Dharma Seed: dharma talks and meditation instruction
dharmaseed.org 144 episodes Nov 8, 2026
Dharma Seed preserves and shares spoken teachings of Theravada Buddhism in modern languages. Since the early 1980s, it has collected and distributed dharma talks from teachers offering vipassana (insight) and metta (lovingkindness) practices. New recordings are added continuously from contemporary dharma teachers. The podcast provides access to these talks and meditation instructions.
Episodes
Donald Rothberg: Equanimity: Its Nature as Both an Insight Practice and a Heart Practice, How to Develop It, and Its Relationship to Compassion
(Marin Sangha) The talk is framed in terms of compassion and equanimity being crucial qualities for our practice at the time of the polycrisis. After remembering some of the foundations of traditional practice, we review the nature of compassion, and how it develops in insight practice, and as a “heart practice” (one of the brahmavihara), both in more “inner” and more “outer” forms of practice. We
Donald Rothberg: Guided Meditation on Cultivating Equanimity as Both an Insight Practice and a Heart Practice
(Marin Sangha) The session starts with chanting of the refuges in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Then the guided meditation begins with a brief overview of equanimity practice , followed by cultivating equanimity in both the development of concentration and mindfulness. This is followed by a brief compassion practice and then developing equanimity as a heart practice.
Ayya Anandabodhi: When Awareness Becomes Our Refuge
(Parayana Vihara) In a Sunday Dhamma talk at Parayana Vihara, Ayya Anandabodhi encourages people to expand and deepen their awareness in order to be able to hold difficult emotions with compassion and equanimity.
Dawn Neal: The Wake We Leave Behind
(Insight Santa Cruz)
Devon Hase: Teachings and Meditation on Cetana (Intention)
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) A description of how intentions lead to actions (cetana leads to kamma) and the importance of being mindful of this building block of reality. Guided meditation and further teachings at the end.
Ayya Santussika: Family Harmony
(Karuna Buddhist Vihara) This dhamma talk, guided meditation, comments, questions and responses was offered on November 7th , 2026 for “How do I apply the Dhamma to THIS!?!”
00:00 - Requesting a Discourse
01:24 - DHAMMA TALK
24:25 - COMMENTS, QUESTIONS & RESPONSES
34:12 - Appreciation after the Discourse
Devon Hase: The Givens and the Tangles: Dukkha and the Five Aggregates of Clinging
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) The Buddha’s first noble truth names the hard facts of life (birth, aging, illness, death, separation from what we love), then says in brief: it all comes down to the five aggregates of clinging. In this talk we explore the difference between the givens we can’t avoid and the tangles we add, and how seeing the aggregates as “not mine” opens the way to
Bhante Buddharakkhita: Meditation on Compassion
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) The practice of compassion can lead us to happiness, peace and freedom from suffering and its cause.
Bhante Buddharakkhita: Mindfulness of 6 Senses
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) The practice of Mindfulness of Six Senses can help us to : prevent unskillfulness states of mind from arising, overcome Fetters and finally lead to Awakeninng.
Renate Seifarth: Die Worte an Bahiya – Erkennen von Nicht-Selbst
(Seminarhaus Engl) Bahiya bittet den Buddha um Belehrung in Dhamma. Da Bahiya drängelt und der Buddha mit dem Almosengang beschäftigt ist, fällt die Antwort sehr kurz aus und geht direkt zur Essenz, der Lehre von anatta. Was bedeutet das? Wie können wir es praktizieren?
Devon Hase: Mindfulness of Emotions
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Teachings on Satipatthana and guided RAIN meditation
James Baraz: What Now?: Processing the Mid-Term Elections
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) Mid-term elections affect us all. It is appropriate to acknowledge what happened and process them together including some Dharma principles in the discussion.
Tuere Sala: Cultivating Unshakeable Peace
(Cambridge Insight Meditation Center) Unshakeable peace is not found in agreeable external conditions. It is cultivated as an internal ground. It is the resilience needed to fully show up in the world in the midst of agreeable and disagreeable external conditions. This talk will be an exploration into learning how to find and trust our internal peace.
Dawn Neal: Beginning Again in the Moment (a sangha-sourced Dharma talk)
(Insight Santa Cruz)
Renate Seifarth: Die verschiedenen Facetten von Gelassenheit
(Seminarhaus Engl) Gelassenheit oder Gleichmut, die Qualität und Fähigkeit gilt als Erleuchtungsfaktor und taucht in den Brahmavihara auf. Bei letzteren balancieren sie die ersten drei Kräfte. Als Erleuchtungsfaktor steht sie für Lassen können wie für den Mut zu handeln. Beides will von Weisheit gesteuert werden. Gelassenheit schafft Raum, das Achten auf Raum, sich innerlich weiten für verschieden
Ayya Santussika, Grace Talice Lee: Closing: The Power of Intention
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Bhante Buddharakkhita: Mindfulness of Right Thought
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) The practice of Right Thought helps us to develop generosity, Loving Kindness, Compassion which leads to peace, happiness and freedom.
Renate Seifarth: Herzensoffenheit und Weisheit sind die zwei Seiten des Erwachens
(Seminarhaus Engl) Buddha bewegte der Anblick von Leid, sich auf die Suche nach einem Ende von Leiden zu machen. In der Nacht des Erwachens erkennt er unter anderem wie gleich sich alle Wesen sind, strebend nach Glück schaffen sie die Ursachen von Leid. Aus dieser Erkenntnis entwickelt sich seine Ethik, die Teil der Praxis ist und die Brahmavihara, die eine Gesinnung von Wohlwollen entwickelt. Die
Ayya Santussika, Grace Talice Lee: Ānāpānasati
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Ayya Santussika, Grace Talice Lee: Watershed Moments
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Ayya Santussika: Practice Pays Off All The Way Along
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Ayya Santussika: Progressions of Insight and Joy
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Joseph Goldstein: Desire and It's End
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) This talk explores the 2nd Noble Truth. Craving as the cause of suffering and it's end. In our meditation and our daily lives.
Renate Seifarth: Die fünf Hindernisse, die unsere Entwicklung blockieren
(Seminarhaus Engl) Wir begeben uns auf den Weg des Erwachens, werden aber ausgebremst oder blockiert. Verantwortlich sind dafür vor allem fünf geistige Zustände, die in uns entstehen. Statt die äußeren Anlässe zu bekämpfen, wollen wir sie erkennen und in unseren Weg des Verstehens integrieren.
Ayya Santussika, Grace Talice Lee: Anicca, Anattā, and Dukkha
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Ayya Santussika: Where in the world do you suffer, and what do you want to do about it?
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Renate Seifarth: Die vier himmlischen Boten – warum praktizieren wir?
(Seminarhaus Engl) Begegnungen mit vier Personen, einer alten, kranken, sterbenden Person und einem Wandermönch führten dazu, dass Buddha sein Leben infrage stellte. Es kam ihm schal und sinnlos vor, endlos kreisend in Leid. Einen Ausweg suchend erwachte er und erkannte die großen Irrtümer, denen wir aufgrund unserer Wahrnehmungsverarbeitung unterliegen. Die vier himmlischen Boten können auch für
Ayya Santussika, Grace Talice Lee: Goodness
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Ayya Santussika, Grace Talice Lee: The Not-So-Secret Code for Awakening
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Dawn Neal: Awareness, Generosity, and Emptiness
(Insight Santa Cruz)
Ayya Santussika: When we feel our feelings all the way through, there's peace on the other side
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Devon Hase: Teachings on Vedana
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Description and guided practice on working with vedana in the body.
Ayya Santussika: Wisely Navigate False Friends, Good Friends, and Difficult Interactions
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Ayya Santussika: Safety Guided Meditation
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Ayya Santussika: Everything Falls Apart, and There's Nothing to Be Unhappy About
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Ayya Santussika: See the Sense of Self, and Know There's Something Else
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Bhante Buddharakkhita: Instruction on Mindfulness of the Body/Breathing
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Using the properties of the 4th element to know and experience the breath and lead to insgiht into impermanence
Ayya Santussika, Grace Talice Lee: What Mindfulness is Really About
(Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
Devon Hase: The Path Slopes Gently: Anupubbasikkhā and the Gradual Training
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) The Buddha described awakening not as a leap to the summit but as a gradual training, one step laid down after another. Drawing on the image of walking (forest monks on tudong, pilgrims, and the cleared trails of these woods), this talk explores the anupubbasikkhā through generosity, ethics, meditation, and wisdom. With the Buddha’s teaching to Gaṇaka
Ajahn Sucitto: Indriya: guides and guardians of pure heart
(Cittaviveka)
James Baraz: Intensive Silent Retreat Practice
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) It's always inspiring to support people through an intensive period of silent retreat. James knows many of you have already had that experience so you know how impactful it can be. He shares from his own experience guiding students for many years, how he sees the process of transformation and his understanding of how it works. The talk is followed by a di
Bhante Buddharakkhita: The Joy of PracticingThe Dhamma
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) By practicing the Noble Eight Fold Path we can experience greater joy, happiness and freedom
Ayya Anandabodhi: Building Wholesome Momentum in Our Practice
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi teaches from the Mahamangala Sutta (The Highest Blessings Sutta) and the importance of building and maintaining wholesome momentum in our practice.
Dawn Neal: The Eightfold Path, Thinking, and Doubt (a sangha-sourced Dharma Talk)
(Insight Santa Cruz)
Ayya Santacitta: Iddhipada VI: Tracing the Natural Unfolding of Life ~ A Summary
(Aloka Earth Room) Short Reflection & Guided Meditation including a poem by Judith Morely | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene IV | Online Wednesday-Morning
Donald Rothberg: Compassion, Equanimity, and a Contemporary Vision of Our Practice
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with a general sense of how our practice is both grounded in tradition and responsive to the needs of our times, with reference to Thomas Merton’s similar perspective. Sharing images from his recent teaching and travels throughout the talk, Donald focuses initially on the traditional sense of three forms of training—in wisdom and discernment, meditation (es
Donald Rothberg: Guided Meditation on Equanimity and Compassion
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a short introduction to how we develop equanimity and compassion in our practice, the main themes of this session (of both meditation and the talk), we begin with settling and cultivating concentration. Then there is a period of mindfulness, followed by two practices developing compassion, one with phrases and one the short self-compassion practice developed b
Ayya Anandabodhi: Wisdom Is Our True Nature
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi encourages taking refuge in the knowing faculty of the mind and discovering inner wisdom.
Bhante Buddharakkhita, Brett Bethke, Devon Hase, Jill Shepherd, Nakawe Cuebas Berrios, Tuere Sala: The Practice of 3 Refuge and 5 Precepts
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Taking the refuge in the Buddha Dhamma and Sangha plus undertaking the five training guidelines can provide a firm foundation for our practice.
Dawn Neal: Short Talk: The Chicken, the Duck, the Quail and the Flock
(Insight Santa Cruz)
Ayya Anandabodhi: Finding Our True Refuge
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi leads a meditation on how to discover a reliable refuge amidst the fluctuations in our inner and outer environment.
Ayya Anandabodhi: An Opportunity to Let Go More Fully
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi responds to the death of a retreat participant’s relative by explaining how death is an opportunity to understand more deeply, love more deeply, and let go more fully.
Ayya Anandabodhi: Each Raindrop is Unique Meditation
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi leads a meditation encouraging retreat participants to notice the sound of the raindrops on the roof, as well as the space between them.
Kamala Masters: The Two Guardians of the World
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
Matthew Hepburn: Equanimity
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Ayya Anandabodhi: Finding Our Inner Refuge
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi explains how taking refuge in the Triple Gem of Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha can be seen in light of taking refuge in the mind’s natural capacity for awareness, the teachings on impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and non-self evident in our current bodies and minds, and the wisdom that motivates us to keep practicing in the face of hardship.
Ayya Anandabodhi: Breathing with the Trees Meditation
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi leads a breathing meditation using the analogy of trees in a forest.
James Baraz: Big Mind Meditation
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) This guided meditation shifts the subject of attention from objects to the awareness that knows.
Ayya Anandabodhi: Making Room in the Heart for the Wholesome
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi and leads a meditation on liberating the heart center through cultivating metta.
Ajahn Sucitto: From the flood of views to the stream of goodwill
(Cittaviveka)
Ayya Anandabodhi: The Liberating Path
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi explains how following the Noble Eightfold Path leads to the liberation of the heart, with an emphasis on Right Effort.
Ayya Anandabodhi: Standing Meditation
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi leads a guided standing meditation that brings awareness to the body and expresses gratitude for its support of our practice.
Ayya Anandabodhi: Body Scan Meditation
(Cloud Mountain Retreat Center) Ayya Anandabodhi instructs on how to conduct a body scan meditation to bring awareness to different parts of the body.
Ayya Santussika: Mindfulness: The Golden Thread Beyond the Words
(Karuna Buddhist Vihara) This dhamma talk, comments, questions and responses was offered on October 24 , 2026 for “How do I apply the Dhamma to THIS!?!”
00:00 - DHAMMA TALK
30:10 - COMMENTS, QUESTIONS & RESPONSES
Ayya Anandabodhi: The True Refuge is Knowing
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Ayya Anandabodhi teaches on the reason we go for refuge, the three characteristics of conditioned existence, and refuge in the Buddha as the awakened mind, the Dhamma as the teachings leading to the awakening and the sangha as those who have practiced and realized the teachings.
Joseph Goldstein: Q and A
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Ajahn Sucitto: Good people fill up your faith
(Cittaviveka)
Andrea Fella: The journey to freedom
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Ajahn Sucitto: Disengage consciousness, open awareness
(Cittaviveka)
Ajahn Sucitto: Moderate drive, widen focus
(Cittaviveka)
James Baraz: Trust
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) With so many strategies and messages about how to practice, how do we know the "right" way to practice? The Buddha said ultimately you should "be a lamp onto yourself." This means to trusting the wisdom inside. How can we discern the wisdom voice from the voices rooted in fear and confusion? This talk includes the 5 strategies offered by the Buddha to
Ajahn Sucitto: Collect and harvest
(Cittaviveka)
Mark Coleman: Monday Night Talk: The Poignancy and Tenderness of Change
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
Greg Scharf: Javana Hamsa - The Swift Swan
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) A talk on impermanence, beginning with a version of a classic Jataka story, an updated version of a talk given previously
Ajahn Sucitto: Flow arises in the body
(Cittaviveka)
Devon Hase: Fourth Foundation in Satipatthana Practice (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Teaching and guided meditation on practicing the fourth foundation of mindfulness.
Devon Hase: Come and See: The Beauty of the Dhamma (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The second refuge invites us into intimacy with truth: something alive, immediate, and here for us whenever we remember to look. Using the ancient chant of the Dhamma’s qualities (here and now, timeless, inviting us to come and see, leading inward), this talk explores awareness as a refuge that can hold even chronic pain and old grief with both equanimity and compas
Matthew Hepburn: A Handful of Mistakes from My Practice
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Ajahn Sucitto: Restraint supports gladness
(Cittaviveka)
Ayya Anandabodhi: Realigning with the Path of Awakening
(Parayana Vihara) In a Sunday Dhamma talk at Parayana Vihara, Ayya Anandabodhi shares how to meet mental states as they arise with curiosity and compassion and transform them.
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