Compassion with Noah Levine
Compassion is a central aspect of what the Buddha's path to liberation entails. Without compassion, there's certainly no freedom, certainly no happiness. It's a necessary skill that we have to develop. It's a radical one. It’s not a decision we can make. We actually have to retrain our minds. We rewire our nervous system in some ways to experience compassion, especially when it comes to ourselves.
What is it like to receive compassion from someone else? Do you like that when someone cares about you or does it feel a little too intimate? How has your compassion grown since you started meditating? Are you more open to empathizing?
#AgainstTheStream #Buddhist #Meditation
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Heart Practices - Loving Kindness with Noah Levine
Tonight I'm gonna talk about and start a series for the next few Mondays where I'm gonna give teachings and practices on the, the Buddha's heart practices, what we call developing a wise heart. Positive emotional responses which are Loving Kindness, Compassion, Forgiveness, Loving Kindness, Appreciation & Equanimity. We'll start with loving kindness meditation tonight, and we'll move on the next few weeks.
How are you skilled in these areas? What are the areas that need work? Which ones are you really good at? What are you working on? How have these practices helped you? What is your experience with these practices?
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Soft Belly Meditation with Noah Levine
My father developed a soft Belly Meditation. It’s a mindfulness practice. If we wanted to fit it completely into the Buddhist teachings, it would be part of the first foundation of mindfulness. Mindfulness of the body, and becoming aware in our bodies of the ways that our body holds tension, on some level or another as resistance. Part of what mindfulness is inviting us to do is to not resist, but to accept what's happening.
When you experience a little bit of stress, fear or resistance to what's happening, what gets tight in your body?cWhere does your body hold tension?
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Renunciation with Noah Levine
I'm often talking about the difference between wanting and needing and that which we are attached to. Of course, the whole emphasis of Buddhism is that everything that we're clinging to, that we're attached to, is causing us suffering. The cause of suffering is attachment, clinging, craving and that the end of suffering comes from non-attachment. So I'm gonna talk tonight about that dilemma that we have as householders.
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Perseverance and Effort with Noah Levine
The transformation that Buddhism offers, the path to end suffering, it's such a gradual long-term process. Something that’s really a lifetime's endeavor. It's not a quick fix. It's not like you can learn meditation in 10 days, do 10 minute meditations and get that much benefit. Buddhism is asking for quite a deep commitment if you want the results. The results of happiness and freedom. Alleviating suffering takes a lot of work and perseverance.
How long have you been meditating? What are some aspirations you have? What else are we going to do with this life?
#AgainstTheStream #Buddhist #Meditation
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Acceptance with Noah Levine
I'm gonna talk tonight about acceptance and the role of acceptance. Just kind of reflect a little bit on acceptance. I have a hard time accepting all of the oppression in this world. All the ignorance.
What does Buddhism teach us about acceptance and where's that line between acceptance and complacency when we shouldn't be accepting? We should be working for a positive change. We should be engaging with things rather than acceptance as this sort of complacency that doesn't do anything to change, to try to create a positive shift towards wisdom, justice, equality, whatever it is that we're talking about.
What is, what's something that you find unacceptable or suffer about accepting and don't want to accept?
#AgainstTheStream #Buddhist #Meditation
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July Q&A with Noah Levine
I have no planned topic for tonight and would like to just talk with you about whatever might be interesting for you. So reflect for a moment on questions you might have around meditation practice this form of theravada inspired Buddhists meditation practice.
Or areas of teachings, the Buddha's teachings, we call it the dharma. Topics that you are curious about or wanna know more about or confused about. Anything that you'd like to ask me or topics you'd like to hear me reflect on.
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Impersonal Nature of Things with Noah Levine
Who am I? Is there a spiritual essence to who I am? Is there a soul? Is there a self? Is there a true self versus a false self? Am I my ego, views or opinions? Is that who I am? Would you like to be free from suffering? Would you like to be happy? Why am I suffering? What's the causes of these suffering?
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Foundations of Mindfulness with Noah Levine
What benefits have you seen from being mindful? Why are you interested in learning mindfulness based meditation?
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3 Aspects of Meditation with Noah Levine
Where do you find yourself these days in your meditation practice? Are you focusing on training the mind to be more compassionate or ignoring the mind? Are you still coming back and disengaging from what the mind is doing? Coming back to the breath, the body, the first foundation, or are you doing some third foundation observing non non-interfering awareness of the mind?
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Different Realms of Existence with Noah Levine
One of the things I'm gonna talk about is this Buddhist teaching about six different realms of existence in the kind of cosmology of Buddhism. The problem with all of these Buddhist realms is that they're all impermanent.
When you reflect on your current state of mind are you human? Are you in balance with joy, and sorrow? Are you currently in a place where there's so much pain in your life that it often feels hellish, often feels like my life is like a hell realm. Are you in a place these days where there's some jealous God energy in your mind?
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Your Meditation Practice with Noah Levine
Sometimes when I'm with my teachers I'm like, I don't really have any questions, but I wouldn't mind a reminder about this aspect of the teaching. It's not that I haven't heard it before, but sometimes it’s good to have a refresher. The last couple of years, I keep asking my teacher the same question and he keeps giving me the same answer and I still don't quite understand it…
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Love with Noah Levine
What's it feel like to love someone? Maybe some of it could be romantic love like, “I’m in love with this person”. But also just like, “I really love that friend”. Not romantic at all, but I just really love that person. Maybe, ideally there's a sort of Buddhist concept that says, “You know, we wanna try to love all living beings”.
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Uncertainty with Noah Levine
Maybe it is the truth of uncertainty that creates the, tendency to worry. Because we just don't know what's going to happen, so anything can happen and often our mind will create the worst case scenario. Does your mind do that? People have different levels of minds that create worry, that create fear, that creates thoughts like “I’m not sure what's gonna happen, but it's probably gonna be bad, or it might be bad.”
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Developing Goodness with Noah Levine
Some of this could be framed in Buddhist's ideas around karma, good karma, positive actions, wise actions, bad karma or negative, unskillful harmful ways of behaving. I think that most people are seeking a little less suffering. A a bit of an improvement in the quality of life. Aa bit of transformation, but not looking for total liberation.
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Money and Finances with Noah Levine
One of the core sources of suffering, joy and sorrow in our lives is around finances and money. Around attachment, fear, worry, clinging and generosity. All of the associated stuff around our relationship to money. I'll discuss some of the Buddha's teaching, some of my own experience and what I take away from Buddhism in relationship to money.
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Sex and Sexuality with Noah Levine
It's normal to create joy and sorrow around sex and sexuality and that Buddhism offers some radical transformative perspectives of how to engage intimacy and sexuality and love with less suffering, perhaps not so much suffering at all, ideally.
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Death with Noah Levine
Am I still alive? Yep. Breathing in, still alive? Yep. Breathing out, feeling sensation, feeling emotion. Feel, the feeling life. And this reflection that we're not exempt from the end of life, the, decay of the body, and all of these different stages.
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Practicing Forgiveness with Noah Levine
Everyone owns the karma of their actions. We're forgiving, the confused being that acted in that unskillful way, not the action.
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Freedom From Identification with Noah Levine
It said that one of the first levels of liberation or freedom from suffering is no longer being identified with or believing that you are your personality.
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