George discusses the five kinds of phenomena that arise during practice, describing how to explore them and how they relate to neuroscience. Along the way he gets into his own path and how it serendipitously ended up following the 16 stages of insight laid out in the Theravada Maps. This talk is from Chapter Four of Mahasi Sayadaw's Manual of Insight.

George unpacks the five kinds of phenomena that occur during meditation, describing how different mind states relate to metta (loving-kindness) and vipassana (insight) practice. This marks the beginning of Chapter 4 of Mahasi Sayadaw's Manual of Insight.

Delving into the techniques that are used to reach jhana, George and his students also discuss the challenge of moving from concentration to insight practice. This marks the last section of Chapter Three from Mahasi Sayadaw's Manual of Insight.

Nearing the end of "Absolute and Conventional Realities," chapter three of Mahasi Sayadaw's Manual of Insight, George explains how inference relates to insight practice and how memory relates to direct experience.

Expanding upon the technique of focusing on internal vs. external phenomena, George explains how contemplation of the past, present and future relates to meditation. From Chapter Three of Mahasi Sayadaw's Manual of Insight.

Drawing on some of the foundations of his Meaningful Life curriculum, George forges onward into the Two Kinds of Insight section of Mahasi Sayadaw's Manual of Insight. After exploring the text directly, student questions prompt a fascinating talk about the pursuit of true happiness, the quest for limitless compassion, and what it means to grow old. In conclusion, George offers practical advice about how to focus on "mundane objects" to support khanika samadhi (access concentration) meditation.

George gets back to Chapter Three of Mahasi Sayadaw's Manual of Insight to explore the difference between absolute and conventional reality, honing in on how insight meditation affects that perception, and how the mind state can filter your view of the world.

Recorded during The Meaningful Life Winter Retreat at La Casa de Maria in Santa Barbara, this episode connects the dots between the psychology and physiology of childhood attachment with the specific steps that lead to achieving the jhana state through metta practice.

In this decidedly meta (and also metta) episode, explore one of the basic challenges of learning about Buddhism: how does anybody - including the teacher - explain something that can only be experienced directly. Delving deeper into Chapter Three of Mahasi Sayadaw's Manual of Insight, George also adds a dash of whimsy and humor to the proceedings as usual.

George breaks down the difference between ultimate reality vs. relative reality, connecting the dots between the original Pali terms and their modern interpretation. Drawing on the original text from Chapter Three of Mahasi Sayadaw's Manual of Insight, he offers his own unique take on how perception is affected by the physiology of eye sight, habituation and how we process sound.