In this profound investigation of subjective experience and direct reality, Joseph Goldstein looks at the first three of the five aggregates in Buddhism.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

In this episode, Joseph analyzes:

• The five aggregates of clinging and deconstructing subjective experience
• Opening the stainless dharma vision eye
• How the Buddha shows the way to those who are lost
• The direct realities underlying the surface appearance of being
• All of the elements which give rise to the experience of self / the aggregate of Rūpa
• The nature of material elements and the four great essentials
• Our experiences as a flow of changing vibrations
• The second aggregate, Vedanā, aka the feeling qualities of experiences
• Feelings as the conditioning factor of our reactions
• Collapsing into the identification with pleasant vs. unpleasant
• Saññā, the aggregate of perception
• Recognizing, naming, and remembering each arising object
• The function of mental noting and focusing on mindfulness

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“The Buddha uses this contemplation of the aggregates to analyze our subjective experience and, through this analysis, to deconstruct the very deeply held construct and belief in self.” – Joseph Goldstein

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Highlighting the danger of indecision, Joseph Goldstein examines the nature of doubt as taught by the Buddha.

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This week on Insight Hour, Joseph explains to listeners:

• How elements of mind and body function
• What the Buddha said about working with and overcoming doubt
• Recognizing whether or not doubt is present within ourselves
• The nature and character of the doubting mind
• The danger of being paralyzed by indecision
• Doubt within our meditation practice / Doubting parts of the dhamma
• Contemplating the unattractive elements of the body
• Doubting the value of practice in a world of suffering
• The deep pattern of self-doubt
• How doubt masquerades as wisdom
• Paying attention to what triggers doubt
• Understanding what is wholesome and unwholesome
• Investigation and the wisdom mind as the cure to doubt

Grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“When doubt is strong, and we’re paralyzed by indecision, this mental force doesn’t even allow us the opportunity to take a wrong turn and to learn from our mistakes; rather, we’re always checking ourselves, we’re vacillating, we’re trying to decide.” – Joseph Goldstein

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Diving into restlessness and worry, Joseph Goldstein outlines how to use the eye of wisdom to examine mental agitation.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This time on Insight Hour, Joseph lectures on:

• The obvious and subtle expressions of restlessness and worry
• How we can easily become over-concerned with our practice
• Falling into spiritual self-absorption
• The conditions which cause the arising of restlessness and worry
• Examining all situations with the eye of wisdom
• The physical energies of restlessness and worry
• Making the mind wind and open or focusing the mind more microscopically
• Reflecting on the purpose of our practice
• Excessive striving and our tendency to self-judge
• Letting go of the past, future, and present

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“When you feel that the mind is not settled, when it’s not at rest, become mindful of what’s going on. Let the unease that you’re feeling be the mindfulness bell.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Employing the Satipatthana Sutta, Joseph Goldstein shows us how to overcome the mental states of sloth and torpor.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

In this episode, Joseph instructs listeners on:

• The mind states of sloth and torpor
• Defining sloth as a sluggishness of mind which dispels energy
• Noticing when sloth and torpor are present in us
• How sloth and torpor can spread via unwise attention to boredom and depression
• Watching the thinking patterns we have around slothful mind-states
• How sloth and torpor can signal us to other hidden emotions
• Over-consumption and being attentive to what we put into our bodies
• The benefit and value of the eight precepts
• Having a balance of both concentration and energy
• Deepening our insight into the impermanence of the hindrances
• Mindfulness as the most basic strategy for overcoming laziness
• Adding in more objects to our meditation as an antidote to the sinking mind
• Being alert even in times of low energy as practice for conscious dying
• Finding inspiration in reading the dhamma, listening to a recording, or chanting

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“Mindfulness, here, is deepening our insight into the impermanence of the hindrances. If we can stay with it, we see that they come and go by themselves. We don’t have to fulfill the desire, we don’t have to act on the anger, we don’t have to indulge the sleepiness, in order for them to go, we just need to stay with it and we’ll see their changing nature simply through the awareness of them.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Illuminating the shadows of our minds, Joseph Goldstein explains how to notice and investigate the emotions hiding underneath aversions.

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

In this episode, Joseph offers a discussion on:

• What aversion is and how to recognize when it’s present
• The powerful underground force of hatred
• Looking clearly and deeply into our own minds through mindfulness
• Weakening and uprooting the very deepest tendencies of mind
• How even words themselves contain both desire and aversion
• The rising of aversion with respect to physical and emotional pain
• The nine thoughts that can stir up malice according to the Buddha
• Why we personalize situations which are impersonal
• Opening up to aversion as simply a noted mind-state
• Arousing the investigative aspect of the mind
• Reflecting on what purpose (or lack their of) our emotions serve
• Taking responsibility for our aversions
• The development of loving-kindness and wishing-well to all beings

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“Really what we’re doing here is illuminating the shadow side of our mind, the aspects that we don’t usually see, the underground, the latent tendencies in which the milder forms of aversion are rooted.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Joseph Goldstein describes the causes of sensual desire and how to be aware of the wanting-mind rather than suppressing it.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This time on Insight Hour, Joseph reveals to listeners:

• Dhamma as categories of phenomena
• The mental turbulence of anger and aversion
• Stagnation of mind, restlessness of mind
• How hindrances alter and condition our perceptions
• Paying particular attention to times of transition
• Abandoning hindrances without aversion, self-judgment, and suppression
• Recognizing when sensual desire is present
• Obsessive passion, expectations, addictive cravings, and other manifestations of the wanting-mind
• How what we frequently ponder upon becomes our inclination of mind
• The misconception that our desires will bring us happiness
• Seeing the insubstantial nature of desire through mindfulness
• Reflecting on the Buddha’s teachings in the very moment that they are applicable
• The prevention of craving through awareness of the cause of desire and non-clinging

“The question is: how can we practice working to abandon the hindrances without suppression, without aversion, and without self-judgment? In the sutta, the Buddha outlines five basic steps in working with the hindrances and finding the middle way between indulging in them and suppressing them. He charts the course for us.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Simplifying our daily practice into bare knowing, Joseph Goldstein instructs us on external mindfulness and noticing our reactions.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

In this episode, Joseph Goldstein mindfully explains:

• The comprehensive nature of mindfulness practice
• Going beyond the division of self and other
• Insight from inference and inductive reasoning
• Contemplating the feelings and mind-states of others
• Being mindful of our reactions to other people's positive and negative feelings
• Keeping our lives in balance by not being overly self-absorbed
• Contemplating both internal and external mindfulness so that we can see phenomena objectively
• The impermanent nature of all feelings
• Thoughts as the trigger for emotions to arise
• Staying free in the flow of changing experience
• The storytelling the mind does versus the Buddha's instruction on bare knowledge
• The mantra 'it's already here' for awareness of bare knowing

Don’t forget to grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“Contemplating externally not only keeps us in balance so we don’t have this total self-absorption, but we’re paying attention in some way, we’re enlarging the context of our practice. It also helps keep us attuned to how our actions are affecting others so we aren’t just lost in what we’re doing. We’re mindful of the feelings and mind states externally so we see, we’re attuned, we’re aware, in a mindful, non-reactive, non-judgmental way of these states as they arise in other people. We’re paying attention.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rather than trying to overcome unwholesome mind states, Joseph Goldstein guides us to simply be mindful of the mind as it is being influenced.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

In this episode, Joseph Goldstein mindfully explains:

• The three unwholesome roots (lustful mind, angry mind, diluted mind)
• Being aware of the absence of unwholesome mind-states
• How positive attributes are present within the absence of the defilements
• Not judging ourselves or being reactive to negative mind-states
• Focusing on which states should be cultivated and which should be let go of
• Measuring the moral worth of an action by the intention behind it
• Difficult mind-states as part of the path rather than an innate problem
• The distracted and contracted mind
• How mindfulness of our mind is the path to freedom
• Simply knowing each state for what it is (not-self, insubstantial, impermanent)
• Asking ourselves what is happening and taking the time to acknowledge it
• How sense pleasures and moods deceive the mind
• The process of liberation as short moments many times

Don’t forget to grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“It’s not as if somehow we need to have our mind completely freed of all of these unwholesome states in order to proceed. The Buddha is saying that mindfulness of them when they arise is the path to freedom.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Describing the hidden danger in seeking happiness through sense pleasure, Joseph Goldstein outlines worldy versus unworldly feelings.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

Don’t forget to grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

In this episode of Insight Hour, Joseph Goldstein mindfully explains:

• The feelings that arise during renunciation
• Non-addictedness versus deprivation
• The hidden dangers in happiness from worldly feelings
• The unreliability of pleasant emotions
• Beneficial pleasures versus un-beneficial pleasures
• Worldy and unworldly neutral feelings
• Genorosity as easy access to an unworldly pleasant feeling
• Non-sensual joy when we practice compassion and metta
• Exploring feelings as they become predominant
• Noticing our conditioned responses to our emotions
• Utilizing mindfulness to rest in simple awareness

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“There’s a hidden danger in this addiction to sense pleasure, of relying for pleasant worldly feelings for our happiness to the degree that we become very attached to them and then suffer when they change, as we know they do. The impermanence of them becomes a source of unreliability.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Becoming mindful of feelings, Joseph Goldstein explains how the habits of our mind shape our actions and karma.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

Don’t forget to grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This week, Joseph Goldstein outlines:

• The mindfulness of feeling and discovering the nature of our feelings
• How the tone of our feelings condition the reactions of our mind
• The actions and karmic consequences that begin with a feeling
• How pleasant feelings can condition desire and attachment
• The way that neutrality can lead to ignorance
• Maintaining a non-reactive mind to all emotions
• The tendencies of desire and aversion
• Labeling and noticing our feelings without attaching meaning
• Clearly seeing the impermanent and ephemeral nature of all feelings

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

“Mindfulness of feeling is one of the master keys that both reveals and unlocks the deepest patterns of our conditioning.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Refining our knowledge of the four elements, Joseph Goldstein explains how our bodily dispositions relate to earth, water, fire, and air.

The Satipatthana Sutta is one of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. This episode is the fourth part of an in-depth 48-part weekly lecture series from Joseph Goldstein that delves into every aspect of the Satipatthana Sutta. If you are just now jumping into the Satipatthana Sutta series, listen to Insight Hour Ep. 203 to follow along and get the full experience!

This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/insighthour and get on your way to being your best self.

In this episode, Joseph Goldstein examines:

• The four basic qualities of matter
• Solidity and the earth element
• Fluidity, cohesion, and the water element
• Heat and light as the function of the fire element
• Air and the experience of expanding and extending
• Bringing the elements into our practice
• Contemplating our bodily disposition in terms of the four elements
• Noticing all sensations as the play of a given element
• Moving away from the conceptual and into direct experiences
• Psychic abilities and transforming an element into another one
• How labeling and objectifying can lead to desire and aversion
• Not grieving for what is non-existent
• The unification of relative and ultimate reality

Don’t forget to grab a copy of the book Joseph references throughout this series, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, HERE

This talk was originally published on Dharmaseed

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“On the experimental level, we can see that the various sensations that we feel, however the body is disposed, is really just the play of the elements.” – Joseph Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.