Dharma Talks

Why are new beginnings so difficult? How can an ending support a new beginning? Life is dynamic and thus challenges us continually to open to the new. Consciousness, the Brahma-viharas, and the Buddha’s teachings increase our capacity to live more fully.

In this talk given just before the winter solstice when nights are long, Phillip uses the outer darkness as an analogy for our inner darkness and examines how the darkness can serve us on the spiritual path.

As a memorial to his friend George Leonard, Phillip discusses Leonard’s work on mastery and examines it from a Buddhist perspective.

What can we do when we’re stuck in a relationship, a job, or any other area of our lives? Making “stuckness” the object of our meditation offers the possibility of shifting our experience from one of deadness and spinning to one where possibilities…

When we investigate suffering, we frequently find that striving is present, often in subtle and barely recognizable forms. The dharma is helpful in showing us if we are clinging as well as striving, a combination which worsens our suffering.

On the cushion and in practicing mindfulness in daily life, steadiness of mind is a vital skill. Steadiness of mind has different meaning at different levels of practice, but it can be cultivated all throughout your practice.

There are seven factors of enlightenment or qualities of mind that allow insight to arise. These factors can be cultivated both on the cushion and in daily life.

This talk explores the difference between “surrender” and “defeat.” Utilizing poetry, we can gain deeper insight into this topic.

Phillip Moffitt offers his thoughts on his recent month teaching at the Forest Refuge as well as his own practice periods there.

Cultivating the art of being present to the moment with the intent to fully receive it.

This talk sums up the many themes and topics that were covered throughout the year.

How do we really bring newness into our lives?

Understanding and cultivating equanimity can greatly empower and enhance our sense of well being in our lives.

Knowing the principles of “Dharma” is not enough. Living the “dharma” in everyday life is essential to one’s practice.

What lies beneath the surface of this moment’s experience?

In any given situation, it is easy for us to become deluded, which can cause suffering to others and ourselves. If we are going to deal with our delusion, it takes courage, practice, and a renunciation of something we are holding onto that feeds our misperception. If we acknowledge our delusion, reality may become clearer.

A dharma talk given by Lisa Dale Miller, MFT, at the Marin Sangha on February 27, 2011. This talk focuses on experiencing nibanna or “the deathless” in daily life primarily through the practices of paying attention and letting be.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to study with Phillip in person, here is a way to experience one of his day-long retreats. Explore what inspires you to practice, regain trust in your own knowing, and discover ways to direct your attention.

The Three Wholesome Exchanges are needs or instincts you may have felt at one point in your life. Have you ever felt the need to be called forth by someone or something?

In the course of your daily life, practice being aware of just one moment. This could be an inhale—one to three seconds of concentration. Or if you are stuck in traffic, simply notice your hands on the steering wheel.

Explore how concentration directly affects your practice as a function of the mind, an essential part of the dharma, and an immediate felt experience.

Move beyond your fear and learn to commit to maintaining the connection to a stable mind. Develop the mind so it’s not disturbed by disturbances.

The untrained mind will be motivated primarily by habits and reacting to what’s pleasant and unpleasant. When we object to the unpleasant we fall into aversion and clinging, making us much more miserable. Discover how objecting does not serve you.

The eight path factors or elements are often presented as three classifications of practice: panna or wisdom practices, which include right view and right intention; sila or virtue practices, which are right speech, right action, and right livelihood;

Metta phrases such as “May you be safe from internal and external harm” need not be used to practice loving-kindness. It’s a practice of intention, not a results-oriented practice.

The Three Wholesome Exchanges are needs or instincts you may have felt at one point in your life. Have you ever felt the need to be called forth by someone or something? Have you ever felt the need to be witnessed?

You may not be distinguishing between calm and equanimity in your practice. It’s skillful to be calm in your practice, and you certainly want to cultivate the ability to be calm.

If tranquility represents a calm mind, equanimity is a balanced mind that is able to stay centered or return to center. Strong equanimity allows you to see life clearly.

Greed creates a wanting, grasping, attaching mind. The feeling of desire becomes so strong, it starts to dominate our mind. We become identified with what we want and suffering occurs. How do you know if you are caught in greed?

In his foremost teaching on mindfulness, the Satipatthana sutta, the Buddha recommended that in any given moment we cultivate awareness of what is happening both externally in our environment and internally in our body, and heart-mind.

In our saying “Happy New Year” one of the things we may be meaning is “This year, may you cease to be the cause of your own suffering.”

Phillip Moffitt shares with his students the details of his Feb. 2012 three-week spiritual journey to India and Thailand to visit his teachers.

One of the first western female lamas, Lama Palden Drolma is the founder of Sukhasiddhi Foundation in Fairfax, Calif., where she is the resident lama. Here she shares her spiritual journey which culminated with…

To know something deeply, we must first gather information, realize the implications of the information, and then cultivate an understanding of the information that is deep enough so that we can create a temporary respite from suffering. This can also be described as...

Delusion comes from our persistence of something that is false or distorted, even if it’s only for a moment.

Concentration is the ability to direct your attention and to sustain it so that it becomes collected and unified.

Phillip answers students’ questions on dharma, practice and disappointment.

Are you at unease with good fortune? Do you have a fear of success? Are you nervous when you experience metta? Learn about the seven downsides of the upside.

As you do your spiritual work, you begin to stay more present, to fully receive the moment just as it is, and you experience more loving intentions – even towards difficult people – because you feel less separation.

Why does Buddhism dwell on suffering instead of happiness?

Choiceless awareness is when we cease to choose an object for meditation and take the knowing of objects one after another as our meditation.

If you want to fundamentally change your life, how do you go about it? Answering these questions can help you.

Whether trying to make an important decision or investigate how you really feel about something, the dharma can help you deal with big life questions.

This dharma talk was given by Phillip at the Insight Meditation Society experienced student retreat on April 18, 2013.

In this dharma talk given at the Insight Meditation Society experienced student retreat on April 17, 2013, Phillip responds to the Boston Marathon bombings.

Phillip delivered this guided meditation on knowing awareness at the Insight Meditation Society experienced student retreat on April 13, 2013.

Phillip gave this guided meditation on sustaining awareness at the Insight Meditation Society experienced student retreat on April 16, 2013.

In this satsang style meeting of the Marin Sangha, Phillip invited sangha members to suggest different dharma topics.

Almost all difficult life situations present us with some sort of message. But we often miss the message because we get caught up in blaming the messenger.