Watch the Power and Care conference Talks

Watch the Mind and Life Power and Care Conference taking place in Brussels.

http://livestream.com/accounts/5587887/events/6186028

The schedule of talks (Brussels Timezone) for Saturday and Sunday is:

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th, 2016
Session 3: Perspectives from spiritual and religious traditions
Time: 9:30-11:30am
Religious and spiritual institutions are influential forces that promote peace and compassion and are concerned with the cultivation of an ethical existence. Yet at the same time they wield vast power that has often been used for divisive and destructive purposes and are profoundly implicated in the economics and government of societies, past and present. How can the world’s religions transform themselves and channel their immense power in order to remain viable agents of positive change?Speakers: H.H. the Dalai Lama; Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D. (interpreter); Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D. (moderator); Pauline Tangiora, J.P., Q.S.O., Q.S.M.; Matthieu Ricard, Ph.D.; Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp; Brother Thierry-Marie Courau, o.p.; Alaa Murabit, M.D.

Session 4: Perspectives from economics and society
Time: 1:00-3:00pm
Politics and economics are the quintessential arenas for the expression of power in the social realm. Since political-economic reasoning dominates our social and cultural lives how can motivations belonging to the “care constellation” be introduced into economic thinking and therefore into the societal structures that regulate human relations? Indeed, there are other models and behaviors that can create equilibrium between these elements that determine so much of our daily existence.

Speakers: H.H. the Dalai Lama; Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D. (interpreter); Dr Uwe Jean Heuser (moderator); Prof. Dennis James Snower, Ph.D.; Prof. Sir Paul Collier; Dr Vandana Shiva; Theo Sowa; Jody Williams

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th, 2016
Session 5: Personal commitment and global responsibility
Time: 9:30-11:30am
The issue of “empowerment” as a component of personal and collective engagement, and the concept of care as an expression of responsibility for our planet and its civilizations in times of strife, forced migration and homelessness, and distress at the individual and societal levels, will provide the focus for our final session. Power and care are two primary elements that may not, finally, be opposed but rather coexist as a condition of dynamic and constructive equilibrium.

Speakers: H.H. the Dalai Lama; Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D. (interpreter); Theo Sowa (moderator); Olafur Eliasson; Dr Scilla Elworthy; Frédéric Laloux; Prof. Dr Tania Singer

NASA Ames climate researcher’s dharma talk on climate change

 

Here is the link to an excellent dharma talk on climate change given by Jennifer Dungan, a longtime NASA Ames scientist/researcher on climate change.
http://imsb.dharmaseed.org/teacher/573/talk/36155/
Her description of the talk is, “We are facing global warming and drastic global climate change. The resulting disruption in the seasonal patterns and the extreme weather events pose threats to all living beings. Jennifer Dungan explores how the concept of non-harming, right action, Brahma Vihara, and the three marks of existence can help a world in which activities that involve fossil fuel perpetuate or worsen climate disruption.”

Dancing with Nature’s Wrath

Impermanence, impermanence… My heart breaks for all affected by the Soberanes fire. Particularly Anam Thubten and Dharmata Sangha. Our newly opened retreat center has been scorched by the fire. Each day, 40 miles away, in the Santa Cruz mountains I awaken to smoke and helicopters overhead. May all the firefighters be safe. Please read through the whole post. Anam Thubten’s poem is so moving.

Its been a week since Kay and Cory and the retreatants evacuated Sweetwater. We just learned from a neighbor who managed to get into the area that the fire swept through our land, most likely on the very next day, burning a number of buildings to the ground. Some, including Sunyata, the meditation yurt were still standing.

But there is no knowing what will happen as the fire is still circling the area. As of today, July 29, it is only 15% contained. We are not alone. Many houses in its path have been destroyed. And there has been one fatality.  We are praying for the safety and well being of all the beings affected by the this devastating and very powerful display of nature’s wrath.

Anam Thubten sent this poem from retreat in France:

DANCING WITH NATURE’S WRATH

Soberanes fire is burning everything that gets in her way.

She…

View original post 216 more words

True Dharma Practice

This is what true dharma practice looks like… humility, compassion, total commitment to awakening. I bow deeply to this precious yogini.

The Illusory nature of human perception

More evidence that human perception is illusory and often distorted from Professor Kokichi Sugihara.

Only Love

Deluded and Undeluded Mind: Two new dharma talks

Listen to two dharma talks I recently delivered on Delusion and Non-delusion. 

Delusion and Deluded Mind
This first talk covers the Buddhist psychological description of how delusion manifests in human perception and its effects on collective and personal human suffering.

Download mp3               iTunes podcast

Non-delusion and Undeluded Mind
This second talk covers the Buddhist psychological description of how non-delusion manifests in human perception and practical steps for cultivating non-delusion in daily life.

Download mp3                 iTunes podcast