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Shaila Catherine's Dharma Talks
Shaila Catherine
Shaila Catherine is the founder of Bodhi Courses (bodhicourses.org) an online Dhamma classroom, and Insight Meditation South Bay, a meditation center in Mountain View, California (imsb.org). She has been practicing meditation since 1980, with more than eight years of accumulated silent retreat experience, and has taught since 1996 in the USA, and internationally. Shaila has dedicated several years to studying with masters in India, Nepal and Thailand, completed a one year intensive meditation retreat with the focus on concentration and jhana, and authored Focused and Fearless: A Meditator's Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity, (Wisdom Publications, 2008). She has extensive experience practicing and teaching mindfulness, loving kindness, concentration, and a broad range of approaches to liberating insight. Since 2006, Shaila has continued her study of jhana and insight under the direction of Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw, and authored Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana (Wisdom Publications, 2011).
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2016-10-06 Second Noble Truth 40:09
Shaila Catherine gave the second talk in the five-week series "Four Noble Truths." This talk explores the causes of suffering (in Pali dukkha), and explains how conditioned mental and sensory experiences are unsatisfactory and stressful. Craving causes suffering when our perceptions are accompanied by delight and lust. Practicing mindfulness reduces suffering, because when we are present we experience things as they actually are, and do not crave something different.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Four Noble Truths
2016-09-29 Four Noble Truths 2:42:09
with Laura Lin, Shaila Catherine, Sharon Allen
No one wants to suffer, and yet we do. The first sermon that the Buddha gave after his awakening addressed the issue of suffering. He articulated four basic tenants that have been remembered as the Four Noble Truths. They include the full understanding of suffering, the abandoning of the causes of suffering, the realization of the end of suffering, and the cultivation of the path leading to the end of suffering. It is through a wise relationship to suffering that freedom will be known.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
2016-07-28 Refrain from False Speech 29:28
Shaila Catherine gave the fourth talk in a six-week series titled "Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts." Speech is given particular importance in the Buddhist path because wrong speech can cause tremendous harm, and right speech can be profoundly beneficial. Practicing right speech is given emphasis because it's a very vivid way of applying our practice to daily life. When we lie based on delusion and greed, our intention usually is to benefit ourselves. When we lie based on delusion and hatred, our intention is usually to harm others. Even when we lie to cause less harm than would be caused if we spoke the truth, we should be aware of the potential karmic consequences.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts
2016-07-14 Refrain from Stealing 51:52
Shaila Catherine gave the second talk in a six-week series titled "Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts." When we undertake the training of refraining from taking that which is not given and practice generosity, we are improving our mind. More specifically, we are purifying our mind of greed. In fact, not stealing and giving are conditions that contribute to the realization of nibbana.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts
2016-07-07 Ethics, Action and the Five Precepts 4:55:25
with Angie Boissevain, Ayya Santussika, Drew Oman, Shaila Catherine
This series will explore virtue as the indispensable foundation of Buddhist practice. The series will emphasize the five training precepts, and explore action, ethics, kamma, and cause-effect dynamics. The precepts are not rules to be obediently followed; they serve as guidelines for the intentional development of compassion, mindfulness, and wisdom. These five precepts offer us a joyful method to cultivate the heart, nurture harmony in relationships, and free the mind from inner forces of greed and anger that if unrestrained may cause suffering to ourselves and others.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
2016-06-16 Mindfulness of the Body 68:30
Shaila Catherine gave the second talk in a four-week series titled "Cultivating Mindfulness." Shaila explored a number of ways to practice mindfulness of the body according to the Buddhist teachings. These methods include (1) using the body as a way of grounding our attention in the present moment, (2) working with mindfulness of the breath as an aspect of the body, (3) working with sensory experiences, (4) reflecting upon death, (5) seeing the body in terms of the four elements (earth, fire, wind and water) and (6) observing the body as anatomical parts. Methods 5 and 6 allow us to view the body as material constructions. From this perspective we no longer conceive our body as "I" or "mine;" thereby, attachment and ignorance dissolve.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Cultivating Mindfulness
2016-06-09 Cultivating Mindfulness 3:48:42
with Renee Burgard, Shaila Catherine, Sharon Allen
This series is an introduction to the meditative development of mindfulness through which we refine our ability to focus and bring clear attention to all aspects of experience. We will cultivate mindfulness of breath, sensations, emotions, thoughts and actions. This series includes exercises that enhance mindfulness, support the establishment of a daily meditation practice, and highlight balanced awareness in work and home life.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
2016-06-09 Mindfulness with Breathing 1:13:48
Shaila Catherine gave the first talk in a four-week series titled "Cultivating Mindfulness." This talk focused on using the breath as the meditation object. When we observe our breath, our mind is free from unwholesome states, such as anger, greed, or doubt, because we are simply connecting with the very ordinary experience of breathing. We are not being pushed or pulled by desire or aversion. In fact, when we connect with the breath, we experience ease and happiness.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Cultivating Mindfulness
2016-05-26 Equanimity, Our Greatest Friend 39:23
Shaila Catherine gave the seventh talk in a eight-week series titled "Seven Factors of Awakening." This talk explores how the stability and the balance provided by equanimity can make our mind our friend, something that we can trust. When equanimity is strong, if there is pain we won't tend to react with aversion; if there is pleasure, we won't tend to react with grasping and clinging. The mind will be balanced, present, and aware of experience as it unfolds.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Seven Factors of Awakening
2016-05-24 Buddha's Practical Advice for Maintaining Material Gains and Wealth 27:23
Shaila Catherine gave the seventh talk in a seven-week series on lesser known Buddhist teachings titled "Thus Have I Heard." This talk revolves around a teaching in the Anuttara Nikaya (AN 4:255) that expresses the Buddha's very practical advice for protecting one's material goods and wealth. He recommends that people 1) look for things that are lost, 2) repair things that are broken, 3) be moderate in consuming food and drink, and 4) place a virtuous person in the position of authority.
Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
In collection: Thus Have I Heard

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