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James Baraz's Dharma Talks
James Baraz
I try to convey that the wisdom and compassion we are looking for is already inside of us. I see practice as learning how to purify our mind and heart so we can hear the Buddha inside. In doing so, we naturally embody the dharma and help awaken that understanding and love in others we meet.
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2016-05-18 Intention and Mindfulness as Supports for Joy 55:23
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The process of awakening joy starts with the intention to place well-being at the center of your life. Mindfulness is then utilized as the basic tool of a joyful life.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Awakening Joy Retreat
2016-05-17 Opening Night Talk 63:44
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with Debra Chamberlin-Taylor, Howard Cohn, James Baraz
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Awakening Joy Retreat
2016-05-12 James with a special visitor: Buddhist Nun Ayya Yeshe 39:53
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with Ayya Yeshe, James Baraz
Ayya Yeshe has developed the Bodhicitta Foundation to support the empowerment of women and children from the previously ‘untouchable’ caste in Central India. The talk started with this YouTube video at ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCOpZ3kpIJU ) of her work. To learn more about her work, go to the Bodhicitta Foundation at ( http://bodhicitta-vihara.com/ ) Bodhicitta Foundation is a socially engaged charity that helps ex-untouchable Indians – a community that was previously enslaved and forced to do the most demeaning kinds of work for little pay. They also help slum people, offer a women’s job training center, sewing, English computer classes and have a children’s study center. In addition they offer counseling for domestic violence, have a malnourished children’s program and offer basic medical and housing assistance.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-04-28 The Story of Devadatta: Lust for Power in the Buddha's Time 52:51
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Devadatta, the Buddha's cousin and brother-in-law, joined the Order in the early years with good intentions. Over time his jealousy and obsession with power turned him into the Buddha's main enemy. This dramatic story, reading like a Hollywood screenplay, gives us lessons in just what hunger for power can drive someone to do and the Buddha's wise responses to the various threats he faced.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-04-24 Equanimity: Finding Balance in Our Practice 2:55:56
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This daylong includes general talks on the theme of cultivating equanimity into your dharma practice. In addition to the talks and discussion, I offer the following practices with instructions that can be used to incline the mind toward equanimity (edited to remove lengthy periods of silence during the guided meditations): Practice #1 - Seeing things as they are Practice #2 - Looking through the lens of impermanence Practice #3 - Looking through the lens of vedana (feeling tone; 2nd foundation of mindfulness) Practice #4 - Equanimity with Big Mind meditation Practice #5 - Equanimty using traditional Brahma Viharas phrases
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-04-21 Sacred Activism Part 5: The Seven Laws of Sacred Practice 61:56
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Andrew Harvey's seven mystical laws that both define what sacred activism is and shape its mysterious power and success in the world.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-04-14 Sacred Activism Part 4: Holding a Vision 54:31
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Besides learning how to work with various emotions and reactions that come up in response to various events, it's important to hold an inspiring vision of possibilities so that we are motivated to work toward that desired outcome. Dharma concepts such as Clear Comprehension of Purpose can be applied to help us create an inspiring vision. Joanna Macy's Active Hope and Andrew Harvey's outline of current positive developments that give one hope are included.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-03-31 "Sacred Activism Part. 3: Working with Anger and Frustration" often natural responses to news". 56:00
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Hello Friends, I'll be continuing the series of Sacred Activism talks on how to bring our dharma practice to working skillfully with current events. We've explored compassionate action ("The Line Between Politics & Moral Imperative") and humility ("We Don't Know What We Don't Know"). I hope you join us.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-03-24 "Sacred Activism Part. 2: We Don't Know What We Don't Know" 59:04
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In our response to unsettling news we can easily react with self-righteousness, sure that our "dharmic" view is the "right one" and feeling superior to those who act in ways we don't understand. But the Buddha asked us to put aside any such arrogance. Through genuinely trying to understand another's perspective, we can cultivate true humility for our ignorance of their reality and greater understanding about the thinking behind their actions. Then our response, which might be one of fierce compassion, is not coming from hatred and ill will but from compassion and wisdom. This talk includes some thoughts on white privilege as well as Andrew Harvey's brilliant audio clip on Sacred Activism.
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks
2016-03-17 Sacred Activism Part 1: The Line Between Politics & Moral Imperative 57:12
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These days as the political rhetoric gets heated and a feeling of unpredictability and potential violence grows practitioners may ask: "What is the appropriate dharmic response?" Is there a time when political involvement becomes a dharmic activity? And, if so, how can we be engaged in a skillful way as an integral part of our practice?
Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley :  IMCB Regular Talks

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