Weekly Online Dharma Practice Gathering
Dr. Rebecca Li started this weekly online practice gathering on March 27, 2020, to support practitioners during the Covid-19 pandemic. The group met weekly on Fridays. Practitioners were invited to share their practice reflections during the pandemic. You can view the practice reflections here. For compiled information to support practitioners, please click here. The Dharma talks given by Dr. Rebecca Li were compiled into the book Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times.
Dharma Talk Recordings
The recordings below are provided with the intention for participants to continue their reflection, study and practice.
March 27, 2020: Allow Joy Into Hour Heart in this Pandemic
In this talk, Rebecca shared the practice of cultivating clear, total awareness of the present moment in the body and our surroundings to allow joy into our heart as we experience anxiety and stress during the pandemic.
April 3, 2020: Open our Heart to our Whole Self
Rebecca talked about habitual tendencies that practitioners may fall into when experiencing tremendous stress. These habits block us from fully experiencing the present moment. She explained how the practice of Silent Illumination allows us to face the challenges presented by the pandemic with equanimity.
April 10, 2020: Unconditional Kindness to Ourselves
This talk examined how stress and anxiety are normal in this extraordinary time. We can practice cultivating unconditional kindness to ourselves by being fully present with ourselves.
April 17, 2020: Practicing with the unfolding “New Normal”
Rebecca spoke about how holding on to the idea of “going back to normal” causes suffering and how to cultivate wisdom and compassion as we live with the pandemic.
April 24, 2020: Practicing to Suffer Better
This talk encouraged practitioners to cultivate clear awareness of one’s experience of suffering so that one can use the practice to mitigate the impulse to inflict additional suffering on oneself and others.
May 1, 2020: Facing Uncertainty with Chan Practice
In this talk, Rebecca encouraged practitioners to examine their habit of giving rise to suffering by resisting uncertainty and explained how to use Chan practice to understand how this habit manifests itself in our experience.
May 8, 2020: Recognizing and Learning from the Bodhisattvas around us
Rebecca shared the practice of recognizing the Bodhisattvas around us as a way to familiarize ourselves with and cultivate Bodhisattva practices.
May 15, 2020: Letting Go of Our Search for Absolute Safety
Rebecca drew on Pema Chodron’s quote “To seek for some lasting security is futile” to examine how our entrenched habits to search for absolute safety is suffering. She explained how to cultivate awareness of these habits.
May 22, 2020: Restoring Meaning to Our Lives
Drawing on Joanna Macy’s four R’s to cultivate a life-sustaining culture–Resilience, Relinquishment, Restoration, and Reconciliation, Rebecca encouraged practitioners to reflect on what we have learned from spending time at home during the pandemic to restore meaning in our lives.
May 29, 2020: Living Fully is to See Each Moment as Brand New
Drawing on a quote from Pema Chodron’s book When Things Fall Apart, Rebecca talked about how to reflect on and contemplate impermanence deeply in order to live fully by seeing each moment as brand new–by being “willing to die over and over again.”