The intent of these sessions is to facilitate a lively exchange on how to apply in daily situations our understanding of the key points of the Buddha-Dharma.
January Dialogue:
February dialogue:
Common preliminaries.
What about the Preliminary Exercises?
Is the preliminary practice stage essential?
What to do with resistance to undertaking this section of the path?
Where is the training in calm abiding (Samatha) in these exercises?
March dialogue:
April Dialogue:
How to deal with mental distractions? For example going to the cinema or theater, reading a novel, social media, or watching TV. Does distraction come from the fact that the mind cannot find itself within itself, and is disturbed by perceptions, by forms, by sensations? How can we stay on course when we are too lucid about what is happening in our society?
May Dialogue:
The four transformative forces:
The Power of Regret: recalling all of our negative actions in the past motivated by ignorance, attachment or aversion.
The Power of Reliance: Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
The Power of Remedy: the mantra and visualization and mental focus on purification.
The Power of Restraint: or undertaking to refrain from creating negative karma (actions) in future.
June Dialogue:
Patience, regularity or sprint on the path of Mahamudra.