Sunday Dharma Talk

When developed in strength of mind we're able to meet the difficulties and challenges in life; and we're able to make the most of life, to know the joy of living.  What does it mean to have strength …

Meditation is the practice of training the mind.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes some essential skills for training the mind.  Particular attention is paid to working with the "fetters" of re…

Why, in practicing the dharma, is it important to learn to establish skillful resolve?  What does it mean to establish skillful resolve?  How do we establish skillful resolve?  In this talk Peter Doo…

As we make an effort to be present, to practice the dharma, we'll encounter doubt.  Doubt in ourselves.  Doubt in the path.  All beings experience doubt; those who are able to move forward on the jou…

Life is short.  If we learn to understand, truly, the brevity of the time we have in this life, we'll be able to make the most of the time we have.  In this talk, offered in the winter of 2024, Peter…

Through wisdom and compassion we're able to abandon habitual patterns of unskillful thinking, our painful narratives.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we develop mindfulness of thinking an…

There is a goodness in life.  But we're often not bringing our awareness to it.  In this talk Peter Doobinin explains how we develop faith in the goodness in life, how we learn to know this goodness,…

Our capacity to know happiness in the this life - true happiness - depends on our ability to open to difficulty, pain, suffering.  Meditation practice enables us to meet difficulty ... and to respond…

The skillful response to suffering - our own suffering, the suffering of others, the suffering in the world - is compassion.  As dharma students, we're asked to cultivate this sublime attitude of the…

In meeting life, in all its difficulties and challenges, it's essential that we have a place to go for refuge.  As dharma students, we find refuge in our communities.  And the ultimate refuge is the …

All beings, the Buddha tells us, have a wish for happiness of heart.  And, as the Buddha tells us, our happiness depends on our actions.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we cultivate disce…

A bodhisatta is a being who is striving for awakening ... a being who follows the dharma, who practices the dharma in accord with what the Buddha taught.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describe…

Life, by its nature, is often difficult.  As human beings we're all faced with the inevitable truths of illness, aging, death, separation.  And of course there is much in the world that is difficult,…

The teachings of the Buddha tells us that dukkha, or suffering, comes from clinging; and that, in turn, if we abandon clinging, we'll know a true happiness in life.  But what is clinging?  As Peter D…

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes two important skills that we learn to develop in an effort to meet the difficulties in life.  The practice of insight meditation is a practice of develop…

Our path, in practicing the dharma, includes abandoning unskillful thinking and cultivating skillful thinking.  It is essential, as we make our way toward a greater happiness, that we learn to cultiv…

All that we are, the teachings of the Buddha tell us, begins with our thinking.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains skills we develop in the service of abandoning unskillful thinking.  The emphasi…