Insight Dialogue Asia Pacific offers an online study and practice series which meets twice a month on Wednesday morning (Asia/Aust/NZ) or Tuesday afternoon (Americas). This group is based in Australia. The Divine Abidings and an Ethical Life The four brahmavihāra are at the heart of ethics, and ethical living becomes the embodiment of the brahmavihāra on the path to freedom. We will return to the “divine abidings” of the four brahmavihāra, the heart qualities of kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. Together, we will go deeper into how they support us to live a more ethical life and how, in…

As human beings, we are exquisitely sensitive—touched by the subtlest sensations, stirred by the world around us. And most profoundly, we are sensitive to other people. There are obviously challenges to being relationally sensitive. There is also power. When another person enters our field of awareness, our relational sensitivities are awakened. In real-time—whether face-to-face or through technology—social contact sets up complex and potentially reactive conditions. Our bodies, emotions, and thoughts are triggered, and between two or more people, feedback loops amplify these responses. This creates a relational multiplier effect that holds immense power.  Relational engagement can sustain suffering or deepen…

The four brahmavihāra are at the heart of ethics, and ethical living becomes the embodiment of the brahmavihāra on the path to freedom. In the first half of this year, the Insight Dialogue Asia Pacific group offered a series exploring the five indriya, five spiritual faculties. Following on from that exploration, we will return to the “divine abidings” of the four brahmavihāra, the heart qualities of kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. Together, we will go deeper into how they support us to live a more ethical life and how, in turn, an ethical life is an expression of a…

A powerful teaching is hidden in plain sight: metta is a practice of anatta, of not-self. This can be expressed by a compound Pali word, mettānattā. When we cultivate true friendliness, we move our focus of attention from ourselves to others. This diminishes the trance of self-identity. This is one way that Insight Dialogue functions as a true insight practice. Meditating in relationship, we cultivate mindfulness and concentration. The power of meditation is sustained and increased by the reflective process of relationship. This power of mind is guided by immersion in Dhamma. Supported by each other’s meditative availability, our resistence…

Growing Resilience and Relational Capacity Through careful and skillful practice, with the support of the Insight Dialogue guidelines, we will expand our relational capacities as awareness meets awareness. This is an empowering response to the alienation, cruelty, and disempowerment saturating our societies. In our fractured world, greater relational capacity offers us greater resilience and balance. This, along with silence, time in nature, and shared meditative inquiry, resource us to participate in the world as it is with enhanced compassion, equanimity, and radical relatedness.

After some time with the teachings, practitioners can recognize when the Dharma is alive and when it is dry.  There are attitudes and practices that support us in transforming what might be a conceptual understanding of the Dharma to a vibrant, intuitive, embodied experience.  This retreat is about feeling the Dhamma as alive here and now. It’s a training in how to cultivate and express this feeling of vibrancy. Insight Dialogue has been, for many, a practice of drinking the Dhamma. This is because the power of relationship amplifies the attention and energy of inquiry. Also, in co-meditation we can…