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Seeking the Deathless: chanting & stories of the Buddha for Vesak 2018
Vesak is the celebration of the Buddha’s birth, liberation, and death, falling this year on the late May full moon. We took a break from the social justice series we’re in the middle of to chant and hear stories remembering the life and insight of Siddhartha Gotama (mostly from the Lalitavistara Sūtra), who became the…
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Impermanence
Three talks on the first of the 3 Characteristics, or Marks (tilakkhaṇa): Impermanence (anicca). As is our practice often lately, the meditations include the Refuge and Precepts pūja. A talk on the quality and practice of refuge, and how we both need a refuge from impermanence, and we take refuge in impermanence. (1.16.18) https://seanfeitoakes.dreamhosters.com/talks/20180116-satsang-refuge-from-in-impermanence.m4a Meditation: mindfulness of…
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The Whole Path
Opening 2018 with a talk on the “Whole Path” of Buddhist purification and liberation. I used the verse that is often chanted as a summary of the path (Dhammapada 183) as the basis. sabba-pāpassa akaranam kusalassupa-sampadā sacitta-pariyo-dapanam etam buddhāna-sāsanam Do no harmful actions, do what’s skillful, purify your mind. This is the legacy of the…
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Going for Refuge to Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha
How the foundational Buddhist practice of Going for Refuge is more profound than we often think, and can be a simple but powerful ritual to support us on the path. https://seanfeitoakes.dreamhosters.com/talks/20170124-Satsang-Refuge.m4a
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Theravada Refuge & Precepts Pūjā
Every week at Satsang, we do a short chanting ceremony called a pūjā, or devotional ritual. We chant a few ancient verses in Pāli, the language of the early Buddhist texts. These verses are excerpts from a longer sequence of chants done daily in Theravāda monasteries, emphasizing the basic lay (non-monastic) practices of going for refuge…