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Relax Your Mind
Michael talks on the importance of relaxing your mind and how patience and relaxation give rise to enthusiasm. The talk is based on chapter 8 of Shantideva’s Guide to a Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Ways of seeing your parents, how
What Can We Know?
Michael reads some core teachings of the Buddha that describe the limits of what we can know. How can we practice deeper than creating new beliefs?
Buddhism Before Religion
The Buddha’s stance is anti-religious in a certain way. He uses what’s in religious practice to undo religious belief. The Buddha creates strategies, not dogmas. The more you go back into the old texts, the further away you get from
Patience is a Practice of Attunement
Long-term practice requires patience more than discipline. Practice frustrates our results oriented mind. You need patience to stay with life for the long haul. The paradoxes of karma.
The Ivory Tower of Love
It’s harder to practice conditional love than unconditional love. Try loving one person for a very long time. In this podcast episode, Michael gives a talk on Shantideva. As kids, our parents are attuned to our needs. As adults, lovers
Intensifying Relationships and the Politics of Love
Michael talks about the difference between mindfulness and being self-conscious, Shantideva’s practices for exchanging your self with others, and suggestions for long-term practice.
Your Crushing Elephant Mind
What should we do with our anger? Venting anger is one of the worst ways to cool down. Outbursts of rage typically pump up the emotional brain’s arousal, leaving people feeling more angry, not less angry.
How to Work with Strong Moods
Michael discusses Chapter 5 of the Shantideva and the way negative emotional mood swings cannot hold together for very long without thoughts. How we have to inject stories into our moods to keep them afloat; and the practices for transforming
Powerful Emotions and S.A.I.N.
Michael talks about the birth of his son Olin Winter a few days ago and then gives a series of simple and practical practices for working with strong emotions. Based on Chapter 4 of Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s
Conscientiousness and the Practice of Attentiveness
Has the powerful but ineffable energy of strong emotions, attachment and aversion reduced us to servitude? A gruff old man takes up yoga and experiences momentary freedom from painful thoughts. Has anyone else been gripped by sorcery lately?
The Whole World is Upside Down
We get a gleaming new partner and then they don’t turn out how we think they will! What we think is stable and reliable turns out to be unreliable. Michael talks about Bird’s Nest Roshi who goes out on a
You Are A Long Distance Train
Michael’s powerful final talk of 2012, during silent retreat. There is a true person who is constantly coming and going from the portals of your face. Who is that true person?
About the Community Library
Michael was a great archivist and the Community Library was—and continues to be—a labour of love. Everything in the Community Library is available for free. Anyone, anywhere can have instant access to material that will help them deepen their practice and contribute to a culture of compassion and collaboration.
Libraries are places where we gather alone together. They are known to be places of refuge for seekers, as well as those who are marginalized. This library is no different. It helps us nourish our beautiful, international community without walls. Now, it will also help keep Michael’s legacy alive.