Insight Hour with Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein delves into the concepts of loving-kindness, compassion, and the fear of discomfort. He highlights the transformative power of loving-kindness, mindfulness, and compassion in overcoming fears and limitations, ultimately fostering genuine happiness.

This dharma talk, recorded on February 18, 1997, was originally published on Dharma Seed.

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In this lecture, Joseph:

• Affirms that at the depths of our hearts and minds there is a basic reservoir of goodwill
• Defines mettā, or loving-kindness, as the basic generosity of the heart
• Takes note of the “upward spiral” of happiness that mindfulness and loving-kindness promotes
• Reminds us to stay open to suffering and
• Ruminates upon the empty nature of fear itself

“If you keep shining your compassion and understanding on it, your fear will soon crack and you will be able to look into its depths and see its roots.” – Joseph Goldstein

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In this question-and-answer session, Joseph Goldstein explores skillful means for non-clinging, how to work with the comparing mind, the intricacies of walking meditation, and much more.

This dharma talk, recorded on October 20, 2023, was originally published on Dharma Seed.

In this episode of Insight Hour:

• Joseph offers a series of tips on walking meditation
• He responds to questions about working with the comparing mind and working with the mind that is desperate to fix everything
• Joseph talks about how it is possible for a layperson to awaken and why enlightenment is all about lightening up
• He explores the importance of not being attached to our beliefs or our disbeliefs and keeping an open mind
• Finally, Joseph offers his perspective on how the Dharma has helped him in difficult times and why the Buddhist teachings are all about skillful means for non-clinging

“So when I began to hear these different teachings, rather than frame it – ‘Which is true?’ or ‘Which is right?’ – just to take the teachings as skillful means. So then the question is, skillful means for what? And here is where all the traditions of Buddhism are unified, and that is a skillful means for non-clinging. That’s the essence of the free mind in all the Buddhist traditions.” – Joseph Goldstein

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In this episode, Joseph Goldstein reflects on the meaning of emptiness on the spiritual path and examines ways in which we can work toward enlightenment.

This dharma talk was recorded on April 16, 1989, and was originally published on Dharma Seed.

In this talk, Joseph touches on:

• The meaning of emptiness
• The such-ness of things
• The 10,000 joys, the 10,000 sorrows, and opening ourselves up to the whole range of experience
• The Taoist dichotomy between non-action and inaction
• Taking interest in the phenomenon of thoughts, emotions, experiences, and situations
• Being simple and easy in our practice

“If we’re simple and easy in our practice, our lives become simple and easy. Can you be simple and easy in your practice, just with what is?” – Joseph Goldstein

About Joseph Goldstein:

Joseph Goldstein has been leading insight and loving-kindness meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the organization’s guiding teachers. In 1989, together with several other teachers and students of insight meditation, he helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

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Joseph Goldstein expounds upon the relationship between thought and emotion as it relates to both our spiritual practice and our daily lives.

This dharma talk, recorded on June 4, 2013, was originally published on Dharma Seed.

In this lecture, Joseph:

• Dissects the nuanced meaning of the Pali word sati, often translated as "mindfulness"
• Highlights the importance of applying mindfulness to both skillful and unskillful thoughts
• Helps us understand the very nature of thought
• Outlines the inherent connection between thoughts and emotional responses
• Proposes that we stay open to afflictive emotions without identifying with them

"When we engage with thoughts and emotions from a place of interest and a place of investigation, a place of inquiry, we can see them all arise and pass away in this open sky of the mind." - Joseph Goldstein

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Explaining the ways our minds can be seduced, Joseph Goldstein teaches us how to let go into non-clinging.

This 2007 talk was originally published on Dharmaseed.

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In this episode, Joseph Goldstein teaches listeners about:

• Letting go into the wisdom mind of non-clinging
• Awakening to the nature of the mind
• Working with the hindrances of mind
• Noticing how the mind can be seduced
• Skeptical doubt and being frozen in indecision
• The ways that doubt can masquerade itself as wisdom
• Telling ourselves that it is okay not to know
• Resting in experience rather than being caught in thought loops
• Investigating our aversions and their hold on the mind
• Seeing everything with perfect wisdom
• Transforming our attitudes about our aversions
• Being inclusive to our difficult experiences

“Struggle is a great feedback because it signifies non-acceptance of something. Because if we were accepting, we wouldn’t be struggling. Whenever we’re in that sense of striving, of struggle, of tension, take that as a feedback, not as a problem. That’s telling us something. That’s saying something is going on in the body, in the mind, in the emotions, in the thoughts, in our external experience, something is going on that we’re not open to, that we’re trying to exclude, and that’s why we’re struggling.” – Joseph Goldstein

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