Dharma Seed: dharma talks and meditation instruction
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
Mark Ovland: Talk - Rubin's Vase & the Drama of Life
(Gaia House)
Ayya Santussika: The Never Ending, Constant, Kaleidoscope of Change
(Karuna Buddhist Vihara) This Dhamma talk, comments, questions and responses was offered on September 19, 2026 for “How do I apply the Dhamma to THIS!?!”
00:00 - DHAMMA TALK
32:22 - COMMENTS, QUESTIONS & RESPONSES
Ayya Santacitta: Iddhipada IV: Integration ~ Not Relinquishing One's Seat In the Midst of Challenges
(Aloka Earth Room) Short Reflection & Guided Meditation including a poem from the Sioux Nation | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene IV | Online Wednesday-Morning
Donald Rothberg: Practicing the Wise Speech Guideline of Truthfulness: Four Dimensions of Practice 2
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review the importance of giving attention to ethical practice, and how it has often been marginalized in Western Buddhism, with meditation typically being at the center (as is evident in speaking of “meditation centers” and “meditation groups”). Wise Speech, as one of the three aspects of ethical practice named in the Noble Eightfold Path, is particularly importa
Donald Rothberg: Guided Meditation: Developing Concentration and Mindfulness, Ending with Three Reflections on Practicing Wise Speech
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) First, there are basic instructions in developing concentration offered, including the optional "three-part breath" technique which can help with avoiding controlling the breath and with developing more continuity. Then basic mindfulness instructions are given. The last minutes bring in reflection and inquiry questions related to our practice of wise speech, includi
Ayya Anandabodhi: Aligning One's Life with Virtue
(Parayana Vihara) In a Sunday Dhamma talk at Parayana Vihara, Ayya Anandabodhi explains how taking refuge in the Three Jewels and practicing ethical conduct creates the causes for happiness.
Mushim Ikeda: Great Rivers Flow Silently
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
Devon Hase: Muditā: How to be a Backup Dancer (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A talk on muditā, the joy that isn't ours alone. After days steadying the heart through warmth, tenderness, and spaciousness, we turn toward the brahma vihara most easily overlooked: the capacity to feel glad simply because someone else is. Through stories of borrowed delight, dancing tigers, and the quiet gladness of showing up to practice, we look at what gets in
Ayya Santussika: Guilt: A Lightning Rod for the Sense of Self
(Karuna Buddhist Vihara) This guided meditation, dhamma talk, comments, questions and responses was offered on the 12th of September, 2026 for “How do I apply the Dhamma to THIS!?!”
00:00:19 - GUIDED MEDITATION
0:17:22 - DHAMMA TALK
0:59:24 - COMMENTS, QUESTIONS & RESPONSES
Pascal Auclair: 8 Fold Path - Rainbow-Like 🌈
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Ayya Santussika: Dhammapada Verses 179 - 196: The Buddha | Ayya Santussikā
(Karuna Buddhist Vihara) This meditation, dhamma talk, comments, questions and responses was offered on September 12, 2026 for “Eastbay Dhamma”
00:00 - 5 PRECEPTS
07:12 - MEDITATION
27:50 - SUTTA STUDY AND DISCUSSION
Sutta link: https://suttacentral.net/dhp179-196/en/buddharakkhita?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false
Jill Satterfield: Session 1, Sensing Practice (Weight & Gravity)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
Jill Satterfield: Session 1, Breath Sweeping Practice
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
Ajahn Viradhammo: Right effort: Cultivating the skillful abandoning the unskillful
(Tisarana Buddhist Monastery) The theme of this Sunday talk: Right effort, cultivating the skillful, and abandoning the unskillful.
Luang Por reflects on right effort, and effort as a skill, rather than wholesome and un-wholesome, as it is sometimes referred to.
Everything that arises, is natural, even a "murderous impulse". But whether we follow and cultivate it, is what is important. When the s
Oren Jay Sofer: Touching Compassion Guided Meditation (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Reflections on compassion, 20 minute guided meditation exploring various methods of compassion, followed by Q&A
Pascal Auclair: Experience is Rainbow-like 🏳🌈
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Kevin Griffin: Right Livelihood
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
Cara Lai: A Field of Compassion: or How to Not Make War with Your Bushes (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Pain is unavoidable; suffering is what we add by resisting it. This talk traces that distinction through a rage-filled retreat, an ongoing war with invasive shrubs, and the near enemies — pity, overwhelm, "fierce compassion" — that masquerade as care while keeping suffering at arm's length.
Pascal Auclair: Anicca (Transience) Is so Queer!
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Devon Hase: Metta for Self (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Teachings and Guided Practice on practicing loving-kindness for oneself.
James Baraz: Letting in Love: The Secret to Metta for Ourselves
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) For many, wishing well and extending metta to others can come relatively naturally. The hard part is not sending out love, but letting it in. This is one of the most supportive practices for counteracting self-judgment and developing kindness and metta for ourselves. This talk will explore this topic and practice together.
Chas DiCapua: Do Your Best, Be Sincere, And Let That Be Good Enough
(Cambridge Insight Meditation Center)
Oren Jay Sofer: The Atmosphere of Practice (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An introduction to the Brahma Vihāras and to metta as the atmosphere of practice — exploring how kindness gathers us, heals the places where the heart has closed, and liberates.
Donald Rothberg: Practicing the Wise Speech Guideline of Truthfulness: Four Dimensions of Practice 1
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Buddha taught four guidelines for Wise Speech (as a core aspect of ethical practice): truthfulness, helpfulness, care and kindness, and appropriateness (especially good timing). We explore the first guideline, partly in connection with the other three guidelines, in four dimensions of practice. First and most basically, we explore how we practice with truthfulne
Pascal Auclair: Keeping The Present to Mind
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Devon Hase: Guided Mindfulness of the Body - Arriving on the First Day (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Teachings and guided practice on settling, integrating, arriving.
Brian Lesage: Who Does Your Attention Work For?
(Flagstaff Insight Meditation Community)
Michael Dart, Phillip Moffitt: Monday Night Special Event: Phillip Moffitt's Birthday Celebration
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
James Baraz: Impermanence, Letting Go and Showing Up (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Buddha said as much as possible the one reflection to keep in mind is impermanence which leads to letting go, equanimity and liberation. This talk explores the gift of opening and embracing impermanence.
Anushka Fernandopulle: 3 Characteristics
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Including Anatta and recognizing the self-lessness of the knowing dimension.
Ajahn Viradhammo: Questions and answer session 06 Sept 26
(Tisarana Buddhist Monastery) Q& A session given after Sunday talk on 06 Sep 26
Pascal Auclair: Dukkha, Meeting the Unwanted
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Anushka Fernandopulle: Impermanence of All Sense Experience
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Anicca and Its Implications
Ajahn Viradhammo: The Four Noble Truths
(Tisarana Buddhist Monastery) The theme of this Sunday talk, the Four Noble truths. Buddhist traditions may vary in many ways, but the one common teaching in each one is this one.
Is there a wellbeing that is not relative to situations? That remains unchanged. This was the Buddha's realisation. And the core of the teaching above.
It allows one to take responsibility for ones discontent.To really
Howard Cohn: Everything is Here (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) You are the richest person on earth while the version of you that plays in your mind is a story of lack. Learn to see the difference between your actual experience and you mind’s stories. Believe what’s actually happening.
Pascal Auclair: Dhamma Reflections
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Anushka Fernandopulle: Feeling Tone and Reactivity
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Tuning in to Vedana. (Pleasant, unpleasant, neutral) and on habitual responses.
Pascal Auclair: High Quality Contact
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)
Dawn Mauricio: Morning Instructions: RAIN with Emotions and Thoughts (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Use the RAIN acronym for emotions (not just unpleasant ones) and thoughts as a way to be with their direct or somatic experience.
Dawn Mauricio: The Gift of Hindrances (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An exploration of the five hindrances (desire, aversion, sloth & torpor, restlessness, and doubt). This talk draws on classical teachings, personal stories, and the Buddha's water similes to ask what happens when we get curious about these states instead of fighting them.
James Baraz: Instructions on Working with the Breath and Body (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Instructions on working with the breath and body.
Donald Rothberg: Dukkha and the End of Dukkha: The Core Teaching of the Buddha
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) The Buddha famously said, "I teach dukkha [suffering or reactivity or a sense of unsatisfactoriness] and the cessation of dukkha.” We explore this core teaching as it is expressed in the Four Noble Truths and the teachings of the Two Arrows and Dependent Origination, including ways that it can be confusing. We suggest ways to understand and implement this
James Baraz: Wise Effort in Practice (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Wise Effort as an important issue in practice. This talk explores finding the balance between too much and too little as well as understanding the four classical Wise Efforts described in the teachings.
Howard Cohn: 1st morning Mindfulness of Breath and Body (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Bringing together awareness with body and breath so that contusions for calming and stilling can occur naturally, making it easier to notice all sense experience.
Brian Lesage: The Beauty of Ethical Integrity
(Cambridge Insight Meditation Center)
Ayya Santacitta: Iddhipada III: Effort ~ Bringing Back Our Inborn Animate Intelligence (the Original AI)
(Aloka Earth Room) Short Reflection & Guided Meditation | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene IV | Online Wednesday-Morning
Marjolein Janssen: Befriending the Thinking Mind
(Insight Meditation Community of Richmond) We often have the idea that thoughts are our enemy during meditation. If only we could get rid of all those thoughts, then we would be good meditators. But actually, this is a misconception, since thinking is part of being a human being. In this talk we learn how to befriend the thinking mind, so it can be a companion, instead of an enemy.
Diana Winston: The Spiritual Journey (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this talk, Diana weaves together stories from her own spiritual journey with what she sees as universal aspects of the spiritual path. She talks about obstacles that arise on the path, what insight is, learning to love ourselves more deeply, and the journey to resting in Natural Awareness. She also covers how the spiritual life manifests off the cushion throughou
Pamela Weiss: Guided Meditation: Big Mind
(Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center)
Diana Winston: Self-Compassion and Self-Directed Loving Kindness Practice (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This guided session teaches the basics of self-compassion: mindfulness for judgmental thoughts, kindness towards self, and recognition of shared humanity. The guided meditation focuses on sending kindness to self.
Pamela Weiss: The Wisdom of Water
(Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center) This talk explores the paradoxical qualities of water; cohesion + change; the mystery of consciousness; and the power of turning toward impermanence
Ayya Anandabodhi: The Transformative Power of Metta
(Parayana Vihara) In a Sunday Dhamma talk at Parayana Vihara, Ayya Anandabodhi talks about the power of metta (loving-kindness) to transform difficulties and heal relationships.
Donald Rothberg: Bringing Our Practice to the Current Difficult Times: A Contemporary Eightfold Path
(Gay Buddhist Fellowship)
Pamela Weiss: Guided Meditation: Vedana/Fire Feeling-Tone
(Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center)
Pawan Bareja: Dharma Builds Resilience
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
Diana Winston: Mindfulness Meditation: Getting Started (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This short talk and longer guided meditation offers a clear introduction to how to practice mindfulness with an emphasis on finding and anchor and gathering your wild mind.
Pamela Weiss: Untangling Karma: It is Possible
(Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center) This talk explores the Air element: breath and breeze and the unseen. It recounts stories of Prajna Paramita, the mother of all Buddhas, and my mother's life & death
Diana Clark: The Freedom of Simplicity
(Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge) This talk explores the freedom that becomes possible when the mind discovers what it no longer needs to carry, protect, or try to control.
Devon Hase: Metta for a Friend
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Teachings and Guided Meditation on Metta for a Friend
Pamela Weiss: Guided Meditation: Body/Earth
(Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center)
Jill Shepherd: talk: Wise Action and Wise Activism
(Auckland Insight Meditation)
Devon Hase: Like the River Flows: Anattā, Impermanence, and the Freedom of no Fixed Address
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) A dharma talk exploring anattā through the five aggregates and the Anattālakkhaṇa Sutta, alongside Anāthapiṇḍika's deathbed teaching from Sāriputta. Weaves impermanence and death contemplation together with not-self - drawing on Thanissaro Bhikkhu's pragmatic (not metaphysical) framing of not-self - and closes with mettā as the natural fruit of a loose
Pamela Weiss: Robaishin: Grandmotherly Hands
(Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center) Stories about Mary Oliver, Grandma Helen, the Buddha, Ananda, Mahapajapati and Izumi Shikibu
James Baraz: Two Essential Qualities for Awakening: Heedfulness and Wise Attention
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) This talk explores an important topic that James has not spoken on before. We often think of practice as simply noticing our experience in the present moment. However, the Buddha explicitly pairs heedfulness (appamada) and wise attention (yoniso manasikara) as the two primary internal factors responsible for giving birth to the Noble Eightfold Path. This
Ayya Santacitta: Iddhipada II: Vision ~ Updating Our Capacity for Cultural Imagination
(Aloka Earth Room) Short Reflection & Guided Meditation | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene IV | Online Wednesday-Morning
Devon Hase: Teachings on Rohitassa and Mindfulness of the Body
(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Reflections and guided practice on embodiment
Andrea Fella: What is true in this moment?
(Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge)
Amana Brembry Johnson: Mind States, Thoughts and Mental Formations (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) What is the mind like right now?
Contracted? Distracted? Collected? Liberated?
Andrea Fella: The Mind of Freedom
(Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge) A reflection on the Kalakarama Sutta from the Anguttara Nikaya, in which the Buddha describes the quality of an awakened mind.
Andrea Fella: Release - and not picking up
(Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge)
Ying Chen: The Myths of Identities
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
Ayya Anandabodhi: Exploring Anatta
(Parayana Vihara) In an online 4th Sunday Dhamma talk, Ayya Anandabodhi deconstructs how mental habits create the personality and sense of self.
Brian Lesage: One Thing Among Many
(Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center)
Ajahn Viradhammo: Witnessing experience
(Tisarana Buddhist Monastery) The theme of this Sunday talk, is witnessing experience as it is. The awakened mind, does not demand anything be different to what it is, in the moment free of judgement. The theme that this builds upon, is "Santitikko"- Something that can be verified for oneself. If we can see suffering for what it is, as its is now, in the moment, we get out of it a little easier.
Ajahn Sucitto: Resonating with truthfulness
(London Insight Meditation)
Ayya Anandabodhi: May I Abide in Well-Being
(Parayana Vihara) In a Sunday Dhamma talk at Parayana Vihara, Ayya Anandabodhi encourages re-training the mind to abide in the present to experience the peace, joy, and freedom this brings.
Ajahn Sucitto: Guided practice - Returning to the belonging state
(London Insight Meditation)
Ajahn Sucitto: Internally, externally and both together
(London Insight Meditation)
Noliwe Alexander: Contemplating the Body and Breath~ 1st Foundation of Mindfulness (Retreat at Spirit Rock)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Instructions on the First Foundation of Mindfulness; Settling the Body, Accessing the Breath as an anchor, Practicing with the awareness of what is arising, including moment to moment sensations.
Zohar Lavie: Talk - Fulfilling Stillness - Journeying Beyond the Unknown
(Gaia House)
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