Buddhist Recovery Network

A Searching and Fearless Meditation
2018-11-04 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | BRN Academy

Gratitude Turns What We Have Into Enough and More
2018-10-07 10:00 - 11:00
“Recovery and gratitude seem to go hand in hand. In the heat of our addictions, whether substance or process, we all tend to really focus on the hardships of our lives, our trials and tribulations and get stuck in the old comparison game, comparing our insides to others outsides, a line heard frequently in 12 step meetings. That’s probably a big reason why we drink, use or act out. We get stuck in the unhealthy mental loop of “poor me”, “why me” or “what’s wrong with me”…those “Greatest Hits of Addiction”, right? We start to believe those stories, we start to program these minds to constantly get hyper-focused on the difficult and painful. And we suffer. So, with this practice of gratitude, we can begin to rewire the mind to appreciate what is good and true and wholesome. This isn’t a make-believe practice. As the internet meme says “there’s ALWAYS something to be grateful for”. Let’s dive into this more, practice with it and find some freedom.”

Mindful of Race
2018-09-02 10:00 - 11:00
“Racism remains one of the most rooted and painful impasses of our time. It is fed through unawareness and the misuse of power. Embedded in racism is the skeletal shape of all oppressions. To understand the dynamics of racism and the flesh we put on its bones is to also understand other forms of oppression and our relationship to differences, divisions, and diversity. Too many of us want racial suffering to go away without first being touched by it or caring for it. Yet recognizing how we have been conditioned to think and react is at the heart of both racial distress and racial healing. In this introductory talk, we discover how our inner life is reflected in the world through the Buddha’s teachings on Ultimate and Relative Reality and Distortion of Mind, and the three truths we must remember but often forget.”

Suffering and Happiness – Both are Present, Embrace Them
2018-08-05 10:00 - 11:00
“Living Happily with things as they are (Drishta dharma sukha viharin) encourages an ancient Buddhist teaching. Those of us who have lived with addiction, struggled with recovery and found our common bonds: trauma and toxic shame, may find that teaching simplistic or even dismissive.As Buddhists, we know that suffering is part of life. We accept that. Then, right in the center of the Big Book of alcoholics anonymous (p 132) is a wonderful sentence: “We absolutely insist on enjoying life… we are not a glum lot”!How do we create a life that includes both suffering and happiness? Letting go!Gil Fronsdal writes: “Renunciation is one of the most beneficial, empowering, and freeing practices of Buddhism. As its purpose is to heighten the best qualities of our hearts and minds, renunciation is not meant to diminish our lives but rather to enhance them. Abstaining from intoxicating drinks and drugs—the fifth ethical precept—is an important Buddhist practice.So, we welcome suffering and delusion when they arise, we notice them, but we do not cling. We let them go and we acknowledge that happiness is also present.Not one, not two.”

The Practice of Freedom
2018-07-01 10:00 - 11:00

Living Kindness
2018-06-03 10:00 - 11:00

Insight into Awakening
2018-05-06 10:00 - 11:00

Letting Go of the Second Arrow
2018-04-01 10:00 - 11:00

Seeing Pass the Impulse
2018-03-04 10:00 - 11:00

M.A.R.A. and the Gatekeepers
2018-02-04 10:00 - 11:00

Vimalasara - First Academy Teaching
2018-01-07 10:00 - 11:00
