Dharma talks online
A treasure trove of these precious and important talks on the dharma there for the taking
Many of us listen to dharma talks online. I have been following the top ten or so teachers online for the last ten years. Some equate listening to dharma talks from highly respected teachers to sitting for a session of meditation. Of course this immediately will draw both agreement and disagreement from many. While listening is not meditating, it is however a form of absorbing.
My source for listening is usually three reputable sources: Dharma Seed, Audio Dharma, and Mindrolling Podcast. Mindrolling Podcast may not be considered the source for Vipassana teachings it’s message adds positively to the growing treasure of information about life and meditation.
Following these three are a number of lesser known offers including: You Tube, a treasure trove of information related to Buddhist and Hindu meditational practice. Also numerous Buddhist organizations usually a part of a standing organizations head quarters as part of their outreach efforts. that apart with offering full schedules of retreats and printed materials have recorded long lists of Dharma talks on their individual sites, there are as you may imagine a large number of these in all the many and richly varied Buddhist teachings.
My reference here is almost exclusively directed toward my area of study: Vipassana. I’m seeing more and more that the teachers are opening to a wider base of study. I’m neither a Buddhist scholar nor a certified teacher but my extensive reading and listening, besides my daily practice, shows me that as time goes by a more open mind is being expressed, allowing for, up to certain points, a welcome, all encompassing approach to the practice.
The purpose of this piece is to share some thoughts and sources that had I had them available for my use many years ago my personal growth would have been that much greater.
At some point during my listening, I decided to keep a running tally of all the talks I listened to. After all, our sources of information, that which we take in is hugely important. Some record keeping is recommended.
My Dharma talks are kept together by stapling five-page packets of legal pad sheets. Each packet is assigned the next letter in the alphabet. A year or so ago I reached a ‘milestone’ of sorts by having gone through the alphabet and starting again with A-1. Each alphabet letter now has a corresponding number for the obvious reason.
I did this record keeping for a number of years. But almost a year ago I put aside the task of recording basically everything that ‘went in’, all that I listened to. Why? There came the time when I no longer felt compelled to keep track. It was a huge help to me when I did, allowing me to review where my listening to Dharma talks plus noting all the guided meditations offered by the most respected teachers. It gave me a sense of what or how much I may have potentially accumulated.
The time arrived to put this record keeping aside though. It’s worth mentioning that we have to pay some attention to the negative aspect of record keeping. Be careful that we don’t have it as a tally of our ‘great efforts’, this is harmful and not beneficial.
Maybe the best reason for record keeping for me was being able to go over my past listening to Dharma talks and being able to replay those that made greater impact.
From 2013 to 2023, I’ve kept track in this manner. Without getting too detailed I’ve listened to many thousands of Dharma talks. This ignores the huge number of talks listened to on Youtube and individual Buddhist organizations as mentioned earlier.
An interesting outcome worth mentioning from all those talks is that despite that the topics spoken of, from every Buddhist list conceivable, from the varied top teachers I’m happy to share that every talk is refreshingly new! Each Dharma talk is stand alone impactful!
It comes down to this being not so much a touting of the number of Dharma talks taken in so much as an accounting of the exposure I’ve undergone over the years. In other words, WHAT’S THE POINT?
The point has everything to do with learning the Dharma. One may ask: is there in fact learning from the listening?I think it’s safe to say yes. Often before a teacher begins her or his Dharma talk during a retreat, they will tell attendees to let the words flow over you and down and take that which gets your attention. Don’t force it.
I think it’s safe to say that yes, there has to be some absorption taking place as we listen to Dharma talks. Slowly but surely we gather this collection of nuggets given out during the talks. Over time this becomes our bank of go to , practical knowledge!
But be aware, and beware you don’t want to fall into that trap of numbers. Be sure that the teachers you are listening to are those with the highest reputations.
There is a popular app with which the meditator can set a timer for each mediation session. An amazing tool actually. But there is the downfall. If you start tracking the numbers and lengths of all your meditations you can fall prey to that thing of ‘look at me’, look at my impressive numbers. Best be very careful with this.
The app I use is the Insight Timer, in no way am I advertising. I mention it by name as I’m very familiar with its use. Be advised though, the very fact that one might be sitting to notch up another session on the timer most certainly has a degenerating effect on the wonders of meditation. Don’t take this lightly. Be careful, and let the timer simply provide you with the starting and ending bells to your meditations!
I’ve used the Insight Timer for several years and need to remind myself this isn’t about keeping track of my numbers so much as a very useful tool for timing your sits.
Think of that which is only good for your practice, be watchful of those things that can degenerate rather than bring insight.
To insure against getting drawn in by my impressive numbers of sessions and time periods I will frequently put the Timer aside and do with the clock. If you ever start thinking of yourself as a superstar you are setting yourself up for dissatisfaction. I will often remind myself for no special reason that for any reason whatsoever, this mornings sit may have been my last. it can be that fleeting!
Dharma talks can be a huge help for those of us not fortunate enough to have teachers in our vicinity or even the country we live in. Listening every night to one or more talks and usually doing one of the guided meditations, (besides your regular daily meditation), offered in these wonderful sources has the effect of peeling away the onion skin.
The onion skin as you know is the cover of fog or the veil we all carry through in varying degrees. The practice slowly peels away the layers to clarity. There are innumerable books on the issue. This piece certainly doesn’t attempt to explain in any depth. There isn’t a good substitute for solid research, such as in the places I’ve mentioned here.
Often times as is the case with countless practitioners, the words of the Dharma talk start to run through ones head without sticking. When tis happens, it’s time for a reboot! Very important. Listening to Dharma talks is nothing if a concentrated effort at listening word by word isn’t happening. You may as well be watching TV. The key to successful Dharma talk listening is carefully taking in the words given by the teachers.
One technique I use is pure and simple, if I missed the sense of something the teacher just explained I rewind! I’ve been in many situations where I was so captured by the teachers words I had to rewind and relisten two or three times. By doing that it really sinks in, deeply.
The teachers during retreats will suggest the students, ‘just let the words flow through you…’ some are fond of using the words take in the ‘pithy ‘ parts of the teachings. They are then underlining it for us.
Teachers are equally expressive about how teachings need to be taken on a basis of trial and error, trying out the various techniques, say for example the breath, loving kindness, or correct posture, that which seem so simple. To try it and see if it fits for you.
There are a number of widely respected very top Vipassana teachers out there, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield to mention a few. These teachers are one of a small handful who travelled in the sixties to India and Southeast Asia and studied for years as monks and students under the great masters in Myanmar, (Burma) and Thailand. There is a growing list of wonderfully capable teachers who have studied under the three mentioned before , and others: Tara Brach, Andrea Fella, Gil Fronsdal, many more.
The other night listening to a short five-part series of Dharma talks and short guided meditations on the breath and Jhanas (absorption states), I felt something happening within. At one point just before the guided meditation sequences were coming to an end I felt an undeniable sense of peace. The sensation lasted several days.
The teachers in the Dharma talks often suggest that we will have or have had these moments. Perhaps sometimes we’re more aware of it than others.
Dharma talks are easily forwarded to loved ones and fellow meditators. making them a widely available source of precious information. It’s difficult to think of a time on the planet when we might need this more!
If you ever have an interest in Buddhism , Hinduism, in any of their wide and rich variety, be sure to look up the Dharma talks sites, and many others. Make doubly sure the teachers are in fact the ‘good ones’ and someday we’ll cross that river together.
