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Mindfulness & Social Action
A transcribed talk given by Michael designed into a beautiful booklet. Michael described this talk as a manifesto for how to talk about spirituality in a post-metaphysical age, used a PowerPoint presentation (the slides are included in the e-book) and said it linked together some of his clearest ideas of the time.
This is a large collection of Michael’s talks that have been transcribed by community members (including a few French and Spanish translations), as well as interviews and articles both with and by Michael. There is also a beautiful, downloadable e-book designed and produced by students.
Out of all of the texts these three are the most popular:
Books that Michael wrote, edited, or contributed to are on the Books page.
Time is Passing 3: Dogen and Martin Scorsese
This is talk 3 of 8 by Michael on Dogen’s text Time is Passing, written in 13th century Japan during a 7 Day Intensive at Centre of Gravity, Spring 2011. Ancient Buddha Dogen starts his essay on time with a
Time is Passing 2: An introduction to Dogen
This is talk 2 of 8 by Michael on Dogen’s text Time is Passing, written in 13th century Japan during a 7 Day Intensive at Centre of Gravity, Spring 2011. Notes by MH (with errancies, mishearings, conjectures). The text is
Time is Passing 1: Breathing, Shamatha, Vipassana
This is talk 1 of 8 by Michael on Dogen’s text Time is Passing), written in 13th century Japan during a 7-Day Intensive at Centre of Gravity, Spring 2011. Notes by MH (with errancies, mishearings, conjectures). The first thing I
Precepts 3: Honesty
Copying “In many religious traditions, special care is given to the manner in which their sacred texts are transcribed. In Judaism, trained professional scribes ritually copy a new Torah in conformance to millennia-old tradition, focusing the mind on each of
Precepts 2: Stephen Batchelor, Widow Basquiat, Feminine Ecriture, Prescription
The following is a transcript of a year-long series Michael Stone gave on bringing ethical awareness into every-day life. These talks were given in a large warm loft space across from Trinity Bellwoods Park in downtown Toronto. There were regularly
Ethics 12: Reaction Shots
The following are from Diane Eshini Rizzetto’s magical Waking Up To What You Do (Shambhala Publications, 2005) Monastics The Buddhist precepts came about originally as rules to govern the community of monks and nuns… they included very precise instructions such
How I Stopped Loving the Ruling Class
Three Pictures In the next few weeks, I’d like to explore the Buddha’s teachings before they turned into Buddhism. Let’s begin with three pictures. In the first picture, Bodhidharma, the person credited for bringing the Buddha’s teachings from India to
Ethics 11: Zen Precepts
The precepts are all one thing: they are buddha’s mind. They show the ways that we get distracted from buddha’s mind. Each way of distraction from buddha’s mind is also a way of reunion with buddha’s mind. The precepts show
Ethics 10: Vow
Form Welcome to the last talk of our precepts course. We’ve covered the precepts, the five yamas or vows we’re taking. They are: ahimsa or not harming. Satya: the practice of honesty. Asteya: not stealing or not taken what’s not
Ethics 9: Generosity
This is a transcript of a conversation with Michael Stone and Simone Moir as part of an online Precepts Course at Centre of Gravity in 2011. This course looked at the five yamas (from the first limb of Yoga) and
Ethics 8: Brahmacharya
This is a transcript of a talk by Michael Stone (with some insertions, amendments, riffs by the note-taker) as part of an online Precepts Course at Centre of Gravity in 2011. This course looked at the five yamas (from the
Ethics 7b : Not-Stealing
Notes on a talk at Centre of Gravity by Mike Hoolboom and Pat Rockman, May 13, 2014 Context Sometimes, when I get really quiet and I can live inside the breath, it can be hard to tell where the inhale
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