Talks: Reflections on the Path

Awakening to the Sacred
The tendency to think “life should be different” and to try to control experience removes us from the wisdom and compassion that naturally gives rise to healing and transformation. We learn to trust the power of our heart and awareness by meeting both the pain and beauty of this life with sacred presence.

Taking Refuge
The Buddha taught of three archetypal domains in which we awaken presence and realize freedom. In contrast to our habitual false refuges, these gateways of true refuge are dependable because they express the timeless truth of what we are. This talk shines a light on false refuges, guides us in exploring the meaning of each of the three Buddhist refuges and ends in a ritual of “taking refuge.”

Longing to Belong
Spiritual practice reveals our belonging through bringing presence to three gateways: the aliveness of the present moment, loving relatedness, and the openness and lucidity of awareness itself. This talk includes guided meditations in exploring each gateway. Note: poem, “She Dreamed of Cows” is by Norah Pollard

Gratitude and Generosity
While we value gratitude and generosity, our daily life can often have an undercurrent of complaint and an anxious kind of self-centeredness. This Thanksgiving Eve talk explores teachings and practices that reconnect us with the sense of wonder and abundance that characterizes...

Refuge in Loving Presence
There are times when there is so much fear and reactivity, that the first step in moving toward freedom is to connect with some sense of safety and love. This talk explores how an inner pathway to loving presence can support us in facing and awakening through traumatic wounding.

Intimacy with Life
Zen mast Dogen taught that “…to study the Buddhist way is to be Intimate with all Things.” This talk reviews the often unconscious ways that we habitually block intimacy and two trainings of attention that foster a natural sense of belonging to this living world and to timeless presence.

Choosing Presence
Spiritual awakening is energized by conscious intention. This talk explores how we get waylaid by habitual wants and fears, and the ways we can connect with the power and purity of our deep aspiration for love, truth and freedom.

Behind the Mask
The development of a mask or persona based on our activities and roles is a natural way the ego tries to protect and enhance itself. Yet unless we wake up from our identification with the mask, we are unable to discover the truth and wholeness of what we are. This talk investigates how our masks manifest and the process of wise attention that can free us from a limiting sense of separate self. Includes a guided meditation.

Question and Response – Applying Buddhist Practices
Tara responds to questions from the audience on applying Buddhist practices to our lives.

Skeleton Woman
If we can embrace the whole of our nature with unconditional presence – including the inevitability of change and loss–we discover deep wisdom and enduring love.

Two Wings of a Liberating Attention
The attention that serves spiritual awakening is based on the capacity to recognize clearly what is happening in the present moment, and to regard what arises with a kind heart. This talk explores the challenges to a clear and honest presence, and how we cultivate understanding and compassion.

Wise Effort and Spiritual Freedom
In the Buddhist tradition, wise effort, or the purposeful dedication of our energy, is an essential part of the spiritual path. While the attitudes of grasping or fear can contract the quality of our effort and create suffering in our lives; when our effort arises from sincerity and wisdom, it creates the conditions for liberation.

Embracing the Unlived Life
This talk explores how we cut off from the energetic parts of our inner experience and the healing and spiritual freedom that is possible when we bring awareness to the life of the body.

From Story to Presence
A fundamental skill cultivated through meditation is awakening from our stories and arriving back in the aliveness of the moment. If we investigate, we find that a large portion of our stories create physical and emotional stress, separate us from others, and obscure the truth of who we are. In this talk you are invited to identify several of your “top ten hits”, explore how these stories live in your body, and reconnect with living presence.

The Grounds of Living Compassion
A critical question on the spiritual path is how we can bring the loving presence awakened by meditation into every facet of daily life. This talk explores the conditioning that keeps us in reactive trance and the ways we can deepen our attention and align our lives with our hearts.

Genuine Acceptance
Our capacity to accept this life is key to our freedom, yet there are many misconceptions about acceptance: People wonder, if acceptance makes us a doormat in relationships? Isn’t acceptance akin to resignation? Doesn’t it make us passive when what is needed is action? This talk explores some of the misunderstandings about acceptance and offers teachings on the nature of genuine and liberating acceptance.

Enchantment and Freedom
When caught in suffering we are perceiving reality through a distorted lens. We are unable to see what we really are, and we latch on to the surface appearances of others. By training our minds to pay attention we begin to recognize the conditioning that entraps us, and the love and awareness that shines through these changing forms.

Happiness
The Buddha taught of two dimensions of happiness–that which is based on particular circumstances, and that which arises from unconditional presence. This talk explores the ways we block happiness; the attitude and meditative practice that give rise to worldly happiness and the state of Being that is experienced as pure happiness and freedom.
(Note: Judy Brown’s poem, “Fire,” can be found at:
http://www.judysorumbrown.com/resources/poems.html

Let Everything Happen to You
The now common adage “what you resist, persists” is a deep and important truth. This talk explores the often unconscious ways that we avoid the difficult parts of our experience, and the meditative strategies for cultivating an accepting and healing presence.

Part 4 – Wise Practice – Taking Refuge in Awareness
This four week series reviews many key components of Buddhist meditation practice. Beginning with intention and attitude, we cover the strategies that help us arrive in presence, the key elements of mindfulness, working with difficult emotional states and the practices that awaken our heart. Each week will include guided meditations and reflections.
Donations
Please consider a donation of any size—your generosity allows us to offer these talks and meditations freely.