Recent Dharma Talks

This track includes a dharma talk and a brief guided meditation at the end on mudita (sympathetic joy).

Generosity And Kindiness As An Antidote To Hopelessness And Doubt

Nashville experienced a school shooting on May 27, 2023. As always, these mass shootings are devastating and confounding. What is a Buddhist response? How can we extend true compassion for ourselves and others while also finding actions that are beneficial? This talk also includes a short guided Tonglen practice at the end.

A Compassionate Response

The Bardo is a foundational teaching in the Tibetan tradition and is often perceived as the liminal place between death and rebirth. But it is much more than that and ultimately points us to this moment, between the past and future. The place where we wake up.

Retreat Dharma Talk: The Bardo Of This Moment And Waking Up

Perception can blind us to what's right in front of us. But when we use our mindful awareness to really see what's here, we can crate a new understanding that frees us from old narratives.

Retreat Dharma Talk: The Painting That Followed Me Everywhere

In Buddhism, we experience both cultivated compassion and compassion based on no-self. When we direct compassion toward ourselves, – how do we do this without over identification with “self” that creates suffering? The full attention of awareness begins to dissolve the illusion of a fixed or hardened self. We may not even see how this is happening, yet it happens. Compassion for other – seeing all of us in solidarity sharing this experience.

Retreat Dharma Talk: Compassion Touches Everything

Stories aren't a problem in and of themselves. Its our relationship to them that matters. Our very identity is made of stories. Who we are is a series of narratives which are constantly changing. If we can see this, we begin to understand that stories arise from emptiness and we can make better stories.

Emptiness And Making A Better Story

What is delusion in Buddhism? This talk explores how delusion and the awakened mind are always present and our opportunity to wake up is always right here, no matter how far away it seems.

Enlightenment, Delusion And Waking Up

One of the great challenges for many dharma practitioners is working with the energy of anger. It may feel scary, taboo or just uncomfortable. We may receive messages that anger isn't spiritual and we should bypass or repress it. But that only gives it more power. This talk explores practical ways to work with anger in our practice including what the Buddha recommended.

Practical Approaches To Working With Anger

Inevitably we will evaluate our progress on the path. But we need to hold it lightly and avoid getting caught in what I call "the good Buddhist trap," that dictates that we should only respond to life according to Buddhist principles.

What is the "Good Buddhist" Trap?

In Pali, equanimity is called upekkha, which signifies balance and the capacity to arrest the mind before it tips out of balance. When we are in balance we can feel pleasure fully without being lost in it and we can feel pain fully without mental suffering. It brings us to the middle way, but we may need to employ the factor of skillful evaluation to ensure we're on the right track.

Equanimity and The Middle Way

We can view the gatekeeper in three ways - the inner protector from childhood that often says with us as adults and tries to shield us from  threats; the belief that we can't go beyond our current capacity and, ultimately, the gatekeeper that holds us back from excess craving, aversion and unskillful acts. This talk explores all of these "gatekeepers" and how to skillfully navigate them.

Be Aware Of The Inner Gatekeeper

Practice Instructions from Southern Dharma retreat. Focusing on the First Foundation of Mindfulness to stabilize heart and mind.

Practice Instructions: Working With The First Foundation Of Mindfulness

With practice we begin to have a direct experience that our awareness is without limits. But we often need to be reminded because our thinking mind, the combination of intellect and ego, may stay stuck in a limited view.

Circumference of Joy and Suffering (Retreat Dharma Talk)

Forgiveness Guided Meditation

Sankhara dukkha (the stress/suffering of everyday life) is often obscured because most of us are so accustomed to it. It often appears as "inconvenience." Yet its also one of the most accessible doorways to waking up and liberation when we don't turn away.

Waking Up To Everyday Inconvenience

An Exploration Of Compassion And Wisdom

If you think you’re enlightened, try spending a week with your family. 
- Ram Dass

For many the holidays are a time to connect with family, which can be warm and beautiful. They can also be fraught with drama, internally or externally. But the holidays can also be an opportunity to see where our hooks are more clearly and to practice mudita and compassion.

Practice Tips For The Holidays and Beyond

Exploring Emptiness And Compassion

This talk explores the way in which we may begin to feel our practice and the dharma path is naturally embedded in our lives and also the times when we feel distant.

When The Path Becomes Natural

In this track, instead of doing metta practice, we switch to being metta (lovingkindness). When our hearts are open we can radiate lovingkindness without limit.

Boundless Heart Guided Meditation

If you enjoy these dharma talks and guided meditations and would like to support my work, please consider making a donation. Donations can be made through Venmo @lisadharma or Paypal lisa@lisaernst.com. Thank you.

Lisa Ernst is a meditation teacher, artist and founder of One Dharma Nashville. In her teaching, Lisa emphasizes both transformational insight and everyday mindfulness as an invitation to embrace all of the path’s possibilities. She has been meditation for over 30 years and teaches classes and retreats internationally.

Recent Dharma Talks

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