Awake in the World Podcast

In this dharma talk, Michael Stone aims to answer the question, "What did the Buddha teach?" by focusing on the Pāli Canon—the earliest known record of the Buddha’s teachings in India. The mind is like a tourist—taking pictures of the present moment. The power of mindfulness practice is opening up to raw sensation. Recorded on January 13, 2012.

Treat each movement of the mind as something we devote ourselves to, like the beloved, and then forgiveness happens naturally. Meditation is about going to the places deeper than ourselves, the place where forgiveness comes from. The final talk on Chapter 3 of the Yoga Sutra. Recorded on January 10, 2012.

Guided meditation with a focus on the subtle body, breath, palette, tongue and skull. Given during the first night of year-end silent retreat. Recorded in Midland, Ontario on Dec 28, 2011.

Michael comes home from practice in Thailand and talks about travels, not buying things in plastic, and details about meditation techniques. Some very good meditation instructions in this talk. Recorded on December 20, 2011.

It's cool to be kind - it's the new black dress. Lovingkindness is a ratio. If it's about you, it's about clinging. If it's only about the other, you lose yourself. The best kind of love is actually conditional. At the core of every heart, even those who cause trauma for others, is the desire to be happy. Recorded on November 29, 2011.

Meditation opens us up to levels of experience that are non-human. Michael Stone goes through Patanjali's description of superpowers and how they happen in meditation practice. Then he talks about calmness and what can lead people into trouble if they don't have stability in practice. Recorded on November 22, 2011.

Can you see each thing in your life—whether objects or the people around you—as a moment in time? The mind is like a tourist constantly taking photos; meditation allows for the coming and going of everything. What's happening is really just a moment in time. Recorded on November 8, 2011.

Michael Stone begins talking about the death of his mentor, maverick psychologist James Hillman. When death comes the only thing that's important is your heart, not your accomplishments. So what really matters? Recorded on November 1, 2011.

Drawing on research with people who have healed from stroke, Michael Stone compares the Sanskrit term "samskara" with modern neuroscience and ties this into the genetic level of meditation practice. "Meditation turns genes on and off in each moment restructuring genetic code." Recorded on October 18, 2011.

The mind in concentration is like a flame in a windless space. Michael describes what happens in the mind when concentration is so focused that hindrances and distraction don't arise. Michael parallels this process with the Occupy movement. Recorded on October 11, 2011.

Michael gives a talk on the Sandokai during the 2011 autumn intensive. Michael talks about taking the meditation group to sit in court and bear witness, remembering one-ness in everything you do, and not taking things so personally. Recorded on Sept 26, 2011.

The most esoteric practice is being a human. Michael talks on the relation between the absolute and relative, religious life and the everyday mess we're in. What does it mean to have Buddha mind? Do you have it? Do you place it somewhere else? Recorded on Sept 25, 2011.

Michael talks in detail on the Chinese poem "Sandokai" during a 5-day Intensive at Centre of Gravity. Can you remain human? Can you see the way "one-ness" and "difference" support one another? Can you go beyond transcendence and drop deeply into this world? Recorded on September 24, 2011.

What is meditation? How do you settle your attention on a moving field? Michael talks on the second line of the 3rd chapter of the Yoga Sutra and how most of the world is operating in the realm of non-thinking. How do we do that? Recorded on Sept 20, 2011.

Centre of Gravity re-opens after summer break with a talk on the Yoga Sutra and Michael talks on meditation and also how to practice without making the other shore separate from us. Recorded on Sept 12, 2011.