Sunday Dharma Talk

We learn, as dharma students, to relate to fear skillfully.  In this effort, we learn to meet fear with love.  We learn to meet experience that is fearful with the heart, with metta, compassion, joy.  This is elemental to our training.  We have this profound potential, to meet things with love.  We become more and more able, as we practice, to move beyond fear.  The other side of fear is love.  And love will always see us through.  
This is the fourth in a series of talks given by Peter Doobinin in June 2025 on the theme:  "Moving Beyond Fear."

As dharma students, we're asked to confront fear.  And, in this effort, we're asked to be skillful.  We're asked to develop certain skills.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains the elements of the skill for practicing mindfulness of fear.  If we develop this skill, we'll be able to meet fear and, in turn, move beyond it.  The talk is the third in a series of dharma talks offered in June 2025 on the subject of "Moving Beyond Fear."

New York Dharma: www.nydharma.org 

This dharma talk is the second in a series of talks given by Peter Doobinin in June 2025 on the theme: "Moving Beyond Fear."  In this talk Peter explains the critical role that concentration plays in the dharma student's ability to move beyond fear.  He describes how we learn to "put to good use" our concentration in this effort.
May all beings find freedom from fear!

New York Dharma:  www.nydharma.org 

This talk is the first in a series of dharma talks given by Peter Doobinin in June 2025 on the theme of "Moving Beyond Fear."  In this talk Peter describes an essential principle of the Buddha's, that to meet fear we must develop certain qualities.  In the talk Peter discusses these qualities, what they are, how we become developed in them, and how they enable us to meet fear.  

In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the values of a dharma student and how we can develop these values.  The values that we cultivate as dharma students lead us to a greater happiness in this life.  And the teachings of the Buddha provides us with skills that enable us to cultivate these values.  The dharma talk was given in the spring of 2025.

www.nydharma.org 

The path of the dharma is path that leads us home.  We find our true home inside us.  In the body.  And, ultimately, in the heart.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the journey to our true home.  To the place where we know true happiness.  The talk was given in the spring of 2025.

The development of concentration, the unfolding of the path, is a process.  We move, in deepening our practice, from effort to pleasure to love.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the elements of this process, the cultivation of the Buddha's path.  The talk was given on the final night of the NY Dharma April 2025 Eight Day Retreat

www.nydharma.org 

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin offers thoughts about the passing of time and that which transcends birth & death, coming & going.  
The talk was given on the 6th night of the NY Dharma April 2025 Retreat at Powell House.
May all beings live in ease and peace.

To know a greater happiness, to make the most of our lives, we're asked, as dharma students, to free the heart of its burdens.  We're asked in this effort to practice mindfulness of these burdens, the afflictions that prevent us from the heart.  Indeed, the Buddha's first noble truths gives us this task:  to comprehend these burdens:  dukkha.  In this dharma talk Peter Doobinin describes the burdens on the heart and the practice of insight that enables us to put them down.  The talk was given on the fifth night of the NY Dharma April 2025 Eight-Day Retreat.

New Yo...

What does it mean to know contentedness...?  And how do we develop this sublime state of being...?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin discusses what it is to be content ... and why it is something that we should aspire to.  The talk was given at the NY Dharma April 2025 Eight-Day retreat.

www.nydharma.org 

When developed in strength of mind we're able to meet the difficulties and challenges in life; and we're able to make the most of life, to know the joy of living.  What does it mean to have strength of mind?  How do we develop it?  And why should we?  In this dharma talk Peter Doobinin discusses these important questions.  The talk was given at the April 2025 Eight-Day Retreat.

Meditation is the practice of training the mind.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes some essential skills for training the mind.  Particular attention is paid to working with the "fetters" of restlessness, doubt, and self identity view.  The dharma talk was given on the second night of the NY Dharma April 2025 Eight-Day Retreat.

Why, in practicing the dharma, is it important to learn to establish skillful resolve?  What does it mean to establish skillful resolve?  How do we establish skillful resolve?  In this talk Peter Doobinin discusses these essential questions for every dharma student.  The dharma talk was given at the NY Dharma April 2025 Eight-Day Retreat.

As we make an effort to be present, to practice the dharma, we'll encounter doubt.  Doubt in ourselves.  Doubt in the path.  All beings experience doubt; those who are able to move forward on the journey of awakening are those who learn to meet doubt skillfully.  In this talk Peter Doobinin explicates the skill for practicing mindfulness of doubt.  And how, in turn, we develop in conviction.  The talk was given in the winter of 2024.

Life is short.  If we learn to understand, truly, the brevity of the time we have in this life, we'll be able to make the most of the time we have.  In this talk, offered in the winter of 2024, Peter describes how to skillfully reflect on the truth of death.  As he explains, this practice of 'mindfulness of death' is an essential element of practice for the dharma student looking to know a true happiness.

Through wisdom and compassion we're able to abandon habitual patterns of unskillful thinking, our painful narratives.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we develop mindfulness of thinking and, in turn, how we develop compassion for thinking.  The dharma talk was given in September 2024.

There is a goodness in life.  But we're often not bringing our awareness to it.  In this talk Peter Doobinin explains how we develop faith in the goodness in life, how we learn to know this goodness, why it's essential that we make this effort.  The talk was offered in the spring of 2025.

Our capacity to know happiness in the this life - true happiness - depends on our ability to open to difficulty, pain, suffering.  Meditation practice enables us to meet difficulty ... and to respond with the heart, with wisdom and compassion.  From the heart, we move forward in life, happily, joyfully.  In this dharma talk Peter Doobinin explains how our practice leads us to the heart, to freedom, to true happiness.  The talk was given in July 2023.

The skillful response to suffering - our own suffering, the suffering of others, the suffering in the world - is compassion.  As dharma students, we're asked to cultivate this sublime attitude of the heart.  But it's not always so easy to do.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin discusses the challenges we face in developing compassion ... and how to develop in our skill so that we're able to cultivate compassion.  The talk was given in the summer of 2023.

In meeting life, in all its difficulties and challenges, it's essential that we have a place to go for refuge.  As dharma students, we find refuge in our communities.  And the ultimate refuge is the refuge that we find within.  Developed in our practice, we learn to rely, in all the circumstances of life, on being able to find refuge within.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the skill of developing refuge ... and putting that refuge to good use.  The talk was given in November 2023.

The Buddha encouraged his followers to have "respect for concentration."  When we have this respect for concentration, we practice.  We develop our meditation.  We develop in the Buddha's concentration:  jhana.  When concentration, through effort and determination, becomes developed, we're more able to take skillful action in our lives; we're more able to understand our experience of life; we're more able to develop insight; we're more able to know true happiness.  This talk by Peter Doobinin was given in the autumn of 2023.

Over there are the roots of trees; over there, empty dwellings. Practice jhana, monks. Don't be heedle...

All beings, the Buddha tells us, have a wish for happiness of heart.  And, as the Buddha tells us, our happiness depends on our actions.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we cultivate discernment, the skill of understanding the consequences of our actions.  As we develop this skill we move toward knowing a greater happiness in this life. The dharma talk was given in November 2023.

A bodhisatta is a being who is striving for awakening ... a being who follows the dharma, who practices the dharma in accord with what the Buddha taught.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the qualities of the bodhisatta, and the elements of a practice in accord with the dharma.  As he explains, we all have the ability to follow this path ... and to know the happiness of heart that it leads us to.  The talk was given in November 2024.

Life, by its nature, is often difficult.  As human beings we're all faced with the inevitable truths of illness, aging, death, separation.  And of course there is much in the world that is difficult, challenging, painful.   And there is much that we find in ourselves that is painful.  The Buddha's teaching offer us a path through difficulty, and, in turn, to happiness. This, as Peter Doobinin, explains is the path of the heart:  the path of love.  In this talk, Peter describes how we learn to meet life, in all its joy and sorrows, skillfully, from the heart.  It's the hear...

The teachings of the Buddha tells us that dukkha, or suffering, comes from clinging; and that, in turn, if we abandon clinging, we'll know a true happiness in life.  But what is clinging?  As Peter Doobinin explains, if we come to understand what clinging is, then our ability to abandon it will be greatly enhanced.  In this talk he discusses what clinging is, and how this understanding enables us to let go.  The talk was given in March 2025.

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes two important skills that we learn to develop in an effort to meet the difficulties in life.  The practice of insight meditation is a practice of developing skills.  These skills are "skills for lifetime."  If we develop them, practice them, we're surely know a greater happiness in this life.  This talk was given in March 2025.

Our path, in practicing the dharma, includes abandoning unskillful thinking and cultivating skillful thinking.  It is essential, as we make our way toward a greater happiness, that we learn to cultivating skillful thinking in all our postures, as we go through our days and nights.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes basic skills for cultivating skillful thinking.  As he notes, these are skills that we all can develop.  And if we do, it will benefit us profoundly in our efforts to know the fruits of the path.  The talk was given in March 2025.

All that we are, the teachings of the Buddha tell us, begins with our thinking.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains skills we develop in the service of abandoning unskillful thinking.  The emphasis in the talk is on working with thinking in the course of our days.  The talk was given in March 2035.

As dharma students our task is to know reality.  And, as the Buddha tells us, there is a conditioned reality, the reality of the senses; and there's an unconditioned reality, a reality that is timeless.  The path leads us to knowing this reality:  ultimate reality.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin discusses ultimate reality, what it is, and what we need to do to know it.  The talk was given in the winter of 2025.

A dharma talk given by Peter Doobinin in January 2025 as he turned 70 years old.  In the talk Peter talks about the possibility of happiness ... a happiness that transcends time.  In practicing the dharma, as the Buddha teaches, we open ourselves, in any moment, to the profound possibilities of the heart.  To a greater happiness.  This happiness is always available to us; it is this happiness that, as dharma students, we seek to know.

Where do we look for happiness?  Is our practice leading us to a happiness of heart?  A reliable happiness?  A greater happiness?  In this talk, Peter Doobinin talks about how we make the journey to the heart ... and how, in making that journey, we come to know a greater happiness.  The talk was given at a daylong retreat in 2015.

In dharma practice, we are developing a wisdom that's found in the heart.  Typically, we seek intellectual wisdom, the wisdom attained by thinking.  In dharma practice, we're engaging in a different way of learning.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes this way of learning, the way in which we develop liberating wisdom, the wisdom in the heart.  The talk was given in the summer of 2016.

We should take care of the heart, the Buddha tells us, the way a mother would take care of her newborn baby.  As dharma students we learn to make a commitment to the heart.  In this dharma talk Peter Doobinin discusses what i means to make a commitment to the heart ... and how we're able to do that.  The talk was given in 2016 at a Downtown Meditation Community Lovingkindness Retreat.

This dharma talk was offered by Peter Doobinin at the end of the year in December 2024.  In the talk, Peter discusses how we might bring joy and faith into the year to come.  
May all beings find true happiness in their days!

As meditation students, as Peter Doobinin explains, we learn to see things "according to reality."  Much of the time, we're enmeshed in thought worlds.  Lost in thought.  In our practice, we begin to see things as they are.  We abandon our stories.  And in the process, we come to know the truth of our goodness, the truth of the dharma inside us.  The talk was given in December 2024.

The dharma student resolves to follow a spiritual path in an effort to find freedom from grasping and to free the heart of its burdens.  In doing so, we come to learn that what we're grasping on to, our stories, our suffering, is not who we are.  We come to learn what we are, our true nature.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we come to understand these truths.  The talk was given in December 2024.

Spiritual practice requires that we make great effort over a period of time; at the same time, we're asked to know the present moment and find happiness in it.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin discusses this paradox of the spiritual path.  He explains how we learn to bring skillful effort to the moment ... and how by doing so, we learn to know happiness of heart.  The talk was given in January 2024.

This dharma talk was given at a daylong retreat in New York In November 2024.  In the talk, Peter Doobinin explains the Buddha's path, the story of his awakening, and the three knowledges he came to in his journey.  These three knowledges provide for the basis of right view.  The story of the Buddha's awakening offer us a way, a dharma, that we can follow; but, as Peter describes, it is us to us to make the effort to follow the path.  If we're true to the path, we'll come to a greater happiness.  As the Thai meditation master Ajaan Lee s...

We shape our lives, in the service of knowing a greater happiness, through the cultivation of skillful intention.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains skillful intention, what it is, how we develop it.  The dharma talk is the fifth in a series of five talks on "Basic Skills" that were offered in June 2024.

Heedfulness, the Buddha teaches us, is the root of skillfulness.  The practice of heedfulness enables us to take action in support of the heart, action that will lead us to happiness of heart.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the elements of this essential skill.  The talk is the fourth in a series of talks on "Basic Skills" that Peter gave in June 2024.

In developing dharma practice, we seek to maintain present moment awareness, mindfulness, and our connection to the heart in all our postures, all the activities of our lives.  This is "Natural Meditation."  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the skill of Natural Meditation and the great benefits in developing this skill.  The talk is the third in a series on "Basic Skill" that Peter offered in June 2024.

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the basic skill of walking meditation.  As he explains, this key element of dharma practice enables us to make a transition from formal sitting meditation to being mindful in our lives.  The talk is the second in a series of talks on "basic skills" that Peter offered in June 2024.

This is the first talk in a series of dharma talks on "Basic Skills" offered by Peter Doobinin in June 2024.  In this talk, Peter discusses, in detail, the steps of breath meditation.  As he notes, it's a "lifetime practice" and a practice, as the Buddha noted, that leads us to true happiness.

The path leads us to the goodness of the heart.  It's a joyful path.  It's a joyful life.  We're asked, in making the path, to abandon that which is keeping us from the heart.  Specifically, the ways in which we cling, our holding on, our wanting ... and not wanting.  What's left, when we let go is the purity of heart.  In this talk, given in the summer of 2024, Peter Doobinin describes the dharma student's task: to know purity of heart.

What is our commitment to the heightened mind?  From the heightened mind, we're able to develop insight and find freedom from suffering.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how & why we develop the heightened mind  ... and how we develop in our commitment to it.  The dharma talk was offered in February 2024.

Life, by its nature, presents us with things that are difficult.  There is, of course, illness, aging, death.  We'll be separated, the Buddha tells us, from all that we find dear and appealing.  This is the way it is, and as dharma students we learn to develop acceptance - equanimity - in relationship to these basic truths about life.  In this talk, Peter explains how, if we develop this sort of acceptance, we can know a happiness in life.  In spite of life's challenges and difficulties, there is great happiness and joy.  The dharma talk was given in October 2024.

The Buddha's path is a path of happiness.  In following this path, we learn to know a reliable happiness.  What does this mean?  Why is it so important to make an effort to know this happiness?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin discusses these questions.  The talk was given in September 2024.

In all the circumstances of our lives, we seek, as dharma students, to stay in tune.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we learn to stay in tune regardless of the situations we encounter.  In staying in tune, we have a skillful relationship to the thoughts and emotions that arise; we're able to maintain a certain space; we're able to stay close to the heart.  The dharma talk was given in October 2024.

This life is a profound and precious gift.  As dharma students, it's integral to the path to remember the blessing of life.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin talks about how we learn to recognize the preciousness of life and cultivate gratitude for life.  And how this reflection brings joy.  The talk was given in October 2024.

Working skillfully with our thinking, in meditation and in our daily lives, is an extremely important element in dharma practice.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how, by bringing insight to our thinking, we're able to abandon sticky thoughts and afflictive narratives.  The talk was given in October 2024.

What is our commitment to the heart...?  What is our commitment to taking action in support of the heart...?  What is our commitment to love...?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explore these questions.  He describes how we learn to take action informed by love.  And how we develop that resolve.  The talk, given in July 2024, is the fourth talk in a series of four talks on Lovingkindness.
May all beings find ease of being and happiness of heart!

What is our wish for ourselves?  To what degree are we driven by our wishes for the so-call worldly satisfactions?  In cultivating lovingkindness, we are learning to develop the wish for a happiness that transcends that kind of happiness.  We're developing our wish for a greater happiness.  The happiness of heart.  This dharma talk, given in July 2024, is the third in a series of talks on Lovingkindness.
May all beings be happy of heart!

This talk is the second in a series of talks on the theme of "Lovingkindness" given by Peter Doobinin in August 2024.  As Peter explains, our efforts to connect to the heart, to lovingkindness (metta) must include both the cultivation of the heart and the abandoning of the that which is a burden on the heart.  In the talk, Peter describes how we cause the heart to be burdened and how we relieve the heart of its burdens.

May all beings be happy of heart.

This is the first in a series of talks on Lovingkindness that Peter Doobinin gave in July 2024.  The essence of lovingkindness in found in our wish for happiness, for ourselves and others.  All beings, the Buddha tells us, have this wish.  In this dharma talk, Peter discusses how we develop our wish to be happy.
May all beings be happy of heart!

What is our sense of purpose in this life?  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how following the Buddha's path, living along spiritual lines, being a dharma student, give our lives a sense of purpose.  The dharma talk was given on the final night of the April Retreat at Powell House in 2024.

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin discusses the art of letting go.  As Peter explains, developing the resolve to let go is essential, if we're going to let go, know freedom from suffering, and find our way to the heart.  The talk was given at the April 2024 Eight Day Retreat.

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin takes an in-depth look at the Buddha's seminal teaching on the Four Noble Truths.  By accomplishing the tasks the Buddha sets forth in this teaching, we're able to rid the heart of its burdens and know true happiness in this life.  The talk was offered in April 2024 at the Eight-Day Retreat at Powell House.

In following the path of the dharma, we come to know our goodness.  The goodness that each of us, as human beings, has within.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we come to know this goodness .... and how this knowledge informs our way forward.  The talk was given at a daylong retreat in Berlin in September 2024.

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes the simple practice of awareness.  If we can trust in awareness, our innate wisdom will lead us to freedom, the end of suffering, true happiness.  In the talk Peter explains the obstacles to awareness ... and how we learn to develop in awareness.  The talk was given at the April 2024 Eight-Day Retreat.

The Buddha described the quality of "being in tune with the dharma."  When we're in tune our practice flourishes.  Our life flourishes.  We live in accord with the heart.  In this talk, Peter explains what it means to be in tune ... and how we learn to be in tune.  The dharma talk was given on the third night of the April 2024 Eight-Day Retreat.

The habits of our minds often lead us to difficulty and pain.  But we can learn to train our awareness.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how by learning to incline our awareness in a skillful way, we move toward a greater happiness in life.  As he explains, the ability to cultivate ease and sukkha (pleasure), to maintain a pleasant abiiding in all our postures, is integral to this process.  The talk was given at the April 2024 Eight-Day Retreat.

All that we are, the Buddha tells us, begins with our thoughts.  As dharma students, we learn to cultivate thinking that is skillful:  thinking that will lead us to a true happiness in this life.  We can do this.  We can change our minds.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin, describes the processes for changing the mind.  The talk was given on the first night of the April 2024 Eight-Day Retreat.

The Buddha's path, the dharma, is a path of knowing a true and reliable happiness.  In making this path, as Peter Doobinin describes, ,we learn to put aside our preoccupation with things that aren't reliable, things, including the pleasures of the world, that can't bring reliable, lasting happiness.  The talk was given at a Downtown Meditation Community Three-Day Retreat in 2016.

Are we taking good care of the mnd?  What does this mean?  How do we take good care of the mind?  Why is it so important?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explores these questions.  The talk was given at Downtown Meditation Community on a Sunday night in 2014.

In our efforts to know a greater happiness in life, it's essential that we learn to abandon unskillful thinking.  But simply making an effort to put aside unskillful thinking isn't enough; we need to learn to bring insight to thinking.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we develop this skill.  The talk was given in September 2014.

As dharma students, we seek to live in a certain way.  We live in the world but we don't follow the ways of the world.  What does this mean?  As Peter Doobinin explains in this talk, we come to understand how to make this path, the path of the dharma dharma, through the process of taking refuge.  The dharma talk was given in January 2015.

What is freedom?  It's a term we might often use ... but perhaps we're not so sure about what it is.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains what, in the Buddha's teaching, freedom is ... and how we practice it.  The talk was given at a Downtown Meditation Community retreat in the winter of 2013.

In this dharma talk, given in 2015, Peter Doobinin discusses the effort we make to abandon clinging and know true happiness.  To what extent is it a priority for us to let go of aversion & desire?  What is our commitment to happiness?  These are questions we learn to ask in making this noble effort.

It's a joyful path.  When we practice the dharma, in accord with the dharma, what the Buddha taught, we know great joy.  And although the path asks us to comprehend our pain and suffering, as Peter Doobinin explains, when we do this skillfully, it's joyful.  The dharma talk was given in January 2024.

The dharma student, resolved to following the Buddha's path, strives to live her life along spiritual lines.  What does this mean?  How do we develop in our resolve?  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explores these questions.  The talk was given on New Year's Eve in 2023.

In making the journey of awakening, it's essential that we take joy in our goodness and the goodness in the world.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we learn to reflect on our goodness ... and how, in turn, we come to know the truth of our goodness.  The talk was given in December 2023.

In following the path the Buddha put forth, the dharma, we learn to take a step back and reflect.  As Peter Doobinin describes, it's important to reflect on what matters in this life.  To know what matters.  In this talk, given in December 2023, Peter discusses the elements of making this reflection and developing in understanding. 

Renunciation and seclusion are integral elements to dharma practice.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how these renunciation puts us in position to practice mindfulness and thusly know the fruits of the path.  The talk was given in November 2023.

As we journey through the fields of our past karma, we have to be mindful, alert, ardent, resolute.  If we're able to embody these, qualities, the Buddha tells us, we can avoid the pain of afflictive emotions and habitual patterns of suffering.  In this dharma talk, given in September 2022, Peter Doobinin describes how we learn to navigate the field of karma.

What would if be like if we could let go of our stories...? In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin desribes how we learn to "not hold on" to our painful narratives about ourselves and the world.  The talk was given at a daylong retreat in 2013.

In meditation practice, we learn to find a rhythm.  We learn to come in to tune.  We learn to be in tune with life.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how our practice leads us to being in tune.  The talk was given in April 2024.

The dharma is found inside.  Although our tendency, as Peter Doobinin explains, is to look for happiness in things outside ourselves, in sense pleasure, in other people, in material things, we find a true, reliable happiness inside.  In this talk, Peter explains what this means and how we come to the dharma inside.  The talk was given in February 2021.

The practice of meditation enables us to "make space."  We become more and more able, in doing so, to find refuge; to bring awareness, and thusly understanding, to our experience; and to know true happiness, a happiness that doesn't die.   In this talk, given in January 2023, Peter Doobinin describes how, by making space, we move toward a greater happiness in our lives.

When we pay close attention to our experience, we understand that what we share with others is timeless and profound.  In following the Buddha's path, we're asked to live in tune with all beings.  What does this mean?  What is our commitment to solidarity with all beings?  In this talk, given in September 2023, Peter Doobinin explores these questions.

We practice meditation so that we can be here, present, and wake, and openhearted, for this life.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we develop the resolve to be present ... and how the practice of breath meditation brings us to the present moment.  The talk was given in March 2024.

When we develop the practice of breath meditation, we come to know ease, contentedness, tranquility, peace.  We have a mind that's at peace.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how the steps of breath meditation bring us to this sublime state of peace.  The talk was given in August 2023.

Through the practice of awareness, we learn to understand our experience.  In this talk, Peter explains how through this practice of awareness we come to understand the obstacles to meditation ... and the obstacles to happiness in this life.  The talk was given in the summer of 2023.

In this dharma talk, given at a daylong retreat in the spring of 2023, Peter Doobinin describes how we make the journey to the heart and, in turn, learn to develop in self love.  As he explains, to move ahead in life, beyond fear, toward a greater happiness, we must learn to develop self love.  And this is something, if we follow the path, that we can do.

It's essential to learn acceptance, if we're going to know happiness in this life.  As Peter Doobinin explains, we all have the potential for acceptance; this potential has to be developed.  In the dharma talk, Peter describes keys elements of the skill for developing acceptance.  The talk was offered in June 2023.

It's essential, in meditation practice, and in life, to keep the mind bright.  The bright mind is imbued with gratitude and appreciation.  It's a joyful mind.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the skill for keeping the mind bright.  And he explains why it's important to do.  The dharma talk was given on 2 July 2023.

In practicing meditation, we develop the qualities of mindfulness, alertness, and ardency.  In this talk, given in September 2023, Peter Doobinin explains what ardency comprises and why it's essential to the development of meditation practice.  As he tells us, ardency is a function of wisdom.  And love.

In the goodness of the silence, we know the dharma.  In a noisy world, we're asked, as dharma students, to cultivate silence.  Externally and internally.  Ultimately, through our practice of meditation, we're able to develop inner silence.  This is our task, to develop silence, to know silence, to know the goodness of the silence.  The dharma talk was given in the winter of 2024.

In following the path toward a greater happiness, we need to have patience.  It's an essential quality, one of the ten paramis, that we're asked to develop.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains how we cultivate the skill of patience; and why patience is an element of our goodness, a blessing.  The dharma talk was given in November 2022.

As the Buddha teaches, we shape our lives, in the direction of a greater happiness, by learning to use thinking in a skillful way.  As Peter Doobinin explains in this dharma talk, if we can learn to skillfully shape our meditation, we can shape our lives.  We can know a greater happiness.  The talk was given in August 2022. 

Most beings spend most of their lives in thought worlds, lost in thought.  The practice of the dharma, as the Buddha explained, is to abandon these thought worlds.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explicates key elements of the skill for finding freedom from thought world and, in turn, for living in the present moment.  The talk was given in the summer of 2022.

The Buddha's teachings guide us to a greater happiness:  a happiness that's not dependent on conditioned things, a happiness that's reliable, a happiness that's true.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin describes how, in following the path, we gradually lessen our preoccupation with conditioned things ... and how, more and more, we turn to the unconditioned, the happiness that doesn't die, the happiness of the heart.  The talk was offered in March of 2023.

As dharma students, we make a determination to train for peace.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin explains the elements of this profound training.  As the Buddha tells us, the greatest happiness is peace.  The dharma talk was given in March 2023.

We change by changing how we think.  All that we are, the Buddha tells us, begins with our thoughts.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes how we learn to change by changing our habitual ways of thinking.  The talk was given in February of 2023.

As dharma students, we learn to follow the heart.  We learn to understand what the heart wants.  We learn to discern what it is we need to do so that we know happiness of heart.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin describes the skills we develop so that we come to know what the heart wants.  The talk was given in the winter of 2023.

In following the path of the Dharma, we learn to know the joy of life.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin, explains how, when we reflect skillfully on the truth of the impermanence, it leads us to an appreciation for the gift of life.  It leads to joy.  The talk was given in December 2022.

In this talk, Peter Doobinin, discusses what it means to be on the Buddha's path.  As he explains, in being on the path, we're asked to engage in an ongoing process of moving forward.  The dharma talk was given on June 4, 2023.

All that we are, the Buddha tells us, begins with our thoughts.  For the student of the dharma, the task is to abandon unskillful thoughts and to cultivate skillful thoughts.  In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin explains the skills for cultivating skillful thoughts.  The talk was offered in the winter of 2022.

In this dharma talk, Peter Doobinin takes a close look at the skill for being mindful of emotions, including blatant and subtle emotions.  He describes the role of equanimity and acceptance in bringing simple awareness to the experiences of mind; and how when these qualites are developed, there is the potential for wisdom.  The talk was offered on 3 December 2023.

What are our priorities for our dharma practice?  What are our priorities for life?  How can we change our priorities?  In this talk, Peter Doobinin discusses these questions; questions that dharma students are asked to ask.  The talk was given on 6 February 2022.

In making a noble escape, dharma students seeks escape from the prisons of painful thought worlds, from habitual patterns of desire and aversion, from ways of living that can't bring a reliable happiness.  In this talk, Peter Doobinin, describes how we learn to find this kind of noble escape.  The talk was given at a daylong retreat in New York City in November 2023.