The second noble truth explains that the cause of suffering is craving - our repetitive experience of craving. All of our suffering is caused by our craving, none of it is caused by external circumstances.
Craving also includes aversion - When we are aversive, we are craving for the painful experience to go away or be more pleasant than it is.
Read MoreAfter the Buddha reached enlightenment he had to figure out the best way to teach others this path to freedom. As he began to teach others he developed the Four Noble Truths and Eight Fold Path.
In this Dharma talk Noah will give a brief overview of the path, but in the following weeks will dive deeper into each of the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path.
We all have the ability to respond to what is happening in our lives without suffering about it.
Read MoreAfter the Buddha reached enlightenment he had to figure out the best way to teach others this path to freedom. As he began to teach others he developed the Four Noble Truths and Eight Fold Path.
In this Dharma talk Noah will give a brief overview of the path, but in the following weeks will dive deeper into each of the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path.
We all have the ability to respond to what is happening in our lives without suffering about it.
Read MoreThe Buddha characterized this path as being counter-instinctual to human beings: the natural human instinct is to resist, avoid, or meet with aversion all things that are unpleasant, and to grasp at, hold on to, and crave all things that are pleasurable.
He explained that his experience along the whole spiritual path was one that went "against the stream" of ordinary human consciousness.
Read MoreAfter experiencing both extremes of life, from gluttonous attachment to pleasure to radical rejection of all things pleasant, from aversion to discomfort to attachment to pain. Suddenly the Buddha (then Sid) could see that he needed to find some balance, he needed to find a middle path
Mindfulness starts to reveal to us that it's not so much what's happening as how we are relating to what's happening. Mindfulness reveals the impermanent, the unreliable or unsatisfactory and the impersonal. Buddhism says, if you are mindful, if you practice, if you follow this path, you can come to a place of non suffering. Freedom, from the definition of Nirvana of enlightenment, is that you can be free from suffering in this lifetime.
Mindfulness starts to reveal to us that it's not so much what's happening as how we are relating to what's happening. Mindfulness reveals the impermanent, the unreliable or unsatisfactory and the impersonal. Buddhism says, if you are mindful, if you practice, if you follow this path, you can come to a place of non suffering. Freedom, from the definition of Nirvana of enlightenment, is that you can be free from suffering in this lifetime.
Mindfulness starts to reveal to us that it's not so much what's happening as how we are relating to what's happening. Mindfulness reveals the impermanent, the unreliable or unsatisfactory and the impersonal. Buddhism says, if you are mindful, if you practice, if you follow this path, you can come to a place of non suffering. Freedom, from the definition of Nirvana of enlightenment, is that you can be free from suffering in this lifetime.
Mindfulness starts to reveal to us that it's not so much what's happening as how we are relating to what's happening. Mindfulness reveals the impermanent, the unreliable or unsatisfactory and the impersonal. Buddhism says, if you are mindful, if you practice, if you follow this path, you can come to a place of non suffering. Freedom, from the definition of Nirvana of enlightenment, is that you can be free from suffering in this lifetime.
Mindfulness starts to reveal to us that it's not so much what's happening as how we are relating to what's happening. Mindfulness reveals the impermanent, the unreliable or unsatisfactory and the impersonal. Buddhism says, if you are mindful, if you practice, if you follow this path, you can come to a place of non suffering. Freedom, from the definition of Nirvana of enlightenment, is that you can be free from suffering in this lifetime.
We can end suffering in this lifetime with our own efforts, but the meditation practice is only one part of this path to freedom.
The Five Precepts: 1. Abstain form taking life 2. Abstain from taking what is not given 3. Abstain from sexual misconduct 4. Abstain from lying or harmful speech 5. Abstain from drugs and alcohol
Read MoreWhat do you find unacceptable? Acceptance is not the same as complacency. The more mindful we are, the more we can see that everything is constantly changing. Understanding with wisdom that everything is impermanent and accepting this is the reality
Read MoreIt's not going to work, but go for it anyway. Live Dharma Q&A with Noah Levine
Read MoreHow to cultivate a mind that is forgiving.
I forgive you not because you deserve it or don't deserve it, but because I don't want to hold on to the suffering of hatred. I do it for my own happiness. I forgive you, as much as I can in this moment, whether it was intentional or unintentional.
Read MoreThe Buddha. As he discovered mindfulness and really started to investigate his own direct experience, he saw everything perceived as, “pleasant and unpleasant and neutral” But, we have this instinctual craving - drive - to cling to the pleasure; to want it to feel good. And we don't have much built-in tolerance for pain. We have aversion. We have resistance to pain.
Read MoreHow often have you, at home, thought, “OK. I'm going to sit for 45 minutes…and then 15 minutes in you're like, **** it. I'm going to go do the dishes. I'm going to check my email.”
Read MoreEach one of us has a core primary personality tendency that falls into one of the categories of the causes of suffering.
Read MoreAll beings, including you, including me. If we want it. If we are willing to work hard, we can purify all of our karma.
Read MoreWhat are some of the funny things that your mind does that often don't feel that funny? Things that you take personally and you suffer about, but in a wise moment you realize, “It's so ridiculous that my mind...”
Read MoreThere Are Endless Possibilities If You Don't Know It All
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