Insight Meditation Center

Gil Fronsdal: Nibbna for our Challenged World Recorded: Sunday, November 1, 2020 https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/12356.html

There are thousands of visible stars. It is the mind’s eye that sees Orion the Hunter, Cassiopeia the vain queen, and a Saucepan, or is it a Big Bear? Right and wrong, good and bad, beautiful and ugly are not real. They are also what conditioned mind makes up. So, when we find something unacceptable we want to remember that in practice we are not asked to condone or agree with unconsciousness, injustice, or evil. We are asked, as a first step, to examine the conditioning that creates the division of acceptable and unacceptable. Ashwini Narayanan

Metta Sutta (translated by Gil Fronsdal) To reach the state of peace One skilled in the good... Should be Capable and upright, Straightforward and easy to speak to, Gentle and not proud, Contented and easily supported, Living lightly and with few duties, Wise and with senses calmed, Not arrogant and without greed for supporters, And should not do the least thing that the wise would criticize. [One should reflect:] May all be happy and secure; May all beings be happy at heart. All living beings, whether weak or strong, Tall, large, medium, or short, Tiny or big, Seen or unseen, Near or distant, Born or to be born, May they all be happy. Let no one deceive another Or despise anyone anywhere; Let no one through anger or aversion Wish for others to suffer. As a mother would risk her own life To protect her child, her only child, So toward all beings should one Cultivate a boundless heart. With loving-kindness for the whole world should one Cultivate a boundless heart, Above, below, and all around Without obstruction, without hate and without ill-will. Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, Whenever one is awake, May one stay with this recollection. This is called a sublime abiding, here and now. One who is virtuous, endowed with vision, Not taken by views, And having overcome all greed for sensual pleasure Will not be reborn again.

Gil Fronsdal: Expanding Our Perspectives Recorded: Wednesday, March 9, 2011 The more perspectives and angles from which we can see any particular thing, the more compassionate, caring, and wise we can be.... https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/2337.html

Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

IRC & the Wildfires

Renunciation The ground of renunciation is realizing that we already have exactly what we need, that what we have already is good. Every moment of time has enormous energy in it, and we could connect with that. Pema Chödrön, "Renunciation"

Virtue Gil Fronsdal: Reflections on Sila Recorded: Sunday, March 10, 2013 https://audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/3928.html

Generosity I see a fearless generosity in the flowers and trees, in the way birds sing out at dawn, in the steady drumming of the rain. As I grew older and found I had things to protect, I forgot. I completely forgot that I had always had enough in the first place. Now I am trying to learn this once againtotal abundance, nothing begrudged. - Sallie Tisdale... "As If There Is Nothing to Lose" See more

Direct Experience - Guided Meditation by Gil Fronsdal Recorded: Sunday, March 14, 2004 The doorway to the dharma, the doorway to our freedom is through our direct experience ... https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/audio_player/453.html

Speech that Unifies An article by Gil Fronsdal One can’t clean a stain with what caused the stain. A stain in our social life and political life is only cleaned by... our capacity for goodness, generosity, and cooperation, perhaps fueled by resolute fervor. And these are the same capacities that can clean any stains found in our hearts. https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/speech-that-unifies/

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Martin Luther King Jr.