Joseph is back with a brand new Dharma talk series piecing together essential teachings of the Buddha into an accessible map of wisdom.
In this Dharma talk from the Spirit Rock Meditation Center July Insight Meditation Retreat on 7/17/2022, Joseph Goldstein relays pertinent teachings of the Buddha, exploring how they relate to each other and our lives. Illuminating the always-changing ephemeral nature of the universe, he outlines how we can disengage from suffering, clinging, and attachment so we can free the mind and live a more easeful life.
Recording originally published on Dharma Seed
Everything Changes // Becoming Otherwise
Opening the session, Joseph shares a story of Suzuki Roshi being asked by a student to sum up Buddhism in one phrase. His answer? “Everything changes.” Looking at the whole of the Dharma through the lens of all things “becoming otherwise,” Joseph explores the implications of impermanence in our lives and throughout the history of human civilization.
“When we pay attention in any of these realms—from the very individual to the global—we will see it’s completely obvious that everything changes.” – Joseph Goldstein
Joseph illuminates the radical truth of impermanence, on Ep. 49 of the Insight Hour
Suffering, Attachment, & Freeing the Mind (20:22)
Speaking to the ephemeral nature of all phenomena, Joseph ponders the seductive power of the world, and how we attach onto enticing experiences yet to come. This attachment to things that change, he explains, is the cause of all of our suffering. Through this lens, he explores how to free the mind by letting go of craving, clinging, and attachment.
“Attachment or clinging to that which is impermanent is a fundamental cause of suffering in our lives.” – Joseph Goldstein
Uncover the truth of suffering & attachment, on Ep. 130 of the Insight Hour
The Union of Relative & Ultimate Reality // Ease of Life (39:39)
Joseph illuminates the difference between conventional and ultimate realities, describing how healthy integration of these two ways to see the world can help us drop our grasping and attachments so we can begin to live a much more easeful life.
“When we can begin to see the more ultimate level, the insubstantial nature, then it allows us to engage on the relative conventional level, where we are mostly living our lives. But because of the wisdom we have of the more ultimate level, then we don’t get so caught, we don’t get so conditioned by the clinging, grasping, and attachment, so our lives become more easeful.” – Joseph Goldstein