http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/458496650/the-heros-journey

From the Odyssey, to Robinson Crusoe, to Star Wars — why are we drawn to stories about heroes? And what do they tell us about ourselves? This hour, TED speakers explore what makes a hero's journey.

Thursday, 11 June 2015

Tara Brach's Resources

http://www.tarabrach.com/audiodharma.html

Tara Brach's Resources

Tara Brach’s teachings blend Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, compassionate engagement with our world. The result is a distinctive voice in Western Buddhism, one that offers a wise and caring approach to freeing ourselves and society from suffering.

As an undergraduate at Clark University, Tara pursued a double major in psychology and political science. During this time, while working as a grass roots organizer for tenants’ rights, she also began attending yoga classes and exploring Eastern approaches to inner transformation. After college, she lived for ten years in an ashram—a spiritual community—where she practiced and taught both yoga and concentrative meditation. When she left the ashram and attended her first Buddhist Insight Meditation retreat, led by Joseph Goldstein, she realized she was home. “I had found wisdom teachings and practices that train the heart and mind in unconditional and loving presence,” she explains. “I knew that this was a path of true freedom.”

Over the following years, Tara earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Fielding Institute, with a dissertation exploring meditation as a therapeutic modality in treating addiction. She went on to complete a five-year Buddhist teacher training program at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, under the guidance of Jack Kornfield. Working as both a psychotherapist and a meditation teacher, she found herself naturally blending these two powerful traditions—introducing meditation to her therapy clients and sharing western psychological insights with meditation students. This synthesis has evolved, in more recent years, into Tara’s groundbreaking work in training psychotherapists to integrate mindfulness strategies into their clinical work.

In 1998, Tara founded the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC (IMCW), which is now one of the largest and most dynamic non-residential meditation centers in the United States. She gives presentations, teaches classes, offers workshops, and leads silent meditation retreats at IMCW and at conferences and retreat centers across North America. Her themes reveal the possibility of emotional healing and spiritual awakening through mindful, loving awareness as well as the alleviation of suffering in the larger world by practicing compassion in action. She helped create the Washington Buddhist Peace Fellowship and has fostered efforts to bring principles and practices of mindfulness to issues of diversity, peace, and environmental sustainability, as well as to prisons and schools. Recently, she co-founded the DC-based Meditation Teacher Training Institute to help address the growing demand for the teachings of mindfulness and compassion.

In addition to numerous articles, videos, and hundreds of recorded talks, Tara is the author of the book Radical Acceptance (2003) andTrue Refuge: Finding Peace & Freedom in Your Own Awakened Heart (Bantam, 2013). She has a son, Narayan, and lives in Great Falls, VA, with her husband, Jonathan Foust; their 2 dogs; and her mother, Nancy Brach.

Tuesday, 12 May 2015

ANATTA: From a Scientific Perspective

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnyFL4Hj6n0

ANATTA: From a Scientific Perspective

Published on Mar 1, 2013

K SRI DHAMMANANDA LECTURE SERIES 2013
Buddhist Maha Vihara, Kuala Lumpur
27th February 2013

Exploring scientific explanations how personalization of the body and its experiences give rise to clinging and attachment ("upādāna") that lead to the mental construction of a subjective "self".

Sharing by Bro. Billy Tan (billy.tan@hotmail.com)

Bro. Billy Tan is a Professional Trainer and Business Development Consultant who has trained countless corporate executives and business professionals in more than 20 countries over the past three decades. Bro. Billy is a Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt practitioner, as well as being certified by the International Association of Counselors and Therapists, USA, in Clinical Hypnotherapy. Bro. Billy Tan co-authored the business book entitled "The Streetwise Marketer: Marketing Leadership Approaches They Don't Teach At Business Schools" published by Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM).

In recent years Bro. Billy has conducted several professional training programs for resident and visiting Monks at the Buddhist Maha Vihara, Brickfields, in the areas of Emotional Intelligence, Communication, Professional Presentation, Public Relations, Community Services, Leadership, and Management. In sharing the Dhamma, Bro. Billy researches discoveries from the fields of Neuroscience and Psychology to present teachings of the Buddha from a scientific perspective.

Currently, Bro. Billy offers talks, seminars, workshops and professional training programs to Buddhist community centers and charity organizations.

Thursday, 7 May 2015

Living the Compassionate Life

http://www.lionsroar.com/living-the-compassionate-life/?utm_source=Shambhala+Sun+Community&utm_campaign=6ec2a388e8-SF_Weekly_May_5_20155_4_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1988ee44b2-6ec2a388e8-20974389#

Living the Compassionate Life

BY THE DALAI LAMA | APRIL 18, 2015

This teaching by the Dalai Lama explains how the Buddhist teachings of mindfulness and compassion lead inevitably to feelings of self-confidence and kindness.

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

J. Bertetta's Lectures on Buddhism, Free University

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZF_1K8peZY

Siddhartha Gotama: Birth to Enlightenment (University Lecture)

Josh Bertetta, Ph.D, Published on Apr 18, 2015

The first lecture of our Buddhism unit begins by discussing a little about why and how Buddhism can often be challenging for modern peoples raised in Western society. We then move on to discussing the Buddha's life, beginning with his birth and issues concerning his birth narrative. From there we trace the Buddha's life, focusing on the episode known as the Four Sights, the trouble it caused him, then his eventual decision to leave his palace home in his search for a way to overcome suffering. Our discussion concludes by looking at the various periods of his meditation while sitting under the bo tree, culminating with his Enlightenment.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS2aPDzb4Uk

Buddhism: Three Characteristics of Existence and the First Two Noble Truths (University Lecture)

Published on Apr 20, 2015

This, the second day of our Buddhism Unit, begins with a discussion of the Three Characteristics of Existence (impermanence, anatta, and nirvana). From there we look at what makes us who we are (The Five Aggregates) followed by a discussion of the first two Noble Truths, paying particular attention to the term "dukkha," often translated as suffering.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGjX6tD_9fs

Noble Truths Three and Four, Nirvana, and Codependent Arising (University Lecture)

Published on May 3, 2015

Beginning with a method by which to address our suffering, our discussion then moves on to the Third Noble Truth, pausing on Nirvana. We then discuss the Fourth Noble Truth, paying particular attention to the Noble Eightfold Path. The lecture concludes with an examination of Co-dependent Arising with an example of how the teaching works.

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

AUDIOBOOK This Moment Is the Perfect Teacher 10 Buddhist Teachings Full

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao3pL8cim30

AUDIOBOOK This Moment Is the Perfect Teacher 10 Buddhist Teachings Full

Friday, 30 January 2015

12-14-14 Healing the Mind: Perspectives from Buddhism and Psychology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gXOUFeAueg

12-14-14 Healing the Mind: Perspectives from Buddhism and Psychology

Published on Jan 29, 2015

Ven. Thubten Chodron and Dr. Russell Kolts give a joint talk on how to cultivate compassion in healthy and sustainable ways that benefit both ourselves and others.

Saturday, 17 January 2015

Robert Darr 'Sufism & Buddhism' talk

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaNUhWUl0Dlw1HoPFE-dwVp91Ecf-03Gj

Robert Darr 'Sufism & Buddhism' talk

Published on Nov 6, 2012

From a talk given at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco on September 6, 2012

Despite doctrinal differences among Muslim Sufis, Buddhists, and Taoists, followers of these traditions have a great deal in common when it comes to spiritual practice. This is not surprising since each of these traditions was founded upon spiritual insight rather than speculation or belief. This talk explores how each of these traditions grew by establishing fundamental teachings about human insight and spiritual practices. The balance between doctrine and spiritual practice was often lost over time as doctrine devolved into mere belief. By cultivating the awareness of innate spirituality the real value of each of these religious traditions can be appreciated and genuine interfaith understanding can occur. Objects from the Asian Art Museum's collection will illustrate this discussion.

Robert Abdul Hayy Darr is the author of The Spy of the Heart and translator of Mahmud Shabistari's Garden of Mystery. He has studied Islamic spirituality for nearly 40 years.

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

The Alchemist, by Paulo Cuelho, Audiobook

The Alchemist, by Paulo Cuelho, Audiobook

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkqLN-K_hO0
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRjzjZCi2WA
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=573wb0iAC5k
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QKOv6lsNzk

Published on Oct 29, 2014

This is an inspiring book and I think all should have a listen.

The Alchemist is a novel by Paulo Coelho first published in the year 1988. Originally written in Portuguese by its Brazilian-born author, it has been translated into at least 56 languages as of September 2012.

Dharmapeople : Resources

Tuesday, 21 June 2016

Beliefnet : Buddhist Prayers

Buddhist Prayers

Monday, 21 December 2015

The Hero's Journey

The Hero's Journey

Thursday, 11 June 2015

Tara Brach's Resources

Tara Brach's Resources

Tuesday, 12 May 2015

ANATTA: From a Scientific Perspective

Thursday, 7 May 2015

Living the Compassionate Life

Living the Compassionate Life

This teaching by the Dalai Lama explains how the Buddhist teachings of mindfulness and compassion lead inevitably to feelings of self-confidence and kindness.

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

J. Bertetta's Lectures on Buddhism, Free University

Siddhartha Gotama: Birth to Enlightenment (University Lecture)

Buddhism: Three Characteristics of Existence and the First Two Noble Truths (University Lecture)

Noble Truths Three and Four, Nirvana, and Codependent Arising (University Lecture)

Wednesday, 22 April 2015

AUDIOBOOK This Moment Is the Perfect Teacher 10 Buddhist Teachings Full

AUDIOBOOK This Moment Is the Perfect Teacher 10 Buddhist Teachings Full

Friday, 30 January 2015

12-14-14 Healing the Mind: Perspectives from Buddhism and Psychology

12-14-14 Healing the Mind: Perspectives from Buddhism and Psychology

Published on Jan 29, 2015

Saturday, 17 January 2015

Robert Darr 'Sufism & Buddhism' talk

Robert Darr 'Sufism & Buddhism' talk

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

The Alchemist, by Paulo Cuelho, Audiobook