Gil gave an excellent talk on the Atthakavagga, considered to be the oldest text of the teachings from the historical Buddha.  It’s worth listening to.

Here are some links to talks by Jacques Verduin that you might want to hear:

From Sacramento Insight:

05-19-11 Sitting in the Fire with Jacques Verduin

Talks from IMC

Talks on Dharmaseed

And an article from Weekend America: Victims Visiting Prison

And a video (thanks, Reva, for letting me know about it):

Here is the first part of the evening with Jacques Verduin, which was a guided meditation:

Unfortunately, the second half of the evening’s recording was lost.  Just another instance of anicca…

Jacques Verduin will be visiting us on Tuesday, June 28th to talk about his work with the Insight Prison Project. Please let anyone who might be interested in hearing about this project know.  Here’s a link to The Dhamma Brothers website to learn more about the project in Alabama prisons which is based on a program by S.N. Goenka – which is different than what Jacques has been doing, but Jacques is interested in doing something similar (but not necessarily in Goenka’s format) in California.

From John O’Donohue’s book “To Bless the Space Between Us,”

For Courage

When the light around you lessens
And your thoughts darken until
Your body feels fear turn
Cold as a stone inside,

When you find yourself bereft
Of any belief in yourself
And all you unknowingly
Leaned on has fallen,
When one voice commands
Your whole heart
And it is raven dark,
Steady yourself and see
That it is your own thinking
That darkens your world,

Search and you will find
A diamond-thought of light,

Know that you are not alone
And that this darkness has purpose;
Gradually it will school your eyes
To find the one gift your life requires
Hidden within this night corner.

Invoke the learning
Of every suffering
You have suffered.

Close your eyes.
Gather all the kindling
About your heart
To create one spark.

That is all you need
To nourish the flame
That will cleanse the dark
Of its weight of festered fear.

A new confidence will come alive
To urge you toward higher ground
Where your imagination
Will learn to engage difficulty
As its most rewarding threshold!

“Whenever we feel that we are definitely right, so much so that we refuse to open up to anything or anybody else, right there we are wrong. It becomes wrong view. When suffering arises, where does it arise from? The cause is wrong view, the fruit of that being suffering. If it was right view it wouldn’t cause suffering.”  — Ajahn Chah

Here is a wonderful article worth reading from Tricycle Magazine by Ajahn Chah: Meeting the Dharma Alone

Please watch this video about the Moment of Peace.  Make a commitment for peace.

This is an article from Tricycle Magazine called Something from Nothing by Ken McLeod – about not doing anything in our practice – not needing to fix, change or do anything.

See the Videos page for the link to the inteview of Jon Kabat-Zinn and Jack Kornfield from the Wisdom 2.0 conference earlier this year.

Here is a quote from Tuesday night:

“Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.” ~ Sydney J. Harris

And a wonderful poem by Danna Faulds:

“Here”
by Danna Faulds

It’s always here, the silent
underpinning, the foundation
beneath the foundation. When
I reach deep enough into darkness,
inside fear, self-doubt, aversion or
despair, there is something so intact
I almost miss it in my focus on
brokenness. It’s always here, this
ground of being. Like the water in
which fish swim, it’s easy to overlook
the eloquence of truth. It’s here, this
guiding presence, this calm, abiding
stillness. It’s here when I don’t try
to make life any more or less than
what it is, when I stop trying to be
right. It’s here when I unclench my
fists and breathe, when I let go of the
demand to make life smooth or easy.
It’s here, the oneness underlying
multiplicity, the exquisite “is-ness”
of everything. I could shout it from
the rooftops, but it’s true no matter
what I say, and I know you’ll find
it in your own time, your own way,
that precious moment when you
choose to meet life exactly as it is.

Understanding the Defilements by Steve Armstrong

And check out the publication by Sayadaw U Tejaniya: Don’t Look Down on the Defilements

Love is born each time the intention is made to open the heart to whatever is here;
Freedom is found when the heart doesn’t hold on.

Here are the traditional words and Gil’s “common” words/phrases for the 7 factors of awakening:
mindfulness -> here
investigation -> what
energy -> this
joy -> yes
calm -> relax
concentration -> collect (or composure)
equanimity -> it’s okay