2024 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001

Lectures

These lectures, given by Thanissaro Bhikkhu at various meditation centers and about 40–60 minutes long on average, provide a systematic and focused explanation—and Q&A—on selected Dhamma themes.

2024

  • Determined on Goodwill
    Oct 11 | 37 min. | BuddhaDhamma Foundation

    This talk was given over a Zoom video meeting. The full meeting, including guided meditation and Q&A, can be viewed on YouTube.

2019

  • Practicing the Dhamma in Accordance with the Dhamma
    Dec 03 | 1 hr. 39 min. | Singapore
  • Listening to the Dhamma
    Dec 02 | 1 hr. 41 min. | Singapore
  • Right View: Mundane and Transcendent
    Nov 01 | 1 hr. 14 min. | Portland Friends of the Dhamma
  • Right View Comes First
    Oct 01 | 48 min. | Insight Meditation South Bay

    Ajaan Geoff reviews the Four Noble Truths as the categorical teaching of the Buddha—true and always beneficial. He describes the duties that enable us to fully understand and comprehend them and how the three characteristics—Dukkha, Anicca, Anatta—are used in support of these duties and this understanding.

  • The Present Moment is Not the Goal
    Sep 29 | 1 hr. 23 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Skill in Questions (Part 1/3)
    Sep 28 | 1 hr. 45 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)

    For the purpose of putting an end to suffering, the Buddha divided questions into four types: those that deserve a categorical answer, those that deserve an analytical answer, those that deserve that the person asking the question be cross-questioned, and those that deserve to be put aside. To know where a particular question falls within these categories, he said, is a sign of discernment. This day-long course looked at how the Buddha himself applied this scheme to the questions that other people asked him and to the questions he asked himself during his search for awakening. The purpose is be to gain a deeper understanding of the Buddha’s teachings by seeing what kinds of questions they were and were not intended to answer, and to gain a better sense of what kinds of questions we should be asking ourselves to guide our practice.

  • Skill in Questions (Part 2/3)
    Sep 28 | 1 hr. 17 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Skill in Questions (Part 3/3)
    Sep 28 | 1 hr. 20 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Self & Not-self (Part 1)
    Mar 02 | 2 hr. 31 min. | Kusala Toronto
  • Self & Not-self (Part 2)
    Mar 02 | 2 hr. 15 min. | Kusala Toronto

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

  • Equanimity is Overrated
    Apr 29 | 35 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Papañca (Part 1)
    Apr 28 | 1 hr. 3 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Papañca (Part 2)
    Apr 28 | 30 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Papañca (Part 3)
    Apr 28 | 1 hr. 24 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Papañca (Part 4)
    Apr 28 | 1 hr. 5 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Five Aggregates
    Apr 23 | 38 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Lessons from the Kalama Sutta
    Mar 14 | 28 min. | Cambridge Insight Meditation Center

    The Kalama Sutta is most famous for its encouragement not to place total trust in traditions and texts, but it also encourages you not to place total trust in your sense of reason and preferences. So where can you place your trust? This talk focuses on the dilemma posed by the sutta's recommendations, and the way it proposes out of the dilemma.

  • Willpower Strategies
    Jan 08 | 36 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)

2011

2010

2009

  • Faith and Ardency
    May 04 | 50 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Generosity
    May 03 | 45 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Anatta (Part 1)
    May 02 | 1 hr. 56 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Anatta (Part 2)
    May 02 | 1 hr. 3 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Anatta (Part 3)
    May 02 | 44 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Noble Wealth
    Feb 25 | 39 min. | Cambridge Insight Meditation Center

    The inner qualities that provide wealth for the mind—a sense of freedom and security—regardless of outside conditions.

2008

2007

2006

2005

  • Heedfulness
    May 01 | 43 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • War on Karma
    Apr 25 | 51 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Heedfulness
    Feb 02 | 1 hr. 23 min. | Cambridge Insight Meditation Center

    Heedfulness—the Buddha's final teaching—provides the context within which his other teachings on the path should be undestood.

2004

2003

2002

  • Four Bases for Success
    Mar 31 | 30 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Buddhist Romanticism
    Mar 25 | 44 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Untitled
    Feb 06 | 1 hr. 27 min. | Cambridge Insight Meditation Center

2001

  • Persistence in Practice
    Oct 08 | 44 min. | Insight Meditation Center (Redwood City, CA)
  • Dhamma Talk
    Feb 14 | 1 hr. 11 min. | Insight Meditation Society