In practicing meditation, we go through a process.  It requires learning a skill and putting in the effort.  As we develop in this process, we go through certain stages.  The development of these stages leads us to concentration, a concentration that is strong and useful, a concentration that enables us to come to the heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes basic stages in meditation practice.  The talk was given in September 2024.

NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org 

How is the heart?  Are we taking good care of the heart?  These are important questions for us to ask.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we learn to take care of the heart from day to day, moment to moment.  The talk was given in March 2024.

NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org 

Gratitude is an essential element of the spiritual path.  When gratitude is developed, we're able to function at the highest level.  We're able to know the happiness of heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the skills for cultivating gratitude and the quality of appreciation.  The talk was given in May 2024.

New York Dharma: www.nydharma.org 

Dharma practice is inherently countercultural.  We're asked to go against the current.  Doing this requires that we develop certain skills.  In an effort to practice simplicity, we practice certain skills.  We learn to see the drawbacks of chasing after sense pleasures; and we learn to know the joy of simplicity.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the skills that the dharma student cultivates, in making the path, in practicing simplicity, in knowing the joy that it brings.  The talk was given in the fall of 2025.

NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org 

What does it mean to develop our goodness?  How do we express our goodness in the world?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the elements of a life of goodness.  As he explains, we seek, as dharma students, to live this kind of life because it brings happiness.  The talk was given at a NY Dharma daylong retreat in the spring of 2025.

NY Dharma: www.nydharma.org 

In the practice of meditation, we make a journey to the present moment.  We make an effort to be here, now.  We may feel at times like we don't want to be here, we may feel like we don't belong.  But the practice of the dharma offers us a way to make this often difficult journey.  In doing so we come to realize that what we do in this life matters.  We come to learn that there is a place for us.  The dharma talk was given by Peter Doobinin at a daylong retreat in New York City in the autumn of 2025.

NY Dharma:  www.nydharma.org 

The Buddha's path, the dharma, leads us to our greatest potential as human beings.  To use a metaphor the Buddha often offered, we learn to cross the river to the further shore.  By developing in virtue, concentration & insight, we come to the heart.  We come to know a greater happiness: happiness of heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the path that leads us to the potential of the heart.  The talk was given in the spring of 2025.

NY Dharma:  www.nydharma.org 

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we develop enthusiasm for the dharma, for our practice, for the path that leads to a greater happiness.  He talks about what this enthusiasm comprises and how it enables us to move forward in our practice.  As he notes, this kind of enthusiasm for dhamma is essential for us to cultivate as we make an effort to awaken and make the most of our lives.  The talk was given in the summer of 2025.

NY Dharma:  www.nydharma.org 

As dharma students, practicing in accord with what the Buddha taught, we learn to incline to knowing the dhamma.  We learn to know moments of freedom, peace, true happiness.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we put ourselves in position to know dhamma.  He offer practical suggestions for finding dhamma in our day-to-day lives.  The talk was given in the summer of 2025

NY Dharma:  www.nydharma.org 

In this talk Peter Doobinin discusses an elemental teaching of the Buddha's, the Buddha's teaching on fear of death.  As the Buddha tells us, if we develop certain qualities, we'll be able to move beyond the fear of death.  Specifically, there are four qualities that the dharma student develops that will enable her to move beyond this existential fear.  The dharma talk is the concluding talk in a series on "Moving Beyond Fear" that Peter offered in June 2025.

NY Dharma:  www.nydharma.org