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Listen to Dharma Talks by Trudy Goodman
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Beginning MeditationWhat is insight meditation? Trudy describes how the behavior of the mind can deprive us of the experience of life and how insight meditation provides a remedy. She provides basic instructions for sitting meditation and guides a twenty-minute meditation. Thursday Evening Sitting Group, 2005. 35 minutes.
Three Foundations of Practice"I always wanted to be somebody," said Lily Tomlin. "But I should have been more specific." The good news is that we don't have to be something we're not or more than we are, and this understanding is an aspect of prajna (wisdom), which is one of the three foundations of practice. Trudy discusses prajna and the other two foundations, sila (virtue) and samadhi (absorption). Montecito retreat, 2006. 30 minutes.
Spiritual FriendshipThe Buddha advised us to "keep the company of noble friends who live a pure life." Purity here does not mean an absence of negative qualities, but rather, is the quality of being whole-heartedly present with experience. In this talk, Trudy discusses the significance of kalyanamitta, spiritual friendship, including the importance of being friends with ourselves. Temescal Canyon retreat, 2006. 36 minutes.
Review of General PrinciplesAll of the teachings, in a way, are about the same thing: how to be present with experience and how to begin to transform our experiences of resistance into a more spacious capacity to be with things as they are. Trudy provides a high-level review of general principles. Thursday Evening Sitting Group, 2007. 15 minutes.
HindrancesHow do we work with the hindrances, which are those qualities or factors of mind that disconnect us from our experience? Trudy describes the hindrances and discusses them in terms of the relational context of our lives, including wise relationship to ourselves. Montecito retreat, 2006. 43 minutes.
Training the Mind Like a Good Horse"I concentrate the mind the way you train a good horse" - Patacara. What is the middle way between controlling our meditation experience and not making any effort at all? Trudy uses Patacara's enlightenment poem as the basis for her discussion of the amount and type of effort needed in concentration practice. Thursday Evening Sitting Group, 2005. 30 minutes.
Basic Meditation InstructionsA short meditation sitting with instructions