Dharma Seed: dharma talks and meditation instruction

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Latest Episodes:

Yahel Avigur: Talk: Insight and Mettā Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

(Vrážné Zen Center) In the insight teachings, the Buddha offers radical ways of reducing suffering by relaxing the perceptions that give rise to and sustain it. Bringing these perspectives together with mettā practice offers a powerful complementarity, allowing both insight and loving-kindness to deepen and support one another.

Yahel Avigur: Instructions: Mettā Towards a Person We Find Challenging Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

(Vrážné Zen Center) For the sake of our well-being and happiness, we are invited to soften ill will in ways that feel helpful and attuned to our experience.

James Baraz: Two Essential Qualities for Awakening: Heedfulness and Wise Attention Aug 27, 2026

Show notes

(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk explores an important topic that James has not spoken on before. We often think of practice as simply noticing our experience in the present moment. However, the Buddha explicitly pairs heedfulness (appamada) and wise attention (yoniso manasikara) as the two primary internal factors responsible for giving birth to the Noble Eightfold Path. This talk discusses how these two qualities are applied in our practice on and off the cushion.

Yahel Avigur: Reflections and Guided Meditation: The Aspiration of a Bodhisattva; Radiating Goodwill Through Space Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

(Vrážné Zen Center) The Buddhist path invites us to cultivate a profound and empowering aspiration: to dedicate our hearts and bodies to the benefit of all beings. Following a reflection on this aspiration, we open our sensitivity to space and invite mettă to radiate through it, in all directions.

Ayya Santacitta: Iddhipada II: Vision ~ Updating Our Capacity for Cultural Imagination Aug 26, 2026

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(Aloka Earth Room) Short Reflection & Guided Meditation | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene IV | Online Wednesday-Morning

Yahel Avigur: Talk - relaxing the inner critic Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

(Vrážné Zen Center) One of the tendencies that my teacher, Rob Burbea, would point to again and again, encouraging us to soften or even overcome it completely, is the movement of the inner critic. A negative regard towards ourselves is a very common habit of mind. And, as a habit of mind, it is something we can come to understand, relax, and eventually overcome. In this talk, we take time to look the inner critic “in the eye,” exploring how the mind sustains it, and how very different ways of relating to ourselves can be cultivated.

Yahel Avigur: Third Instructions: Mettā Towards a Neutral Person Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

(Vrážné Zen Center) Cultivating kindness towards people we don’t know allows our mettā to become more all-encompassing, so that it can become a genuine foundation for our hearts and lives. Along the way, we reflect on what we all share as human beings, allowing this understanding to shape our perception and soften some of the fabricated and often unhelpful lines of separation between ourselves and others.

Devon Hase: Teachings on Rohitassa and Mindfulness of the Body Aug 26, 2026

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(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Reflections and guided practice on embodiment

Andrea Fella: What is true in this moment? Aug 26, 2026

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(Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge)

Amana Brembry Johnson: Mind States, Thoughts and Mental Formations (Retreat at Spirit Rock) Aug 25, 2026

Show notes

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) What is the mind like right now? Contracted? Distracted? Collected? Liberated?