Dharma &

It feels good to do good. And many of us may find ourselves wanting to do good in a big way. To that end, we may seek to build power so that we can manifest our good intentions on a large scale. Power, however, is tricky, and there are many ways to get tangled up and turned around. The Buddhist teachings are not against using one’s power for good, but they also invite us to see a greater freedom that is not attached to any form of power.Join us: Riverside Meditation Community meets Sundays at 9:00 AM at Brookmont Church, 4000 Virginia Place, Bethesda. Each gathering includes a sit, a short talk, and time to connect. All are welcome. You can find more information here: riversidemeditation.netUpcoming Retreat: I’ll be co-teaching How to Know Your Mind, a three-day silent insight meditation retreat, with Dechen Ellen McSweeney at Seven Oaks Retreat Center, in the beautiful foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, March 11-14. You can find more information, including how to register, here: https://imcw.org/event/?eventId=1779Texts & referencesDN 31, Sigālaka Sutta (advice to a young householder): includes setting aside part of one’s wealth for hard timesDN 16, Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (the Buddha’s final days): the teaching and the discipline named as teacher after himMN 22, Alagaddūpama Sutta (the snake simile): the teaching as a raft, for crossing over, not for holding on toSN 22.96, Gomayapiṇḍa Sutta (a lump of cow dung): a king’s 84,000 cities, all passed awayThich Nhat Hanh and Daniel Berrigan, The Raft Is Not the Shore: Conversations Toward a Buddhist-Christian Awareness (Beacon Press, 1975)Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark: on why “save” is the wrong word for what activists doCorrection: In the talk I said Aung San Suu Kyi is still in prison. In April 2026, Myanmar’s state media reported that she had been moved to house arrest. She remains in detention.Photo by Melih Özmen on Unsplash

Last week we looked at what it means to live a life of purpose when the puzzle we were working on is gone. The point I hoped to make is that purpose may come not from the puzzle itself, but from the curiosity and generativity that created it.Several people told me afterward that the talk spoke to them, especially those changing jobs or newly retired, and it got me thinking about Erik Erikson’s last two stages of development: generativity versus stagnation, when we pour our energy into caring for others, and integrity versus despair, when we look back and either make peace with the life we’ve lived or can’t.In the busy years, it can be hard to make time to ask whether we’re living in line with our deepest values. I think it’s worth doing anyway.Reflecting on how we live makes us sensitive to our karma. The suttas say some karma ripens in this very life, and the Buddha is reported to have urged his son to watch his actions closely and feel their effects: remorse for what harmed himself or others, gladness for what was wholesome and kind. Remorse, met with curiosity, helps us grow. Happiness at our past conduct sustains us.The practice can be simple. Each morning I set an intention to be calm, kind, and affirming. Each night, as I fall asleep, I look back on the day. When I lived up to it, a peace comes over me. When I didn’t, I get curious: what happened in my mind, what desire took over, what might I do differently tomorrow?The practice has traps. It can turn scrupulous, leading to obsession over every small action. And we can mistake a single bad deed for a verdict on who we are. The antidote is remembering that we aren’t fixed selves but changing processes, what the Buddhist teachings call anattā, or not-self. Every day is a fresh chance to show up with calmness, kindness, and generosity.Texts & referencesErik Erikson, Childhood and Society (1950): where he first laid out the eight stagesAN 6.63, Nibbedhika Sutta: intention is kamma; three times of ripeningMN 61, Ambalaṭṭhikarāhulovāda Sutta: the Buddha’s advice to Rāhula, the mirrorSN 22.59, Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta: not mine, not I, not my selfAN 3.99, Loṇakapalla Sutta: the salt crystal in a cup vs. the Ganges (numbered 3.100 in some editions)Iti 22: don’t fear merit; it’s another name for happinessPeter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees (2016): trees sharing nutrients through fungal networksCorrectionsA few things I got wrong in the talk. The book I called “The Wood Wide Web” is Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees. I’d mixed it up with Robert Macfarlane’s New Yorker essay, “The Secrets of the Wood Wide Web.” The image I took from it, older trees feeding younger ones through underground networks, is also less settled than I made it sound. A 2023 review in Nature Ecology & Evolution found no published evidence that mature trees send resources to their offspring this way, though the researchers behind that work have pushed back. The uposatha, the monastic gathering I described, happens twice a month, at the new and full moons, not monthly. And I said only a few suttas preserve the Buddha’s advice to his son, Rāhula. There are more: three in the Middle Length Discourses (MN 61, 62 and 147) and a whole collection in the Connected Discourses (SN 18).Photo by Mehrpouya H on Unsplash

Last week’s talk explored the freedom that comes from letting the big fish in our lives swim free — the career achievements we’ve may have been seeking, the idealized family we may have wanted to build, the self-image we may have been crafting. After the talk, I found myself wondering what it means to live a life of purpose, even when we aren’t casting about or hooked on the big fish.For answers, I turned to a neighbor who is an astrophysicist and asked him how his colleagues are receiving the news about AI’s advances in mathematics. He, in turn, pointed me to an interview between Rachel Abrams and esteemed mathematician Steven Strogatz about this very topic. The upshot of this week’s talk and the Q&A that follows is that purpose arises from curiosity, generosity, and creativity — it’s a mind state, not an object. We can lose the object of our interest and still maintain the curious, open-minded attitude that sustains us and gives life meaning.This talk was given at the Riverside Meditation Community, Brookmont Church, on Sunday, October 25, 2026. It follows last week’s talk, Letting the Fish Swim Free.Question for the week: Think of a puzzle you’re working on, or one you’ve had to put down. When you chase it, does your attention narrow or open?Texts & referencesThe Daily (The New York Times), “When A.I. Comes for Your Purpose in Life,” October 13, 2026: Rachel Abrams interviews Cornell mathematician Steven Strogatz about the grief and excitement in mathematics as AI takes on its hardest problems.Ecclesiastes, which Strogatz turned to by way of the Byrds’ “Turn! Turn! Turn!”Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11): craving as the origin of suffering. https://suttacentral.net/sn56.11Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118): the seven factors of awakening, with investigation (dhammavicaya) second. https://suttacentral.net/mn118Alagaddūpama Sutta (MN 22): the simile of the raft, a teaching for crossing over, not for holding onto. https://suttacentral.net/mn22

Hi friends,I recently had the chance to watch a young man fish for carp in the Potomac River. He was an expert angler, using a mix of panko breadcrumbs, strawberry Jell-O powder, and corn kernels as bait. He had three lines out at once, and after maybe 30 to 45 minutes, there were three fish tugging at the lines at the same time.He started reeling one in, using considerable strength to wrangle the fish and wear it out, while trying to explain to everyone else how to pull in the others. “How much tension is on the line?” “He’s a big one! We’ve gotta wear him out.” “Can you feel him?” “Get it! Get it! Get it!” The kids were squealing, cheering, and tugging on the rods. Two of the carp got away, but he pulled in the one on his line.It was tremendous, about 30 inches and 15 pounds, with shiny gold and black patterns across its slick body. Seeing this beautiful animal up close, my daughter, who’d helped reel it in, became quite concerned. She pleaded with the fisherman to take the hook out of its mouth and let it back into the water before it suffocated. And when he did, we all relaxed.This week’s talk is about the deepest levels of release the practice has to offer. For years, the goal of my meditation practice was to learn to cool off the anger in my mind and heart. Now that the anger has quieted down significantly, I find myself asking, “What is the benefit of continuing on this path?”Once we’ve stabilized our minds and no longer act out in destructive ways, the path offers a different kind of transformation: the chance to find freedom by releasing the big fish. These are the ideas of who we thought we needed to be in order to feel proud of our lives, the jobs we thought we had to have, the rewards we thought we had to hold, the families we imagined we would build in a certain way. The Buddhist path offers us a chance to release our clinging to these identities and outcomes, and in that release to find a great peace and a quiet fearlessness, neither grabbing for more out of life nor afraid of it slipping away.This talk was given at the Riverside Meditation Community, Brookmont Church, on Sunday, October 18, 2026. It follows a five-part series on the Meghiya Sutta’s conditions for the release of the heart.Question for the week: What have you been pursuing your whole life, what big fish have you been trying to reel in, that would be scary to let swim away?Texts & referencesDhammacakkappavattana Sutta (SN 56.11): defines the end of suffering as letting go of craving (paṭinissagga). https://suttacentral.net/sn56.11Sāmaññaphala Sutta (DN 2): the bliss of blamelessness. https://suttacentral.net/dn2Baḷisika Sutta (SN 35.230): the Buddha’s fishing simile, in which we are the fish on Māra’s hook. https://suttacentral.net/sn35.230Carol Wilson, teacher at the Insight Meditation Society: the “secret hope for pleasure” teaching.Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Part V in a Series on the Five Conditions for ReleaseEvery year so, reflecting on earlier periods of my life, I have thought, "Boy, I was pretty foolish then. I had a lot to learn." After many years of making this observation, it has finally started to dawn on me that, perhaps, this moment, right now, will be one I reflect back on soon and think, "Boy was I foolish, I had a lot to learn."This week's talk is on Wisdom, the 5th condition for the release of the heart. It is the final talk in this series. Wisdom, in this tradition, is seeing that everything is arising and passing: our minds, our bodies, our friends, our possessions, and our ideas of who we are.This talk was given at the Riverside Meditation Community, Brookmont Church, on Sunday, October 11, 2026. This is the last of five talks on the Meghiya Sutta’s conditions for the release of the heart: sitting together, treating each other well, hearing good teachings, practicing them, and wisdom.Question for the week: What things about yourself seemed permanent that no longer do?Texts & referencesMeghiya Sutta (Udāna 4.1): the five conditions that ripen the heart for release. https://suttacentral.net/ud4.1Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta (SN 22.59): “not mine, not I, not my self.” https://suttacentral.net/sn22.59Sakalika Sutta (SN 1.38): the Buddha stays steady when a rock splinter cuts his foot. https://suttacentral.net/sn1.38Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa: two slips of paper, “For my sake the world was created” and “I am but dust and ashes.”Dōgen: “intimacy with all things” (attributed).Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash#Buddhism #Meditation #Impermanence #DharmaTalk #Wisdom #InsightMeditation #Mindfulness #NotSelf #LettingGo

Part IV in a Series on the Five Conditions for ReleaseA few weeks ago I got stuck in an elevator with my kids — the thing I've feared most of my life. My vision wobbled. And then something steadied. This week's talk is about the fourth condition for the release of the heart — vīriya, rousing the energy to practice — and why it's worth doing. It's a strange kind of energy. Instead of tensing up, it's the energy to relax, over and over. Plus: what a Spanish doctor taught me about how hard to work.The talk was recorded at the Riverside Meditation Community. We meet again this coming Sunday at 9 AM at the Brookmont Church, 4000 Virginia Place, Brookmont, MD.Texts & references: The five conditions that ripen the release of the heart — Meghiya Sutta (Udāna 4.1, suttacentral.net/ud4.1; also AN 9.3) · Faith as the ground of energy — the five spiritual faculties (SN 48.50, suttacentral.net/sn48.50) · Soṇa and the tuning of the lute (AN 6.55, suttacentral.net/an6.55) · Crossing the flood without halting or straining (SN 1.1, suttacentral.net/sn1.1)This week's practice: Try one for a week — a body scan in bed before you get up, a few minutes of walking meditation, or a light awareness of the breath all day. Then notice what you find.Photo by sendi gibran on Unsplash

Part III in a Series on the Five Conditions for ReleaseWhen the business of the fall gets loud, I step outside and let the cold air blow the nonsense out of my head. If the moon is out, even better. It provides quiet, simple company. This week's dharma talk is about the kind of talk that is like the cold wind and the steady moon.The Buddha named ten kinds of good talk, from wanting little to staying out of drama, and I share about the people who've offered it to me — from my dad's sermons on the simplicity of Hondas to my uncle, Jack Kornfield, and the day his teacher Ajahn Chah pointed at a boulder and asked if it was heavy.This was recorded at the Riverside Meditation Community. We meet again this coming Sunday at 9 AM at the Brookmont Church, 4000 Virginia Place, Brookmont, MD.Texts & references: The ten kinds of talk that ripen the release of the heart — Meghiya Sutta (Udāna 4.1, suttacentral.net/ud4.1; also AN 9.3) · Brahmā Sahampati urges the Buddha to teach — Āyācana Sutta (SN 6.1, suttacentral.net/sn6.1) · "Enough, let that be" — the actor Talapuṭa's question (SN 42.2, suttacentral.net/sn42.2) · Teaching in the listener's own language — Araṇavibhaṅga Sutta (MN 139, suttacentral.net/mn139) · Jack Kornfield on studying with Wing-tsit Chan and Ajahn Chah · Ajahn Chah and the boulder · Ledi Sayadaw, Sayagyi U Ba Khin, Mahasi Sayadaw, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, Tara BrachThis week's practice: Notice a boulder you've picked up that isn't yours to carry. Then notice who in your life offers the kind of talk that helps you set it down.Photo by Alexis Antonio on Unsplash

Growing up, there was a piece of advice that circulated in my family: hold your head up and act like you know what you're doing. It didn't leave me feeling ahead. It left me feeling permanently behind. This is a talk about sīla — ethical conduct — and why the Buddha named it the second condition for the release of the heart. This is not a list of rules or finger wagging. It's about seeing that life gets easier when we live in a way we don't have to hide.Recorded at the Riverside Meditation Community, Brookmont Church, Brookmont, MD, September 2026. Second in a series of five on the conditions for release of the heart.Texts & references: Texts & references: The five conditions for the ripening of release of heart — Meghiya Sutta (Udāna 4.1, suttacentral.net/ud4.1; also AN 9.3) · Visārada, the confidence of one who has nothing to hide, and its opposite — Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (DN 16, suttacentral.net/dn16) and Saṅgīti Sutta (DN 33) · Sīlabbata-parāmāsa, clinging to rules and observances, as a fetter abandoned on the path · The five precepts · Reflecting on action before, during, and after — Advice to Rāhula (MN 61, suttacentral.net/mn61) · The Good Place, season 3This week's practice: When you're unsure what the right action is, notice whether you're rushing. Most harm comes out of hurry. Slow down and when in doubt, do without.Cover Art by Geranimo on Unsplash

What's the point of getting up on a Sunday morning to meet in a suburban church to meditate? Is it happiness? Happiness can be quite fickle. Contentment? Yes, though there's more to it than that. What it's really about is release. It's what the Pāli texts call cetovimutti, the release of the heart. And the Buddha's first instruction toward it isn't solitude in a cave or a forest. It's sitting down next to someone.Recorded at the first gathering of the Riverside Meditation Community, Brookmont Church, Brookmont, MD, September 2026.Texts & references: The Meghiya Sutta — the monk, the mango grove, and the five things that ripen release of heart (Udāna 4.1, suttacentral.net/ud4.1; also AN 9.3) · The Upaḍḍha Sutta — Ānanda on admirable friendship, and the Buddha's correction (SN 45.2, suttacentral.net/sn45.2) · D.W. Winnicott, "there is no such thing as a baby" · Wendell Berry, "Health Is Membership" — community as the smallest unit of health · the Roseto effect · Tara BrachPhoto by Federico Enni on Unsplash

What's the difference between a complaint and a need? When the Buddha was dying, he asked Ānanda for water again and again. He was in pain, he was thirsty, he was tired, and he was dying. But he voiced his request without complaint. This talk is all about the difference between naming a need and letting the suffering do the talking.Recorded at the River Road drop-in class, Bethesda, MD, August 2026.Texts & references: The Buddha's request for water — Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (DN 16), suttacentral.net/dn16 · Parideva(lamentation) in the first noble truth's expansion of dukkha · D.W. Winnicott on early attention and mirroring · Wei Wu Wei on worshipping the teapotPhoto by Santiago Lacarta on Unsplash