The second limb of the Noble Eightfold Path, and the all-important hinge from View (limb 1) into Action (limbs 3-5), is Right Intention, sammā-saṅkappa. (Here's the talks from the first part …
Read MoreWelcome, and blessings on your path.
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Sean Feit Oakes, PhD
This month at Satsang (July-Aug 2019)
Insight Meditation Satsang
Tuesdays 7:15-9pm
Ashtanga Yoga Berkeley
933 Parker #38
**Satsang starts at our new location on July 16!**
We’re looking at the Eightfold Path, and are several weeks into talking about aspects of the first limb of the path: Right View. Growing out of that, we’re reading the first teaching of the Buddha, called “Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma” (SN 56.11), arriving in a timely way at the very holiday devoted to that text: Āsāḷhā Pūjā, or “Dhamma Day”, on the 16th!
Happy Āsāḷhā Pūjā!
Tue July 16, 2562 / 2019
Āsāḷhā is celebrated at the July Full Moon, and the next day monastics in many Theravāda countries go into 3 months of Rains Retreat, called vassa, meditating and deepening in practice while the monsoons pour down. Come celebrate the holiday with chanting and setting of intentions for the retreat season.
Insight Meditation Satsang
Tuesdays 7:15-9pm*
Ashtanga Yoga Berkeley*
933 Parker Street, Studio 38, Berkeley
*New time & location begins July 16th.
As always, talks and practices weave together personal, relational, and systemic inquiry, exploring the inseparability of individual and collective liberation.
Most Recent Talks
The Noble Eightfold Path to the End of Dissatisfaction: Part 1, Right View
A new dive into the Noble Eightfold Path (8FP), the Buddha's brilliant scaffolding for integrated individual and collective liberation. We start, as is traditional, with Right View: the turning of …
Read MoreBuddhism & Yoga: Integrating the Traditions
Buddhism and Yoga are two major branches on the family tree of South Asian spiritual practice, whose roots we can glimpse in ancient texts called upaniṣads. Both branches focus on …
Read MoreWonderful & Marvelous: Recollection of the Buddha
In honor of Vesak, coming up this year on May 19, a series of talks on the Buddha themself, interwoven with some discussion of the traditional verses of praise we …
Read More
Dive into the ocean of ideas, practices, and culture that evolved into modern yoga. Designed for serious students of yoga and meditation, this is a university-level introduction to Yoga history from an engaging scholar-practitioner.
An exploration of one of the most gorgeous and enigmatic Mahāyāna Buddhist texts, The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom, or “Heart Sūtra.” The course, hosted by our friends at The Sutra Project, combines a new practitioner-oriented translation by Dr. Oakes and Dr. Christopher Wallis, drawing on their decades of practice and study.
Teaching Schedule
Insight Meditation Satsang
Tuesdays 7:15-9pm
Ashtanga Yoga Berkeley
933 Parker/8th, #38, Berkeley
Ongoing
Meditation with instructions based in the Insight Meditation tradition and its sources in Thai and Burmese Theravāda Buddhism. The focus of the group is on deepening in both traditional Buddhist practice as understood in the Theravāda traditions, and exploring the links between individual & systemic liberation in the form of social justice and collective healing practice.
Moving into Meditation:
Mindful Yoga & Embodied Dharma
Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2019
Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Woodacre
6-day retreat
I’m delighted to be joining my colleagues Anne Cushman, Leslie Booker, and Dawn Mauricio for a 6-day retreat integrating mindfulness-oriented Yoga āsana with Insight Meditation (vipassanā).
Nourish your body, mind, and heart in this silent retreat that blends the traditions of yoga and Insight Meditation (Vipassana). Through an integrated flow of meditation in movement and stillness, you discover that what we call “body” and what we call “mind” are different aspects of the same living presence. As you open, relax, energize, and attune your body and nervous system, you’ll learn to sustain these qualities in both your seated meditation and in the rest of your life. You’ll learn skills that can help you stay grounded, centered, and open-hearted as you take your practice off the mat and cushion and into a world that so needs it.
Each day includes meditation instruction and practice; dharma teachings and discussion; meetings with teachers; silent sitting and walking meditation; and mindful yoga practice suitable to all levels of yoga experience and physical ability.
A Lineage of Liberation: Intro to the history of Buddhism
4 Mondays, January 6-27, 2020
East Bay Meditation Center, Oakland
study & practice class series
It’s said that the moment the Buddha’s first student realized liberation, the whole universe resounded with celebration, and the “Wheel of Dharma” began to turn. Since that first turning, millions of men and women, giving their lives to practice, have realized the end of suffering, and through their dedication to practice and teaching, spread the Dharma around the world.
In this introduction to Buddhist history, we’ll look at the origin and spread of Buddhism as a world religion. We’ll weave between mythic and historical modes of understanding and storytelling: Bodhidharma crossing the ocean on a single reed, Buddhist emperors of Tibet conquering most of China then being themselves conquered, evidence in texts and art throughout Asia of the richness and complexity of Buddhist culture.
We’ll talk about cultural exchange, empire and politics, oral tradition and translation, how the monastic order spread across Asia, and how the Dharma arrived in North America with Asian immigrant communities, eventually taking root in non-Asian communities as well. Learning about the paths this beautiful tradition has taken to arrive here, whether it is our primary faith or not, depeens our practice of tolerance, cultural fluency, and gratitude that the Wheel of Dharma continues to turn for the benefit and blessing of beings in all time and space.
In addition to lecture and discussion, we will explore simple meditation practices from several of the major Buddhist lineages.