The eight worldly winds come and go and impact everyone. Pleasure, pain, gain, loss, praise, blame, fame and disgrace are things we're all familiar with, but our tendency is to hold on to the pleasant ones and work very hard not to experience the unpleasant.The Buddha says that the wise know how to hold each of these without getting bowled over and Mary discusses how to be with whatever arises. Recorded June 6, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if yo...
Jun 14, 2019•38 min
Our lives move from one thing to the next so quickly sometimes and slowly at others. Being with our experience is what the Buddha's teachings are all about. In this talk, Mary talks about all the things arising in the week: Brené Brown, Nonviolence, Intuitive Awareness and the Four Noble Truths among other things. Right now, it's like this. Recorded May 23, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatical...
Jun 02, 2019•33 min
People often think that desire is a dirty word in Buddhism, but the teachings point to two distinct types of desire. Tanha is the desire that leads to craving. Chanda is the wholesome desire that leads to contentment and well-being. Mary discusses the difference between the two in this dharma talk. Recorded May 11, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more i...
May 23, 2019•30 min
Letting go is an important teaching because the Buddha said that clinging is suffering. Sounds simple but how do we do it? How do we identify where we cling, and what are the steps to let go? Mary discusses what that might look like in this podcast. Recorded May 2, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
May 07, 2019•30 min
How do we see clearly and stay present with our direct experience? How do we know what is real and what is fabrication? How do we live as though the truth were true? Mary examines these questions and what the Buddha taught about being present for reality. Recorded April 20, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
May 07, 2019•33 min
Our entire experience is lived through our senses and often we don't pay attention to what we're taking in. The Buddha advises us to guard the sense doors in order to be clear in how we interact with the world. This mindfulness leads to greater equanimity and a wise relationship to our surroundings. It's especially important in this day of influencers and subtle propaganda. Recorded April 27, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a resp...
May 03, 2019•42 min
Recorded in February 2013, this is the first dharma talk in the Undefended Heart series. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.
Apr 26, 2019•30 min
The idea of what it means to be a Buddhist can be very rigid and not actually related to what the Buddha taught. Mary discusses letting go of this rigidity and using the Buddha's teachings to connect with our direct experience to move through the world in a wise and compassionate way. Recorded March 28, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on class...
Apr 26, 2019•26 min
Each of the heart practices, lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity, have a what is called a near enemy. These are emotions or experiences that seem like they are the heart practices, but are neither beneficial or skillful. Mary discusses these and how to let these near, and far, enemies go. Recorded April 11, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's we...
Apr 18, 2019•34 min
The Buddha said that hatred never ceases through hatred, but only through love. But this is so much easier said than done. This talk examines what keeps us from experiencing this love for ourselves and others and how we cultivate it in a challenging world. Recorded on April 4, 2019. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Apr 11, 2019•39 min
The defilements are anything the clouds our mind and keeps us from being present with what actually is. Mary discusses how to work with these negative mind states. Recorded on March 16, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Apr 05, 2019•28 min
Our world can seem upside down at times. In this talk Mary discusses how to hold the reality of what's going on. We can come to it both from a place of love, and a place of engagement. Recorded March 23, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Mar 26, 2019•35 min
Mary discusses gratitude, what the Buddha has to say about it and how, perhaps, gratitude and grumbling cannot exist at the same time. Gratitude is an anchor to the present time. Recorded Nov 24, 2018 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Mar 15, 2019•25 min
How do we taste the freedom of letting go of craving and aversion in this moment? Recorded at Against the Stream on Dec. 23, 2015. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.
Mar 07, 2019•39 min
Reconnecting with our bodies is an important part of our practice.The Buddha said, “Within this fathom-long body and mind is found all of the teachings" yet we are so disconnected from our physical experience that we miss out on so much. How do we reconnect? Recorded Jan. 19, 2019. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Mar 02, 2019•31 min
A discussion of the concept of Faith in Buddhist teachings and how it forms part of the the Five Spiritual Faculties. Recorded Feb 23, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.
Feb 25, 2019•25 min
We are conditioned by our families, friends, culture and society from the moment we are born and this conditioning is the cause of much suffering. Based on the Buddha's teachings of conditioning, Mary discusses how we can see our conditioning and begin to let it go. Recorded Feb 16, 2019. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Feb 19, 2019•26 min
Mary discusses the 8th and final factor of the Eightfold Path. Recorded Dec 22, 2018. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.
Feb 14, 2019•36 min
A discussion focusing on the Buddha's teaching on mindfulness: the Satipatthana Sutta. Recorded in Los Angeles on Dec 10, 2018. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.
Jan 30, 2019•37 min
Mary discusses the Buddha's instructions that we should be kind to all beings, omitting none. Recorded at Against the Stream on Dec 27, 2017. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.
Jan 30, 2019•42 min
Based on the James Baraz book of the same name, Mary talks about how we can cultivate joy into our lives, regardless of our circumstances. Joy is one of the seven factors of awakening and and important part of our freedom from suffering. Recorded Jan 10, 2019 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Jan 16, 2019•36 min
Letting go of thoughts that don't serve us and cultivating beneficial ones are key pieces of finding freedom from our conditioning. Recorded Dec 8, 2018. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Jan 10, 2019•31 min
Intentions are not resolutions which often have a harsh edge and are tied to achievement. When we set intentions we need to make sure we see clearly how they will be of benefit to ourselves and others, and to hold them with kindness and compassion. Recorded Jan 3, 2018, at Against the Stream in Los Angeles. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classe...
Jan 03, 2019•43 min
This factor is foundational for how we relate to others without causing harm. Also includes a short piece on Wise Livelihood. Recorded Dec 1, 2018 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings.
Dec 29, 2018•41 min
Hope and Love investigated through the lens of Buddha's teachings. Inspired by a conversation between John Legend and Bryan Stevenson. Originally recorded at Against the Stream in Los Angeles on Jan 17, 2018 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Dec 18, 2018•30 min
Wise speech is all about how we communicate with others in a wise and skillful manner. It's also about saying the things that need to be said, not just making nice. The beginning is cut off, but Mary is talking about the centenary of the end of the First World War which was being commemorated in the United Kingdom. Recorded Nov 17, 2018. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's ...
Dec 18, 2018•24 min
Wise intention is the bridge from seeing clearly to direct action. We incline the mind towards renunciation, good will and non-harming. Recorded in Los Angeles, Oct. 27, 2018. Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Dec 06, 2018•33 min
We experience difficulties simply as a result of being a human being, and then there is the extra level of difficulty we create for ourselves when we get caught up in craving and aversion. The Buddha described this as shooting ourselves with a second arrow. This talk investigates how we avoid that extra level of suffering or discomfort. Originally recorded at Against the Stream in Los Angeles on Nov. 11, 2017 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would...
Nov 25, 2018•49 min
Beginning the investigation of the Eightfold Path with the first factor, Wise View or Wise Understanding. The Eightfold Path is the Buddha's teaching on freedom from craving and the road to liberation. These talks will touch on the pragmatic aspects of the path: how do they work in our lives today? Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and tea...
Nov 25, 2018•36 min
Waking up to how we have created fixed ideas around how our lives should be. These fixed views are what create so much discomfort, stress and suffering in our lives. The Buddha's teachings offer us a way out. Originally recorded at Against the Stream on July 28, 2018 Send me a text with any questions or comments! Include your name and email if you would like a response - it's not included automatically. Thanks. Visit Mary's website for more info on classes and teachings....
Nov 01, 2018•38 min
