Simplicity & Sympathy by Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. He began his training after graduating from Dartmouth College in Asian Studies in 1967. Then he joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to the Public Health Service in northeast Thailand, which is home to several of the world’s oldest Buddhist forest monasteries. He met and studied under the Buddhist master Ven. Ajahn Chah, as well as the Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. After returning to the United States, Jack co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with fellow meditation teachers Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein. He is also a founding teacher of the Spirit Rock Centre in Woodacre, California, where he currently lives and teaches. Over the years, Jack has taught in centers and universities worldwide, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings with the Dalai Lama and worked with many of the great teachers of our time. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is a father and activist.

His books have been translated into 20 languages and sold more than a million copies. They include, A Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology, A Path with Heart; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; Teachings of the Buddha; Seeking the Heart of Wisdom; Living Dharma; A Still Forest Pool; Stories of the Spirit, Stories of the Heart; Buddha’s Little Instruction Book; The Art of Forgiveness, Lovingkindness and Peace and his most recent book, Bringing Home the Dharma: Awakening Right Where You Are.



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The Promise Of Awakening by Howard Cohn

Howard Cohn, has led the Mission Dharma sitting group in San Francisco for over 25 years. He has practised meditation since 1972, has led vipassana retreats since 1985, and is a senior teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Centre.

In this talk he describes  the "fruits" of practise and how it engages us with the entirety of reality.



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Freedom From Opposites by Martin Aylward

In this talk Martin Aylward examines the link between holding opinions and the tightening of the mind around the extreme ends of the spectrum of experience and how we can gain freedom from these opposites.



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No Self by Anam Thubten

This talk is actual the one I took along for the monthly Friday retreat day held by the Newport

Soto Zen group. It is by Anam Thubten and is about how Nirvana is reached by the abandoning of identities.

Born in 1968 and raised in the remote Golok region of Amdo, in north­east­ern Tibet, Anam Thubten was rec­og­nized at an early age as the incar­na­tion of the great yogi Anam Lama Choying Phuntsok (also known as Anam Tsetsampa). The young tulku began his for­mal Buddhist stud­ies at the age of 10. In the course of his stud­ies, in the Nyingma tra­di­tion, he devel­oped a spe­cial affin­ity towards a very inspir­ing teacher and her­mit named Lama Tsurlo. Lama Tsurlo’s kind­ness and wis­dom gave him the firm base to advance in his Dharma prac­tice. In 1991, Anam Thubten Rinpoche escaped Tibet and fled to India.



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Natural Insight by Winnie Nazarko

Winnie Nazarko has been a student and practitioner of Buddhism since 1981. She has a background in community organizing and human services leadership, and has a special interest in how meditative practices can strengthen human capacity to address social, political, and environmental issues. She was the project director for Insight Meditation Society’s development of the Forest Refuge, a retreat centre for experienced meditators doing extended self-retreat.



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Clearly Visible but Hard to See by Stephen Batchelor

Stephen Batchelor is a contemporary Buddhist teacher and writer, best known for his secular or agnostic approach to Buddhism. Stephen considers Buddhism to be a constantly evolving culture of awakening rather than a religious system based on immutable dogmas and beliefs. In particular, he regards the doctrines of karma and rebirth to be features of ancient Indian civilisation and not intrinsic to what the Buddha taught. Buddhism has survived for the past 2,500 years because of its capacity to reinvent itself in accord with the needs of the different Asian societies with which it has creatively interacted throughout its history. As Buddhism encounters modernity, it enters a vital new phase of its development. Through his writings, translations and teaching, Stephen engages in a critical exploration of Buddhism's role in the modern world, which has earned him both condemnation as a heretic and praise as a reformer.



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Not Stealing, Lying and the Pabhassara Citta by Trudy Goodman

Trudy Goodman is Executive Director and Founder of InsightLA, a non-profit organization for Vipassana
meditation training and secular mindfulness education. She teaches extensively in the field of meditation and psychotherapy at conferences and retreats nationwide. In 1995, she co-founded the very first Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy in Cambridge, MA, where she lived and taught at the Cambridge Buddhist Association from 1991-98. Trudy has studied Buddhist meditation for 35 years, with Asian and Western teachers, and is a contributing author of Mindfulness and Psychotherapy (Guilford Press, 2005) and Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness (Springer, 2008).

Part 1



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Part 2



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How to Be an Earthling... by Wes Nisker

Wes “Scoop” Nisker is an author, radio commentator, Buddhist meditation teacher, and performer.

His most recent book is entitled Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again! (Stonebridge Press).
Other titles include The Big Bang, The Buddha, and the Baby Boom (Harper San Francisco, 2003), the newly edited version of his national bestseller, Essential Crazy Wisdom (Ten Speed Press, 2001), and Buddha’s Nature (Bantam, 1999).

Mr. Nisker is also the founder and co-editor of the international Buddhist journal Inquiring Mind.



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Perception, Agitation, Stillness, and the Second Foundation of Mindfulness by Carol Perry

Carol Perry leads retreats, weeklong bush yatras (mindfulness walks) & dharma workshops. She has 30 years of Insight meditation experience. She works the process of transformation on many levels and is rooted in a practice of bringing insight into all facets of life.

Carol is the co-founder of Dharmananda a sustainable community in northern NSW. She has lived in community for 40 years. Her commitment to community led to her work as a dispute mediator and teacher of mindful communication workshops. In addition Carol has a mindfulness-based psychotherapy (Hakomi) practice.



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Two Talks by Akincano Marc Weber

Akincano Marc Weber was born in Berne (Switzerland) and is a Buddhist teacher and contemplative psychotherapist. He learned to sit still in the early eighties as a Zen practitioner and later became a monk in Ajahn Chah’s tradition where he studied and practiced for 20 years in the Forest monasteries of Thailand and Europe. He has studied Pali and scriptures, holds a degree in Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy and lives with his wife in Cologne, Germany from where he teaches Dhamma and meditation internationally.

The following are two short talks offered as morning reflections during an Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge retreat.

Attuning to the signless (animitta)



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Orientation: attention and intention as factors of practice



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