering means that we learn how to work with and understand and free ourselves from the force of the fetters in the mind. What’s amazing about this teaching is that it’s ultimately, completely empowering because it’s all up to us. Our suffering is not due to other people. We can take responsibility for our own minds.”– Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Joseph Goldstein explores the six internal and external sense bases of consciousness, explaining its selfless and contingent nature.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the twenty-fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This week, Joseph offers wisdom on:

• Mindfulness of the patterns of experience
• Internal and external sense spheres
• The mind as a sixth sense
• The way we attach the self to all we experience
• Seeing objects as being conditioned and selfless
• Our sense organs and paying attention to how we experience senses
• The contingent nature of consciousness
• Freeing the mind by becoming disenchanted
• Recognizing defilements when they arise, and letting them go
• How we often push the river of experience rather than allowing it to flow
• Maintaining openness of the mind without preferences

“What’s difficult is to see all of these sense objects and the sense bases, to see and understand them as being conditioned, selfless, not I, not mine, not belonging to anyone. Not only seeing the sense object and sense base as selfless, but seeing the knowing of them as selfless.”– Joseph Goldstein

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.