Way of Compassion Dharma Center
Episodes
247 episodes
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 01 - Precious Human Life
In this session, spiritual director John Bruna begins the new year with a new text titled “How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path” by Kathleen McDonald. John describes the benefit of this style of Lam Rim text and gives guidance on how we ca...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 02 - How A Precious Human Life Is Meaningful
In this session, spiritual director John Bruna continues to teach from the text “How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path” focusing this week on how we can engage in this precious human birth with meaning and purpose. He describes the essentia...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 03 - The Rarity of a Precious Human Life
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna offers important contemplations about the rarity of our precious human life. He gives guidance on how we can engage with meditations on this topic and saturate our hearts and minds with this true p...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 04 - The Eight Worldly Dharmas
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna offers guidance on identifying important and subtle distinctions between actions motivated by the eight worldly concerns and those motivated by authentic dharma which protects us from suffering. Th...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 05 - Gain and Loss
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna deepens his commentary on the eight worldly dharmas by focusing on gain and loss. He offers a wise and gentle approach to investigating our own behaviors to see how much of our time is spent trying...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 06 - Death and Impermanence
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna continues his guidance and commentary with the text “How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path.” His encouragement for this text is for us to investigate and meditate upon each topic of discussion ...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 07 - Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind to Dharma
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna discusses the preliminary practices known as the four thoughts that turn the mind to dharma. He offers meaningful ways address the reality that death is certain, and time of death is uncertain, wit...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 08 - Dying Peacefully
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna discusses an important topic about how to engage in the dying process with more peace. He covers three specific points of a death meditation that can help us loosen the strings of attachment to our...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 09 - Subtle Impermanence
In this session, spiritual director John Bruna offers a talk on subtle impermanence. He talks about how bringing this aspect of reality into our daily thoughts and meditation can help us become an active participant in our own becoming as we ar...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 10 - Karma
In this session, spiritual director John Bruna unpacks the complicated Buddhist understanding of Karma. His practical approach gives us an easy entrance into engaging with these teachings and clears away many obstacles that our Western minds cr...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 11 - Understanding Refuge
In this session, spiritual director John Bruna gives a talk about the Buddhist view of Samsara and the true causes of suffering. Upon this foundation, he then speaks about how to correctly understand what taking refuge in the Buddha’s teachings...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 12 - Refuge in Reality
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna helps us understand what it means to take refuge in the teachings of the awakened ones. He talks about how what we are really taking refuge in is the Dharma, which are teachings that ultimately lea...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 13 - Characteristics of Karma
In this session, spiritual director John Bruna continues his commentary on the Text, “How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path” by Kathleen McDonald. John lays a foundation for his teaching on the 4 fundamental general characteristics of Karma...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 14 - Understanding Karma
In this session, spiritual director John Bruna gives guidance on understanding actions and their consequences, known as Karma. In the Buddhist worldview, Karma is an underlying natural law of reality that is complex and difficult to know. John ...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 15 - Purification
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna illuminates the practice of purifying negative karma. He unpacks the 4 opponent powers of Regret, Reliance, Remedial Action, and Resolve and gives a variety of meaningful and practical methods for ...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 16 - Exploring the Stages of Practice
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna offers a teaching on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment by discussing a few analytical meditations and how we can integrate and engage with them in our active lives. He first lays a framework ...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 17 - Suffering and Renunciation
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna continues his guidance of the Path to Awakening through a discussion of the 8 different types of suffering. These analytical meditations are an important step on the journey of cultivating renuncia...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 18 - Origins of Suffering
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna discusses the deepest roots of suffering. He talks about how the views we hold of ourselves are out of alignment with the way that we actually exist, and this leads to a suffering experience domina...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 19 - Attachment
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna offers a clarifying talk that centers around one of the root mental afflictions described in Tibetan Buddhism. He helps us identify and understand the mental affliction of attachment so we can work...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 20 - Anger
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna continues to offer his commentary on the text “How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path” by discussing anger; one of the three root mental afflictions. He reviews common scenarios in which anger a...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 21 - Arrogance
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna continues to offer his commentary on the text “How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path” by discussing arrogance, which is one of the six root mental afflictions. The group considers various ways ...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 22 - Deluded Doubt
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna continues to offer his commentary on the text “How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path” by discussing deluded doubt, which is one of the six root mental afflictions. He distinguishes between havi...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 23 - Disadvantages of Delusions
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna speaks about the disadvantages of delusions and helps us understand how delusions give rise to destructive emotions. He offers finely tuned clarification about afflictive emotions and how we can re...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 24 - Antidotes to Anger
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna continues his commentary on the text “How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path” by offering guidance on the antidotes to anger. He helps us come to a clear understanding about the common misconcep...
How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path 25 - Reflect on Karma
In this episode, spiritual director John Bruna gives a dharma teaching on the importance of reflecting on karma and clarifies many misconceptions that arise from the complex web of actions and their consequences. He folds in an important dynami...