The encounter with sensory experiences can lead to insight and calm, or reactivity and suffering. How do you guard your mind in the midst of a daily barrage of sensory input? How do you protect your mind so that tranquility and wisdom will be well established? The Buddha encouraged restraint of the senses, but this restraint does not require avoidance of sensory contacts or control of the external environment. In this talk, Shaila Catherine will describe how mindfulness allows us to meet the experiences of sensory contact – of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking with a mind free of reactivity. Mindfulness protects the mind so that it does not come under the sway of defilements. Mindfulness is a special quality of attention that is balanced in the moment of observing experience. Before looking, before reaching, before speaking, before any activity, we can establish the intention of mindfully meeting the experience without giving rise to anger, irritation, lust, fear, or any defilement. The practice of sensory restraint leads to a life of happiness and joy, and lays the foundation for experiences of deep concentration and awakening.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Kaira Jewel Lingo – Week of June 1
We’re fortunate that Kaira Jewel Lingo has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week. Links mentioned during these sessions can be found at the bottom of this page. To find out more about Kaira Jewel, and view her other recordings on the platform, click here. Monday, June…
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Equanimity: Crown Jewel of Buddhist Practice
Recorded :
March 31, 2024 What is equanimity, and how does it differ from indifference? What different forms and subtleties of equanimity are presented in various Buddhist teachings, often occupying the prestigious last spot on the lists? How does equanimity relate to love and compassion? For what reasons should one pursue the development of equanimity for one’s own benefit, the…
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Letting go of fear; finding courage in the face of uncertainty.
Recorded :
March 5, 2017 Even though we know fear does not serve us, we often allow it to stop or limit us. We might not even be aware of the ways it drives us and makes us smaller than we are. Though we might think we can control life, there is little we can actually control. If we are…
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Rewilding: Dharma as a Journey Home to Wildness, Wonder and Ancestral Ground
Recorded :
November 27, 2022 How do we live in these times when human action has accelerated species extinction and ecosystem collapse? How do we understand what it means to be human now? On this day we will explore the power of meditation practice to deepen intimacy with our own innate wildness, to reconnect with the unstructured spaces of the…
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The seven factors of awakening.
Recorded :
September 11, 2016 Jessica discusses the seven factors of awakening (mindfulness, tranquility/relaxation, piti/joy, concentration, investigation, viriya/courageous energy, equanimity) and how to work with them in meditation practice to balance the mind and support insight through specific meditative techniques.
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The Joy of Letting Go: Simplicity and Renunciation
Recorded :
July 6, 2025 In our consumer culture, we fall for the illusion that more choice-in things, work, people, even spiritual paths-leads to more freedom, when often the opposite is true. As Jack Kornfield says, we live “in an era of unlimited desires but limited resources, when we think it’s the opposite.” More mindful awareness of our consumption isn’t…
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Untangling the Tangle
Recorded :
July 3, 2022 The Buddha often described our practice in terms of untangling the tangles we find ourselves caught in. Together, let us uncover the primary tangles we get tangled in and how we can use our Buddhist practices to become free from these tangles. “A tangle within, a tangle without, people are entangled in a tangle. Gotama,…
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