March 20-23, 2025
Leslie Booker
Assisted by Coral Short
Information about buddhism and meditation.
Buddhism Plain and Simple, Steve Hagen
Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen Batchelor
The Buddhist Path to Simplicity, Christina Feldman
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Chogyam Trungpa
The Experience Of Insight, Joseph Goldstein
Faith, Sharon Salzberg
Focused and Fearless, Shaila Catherine
A Gradual Awakening, Stephen Levine
The Life of The Buddha, Ñanamoli
Light On Enlightenment, Christopher Titmuss
Meditation For Life, Martine Batchelor
Mindfulness in Plain English, Hénépola Gunaratana
The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh
The Path of Compassion, Fred Epsteiner
A Path With Heart, Jack Kornfield
Radical Acceptance, Tara Brach
Stepping Out of Self-Deception, Rodney Smith
What The Buddha Taught, Walpola Rahula
Wherever You Go, There You Are, Jon Kabat-Zinn
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian-American Buddhists, Chenxing Han
Awakening Together, Larry Yang
Mindful of Race, Ruth King
The Way of Tenderness, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
Radical Dharma, angel kyodo williams and Lama Rod Owens
You Belong: A Call for Connection, Sebene Selassie
Therigatha: Verses of the Elder Nuns
The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, Ñanamoli & Bodhi
The Dhammapada, Gil Fronsdal
The Sutta Nipata, H. Saddhatissa
In the Buddha's Words, Bhikku Bodhi
Freedom From The Known, J. Krishnamurti
I Am That, Nisargadatta Maharaj
Peaceful Piggy Meditation, Kerry Lee MacLean
(a book for young children and families)
The Buddha taught a path of spiritual awakening, a way of 'practice' that we can use in our daily lives. This 'Path of Practice' can be divided into three mutually supportive aspects: Virtue, Meditation and Wisdom.
The foundation of the Buddhist path is a life that expresses compassion in our relation to all living things through a practice of non-harming. The entry to the Buddhist path is usually marked by taking the Five Precepts.
1. We undertake the precept of refraining from killing.
In undertaking this precept we acknowledge the interconnection of all beings and our respect for all life. We agree to refine our understanding of not killing and non-harming in all our actions. We will seek to understand the implications of this precept in such difficult areas as abortion, euthanasia, and the killing of pests. While some of us recommend vegetarianism and others do not, we all commit ourselves to fulfilling this precept in the spirit of reverence for life.
2. We undertake the precept of refraining from stealing.
We agree to not take that which does not belong to us and to respect the property of others.
We agree to bring consciousness to the use of all of the earth's resources in a respectful and ecological way.
3. We undertake the precept of refraining from sexual misconduct.
We agree to avoid creating harm through sexuality, sexual exploitation or adultery, and will observe celibacy while at True North Insight Meditation Centre. We agree to develop consciousness of how we are influenced by sexuality in our relationships, and will express respect and loving-kindness in this dimension of human experience.
4. We undertake the precept of refraining from false speech.
We agree to speak that which is true and useful and to refrain from gossip in our community.
We agree to cultivate conscious and clear communication, and to cultivate the quality of loving-kindness and honesty as the basis of our speech.
5. We undertake the precept of refraining from intoxicants that cause heedlessness or loss of awareness.
It is clear that substance abuse is the cause of tremendous suffering. We agree that there should be no use of intoxicants during retreats or while on retreat premises.
The above five precepts are reprinted from Jack Kornfield's book A Path With Heart (Bantam Books, 1993, pages 341-342). The third and fourth precepts have been re-arranged to follow the traditional order, and the wording of the third precept has been altered.
Someone living in this way develops the self-discipline and sensitivity necessary to cultivate meditation, the second aspect of the Path.
Meditation, broadly speaking, is the repeated focusing of attention upon an image, a word or a theme in order to calm the mind and consider the meaning of that image or word. In the Buddhist practice of insight meditation, this focusing of attention also has another purpose, which is to more fully understand the nature of the mind. This can be done by using the meditation object as a still reference point to help in revealing the attitudes that are otherwise buried beneath the mind's surface activity.
The Buddha encouraged his disciples to use their own bodies and minds as objects of meditation. A common object, for example, is the sensation associated with the breath during the process of normal breathing. If one sits still, closes the eyes and focuses on the breath, in due time clarity and calm will arise. In this state of mind, tensions, expectations and habitual moods can be more clearly discerned, and through the practice of gentle but penetrative inquiry they can be resolved.
Cultivating goodwill and kindness gives another dimension to the practice of insight. Meditation naturally teaches patience and tolerance, or at least it shows the importance of these qualities. To encourage an open hearted attitude to life and to enhance compassion in daily living the Buddha recommended meditations where the qualities of love and amity are deliberately cultivated in meditation practices.
Meditation is normally associated with the sitting posture but in fact walking is commonly alternated with sitting as a form for meditation. Choosing a short path of perhaps twenty paces and tuning in to the gentle rhythm of walking to and fro calms the mind and puts us in touch with the present moment in a simple and uncomplicated manner.
The Buddha taught that it is possible to maintain meditation in the course of daily activity as well as while sitting still in one place. One can focus attention on the movement of the body, the physical feelings that arise, or the thoughts and moods that flow through the mind. This mobile attentiveness he called 'mindfulness'. The Buddha explained that through mindfulness one realizes an attention that is serene. Although it is centered on the body and mind, it is dispassionate and not bound up with any particular physical or mental experience.
Although mindfulness is the basic tool to use, we generally need some pointers as to how to establish the right objectivity about ourselves and how to assess what mindfulness reveals. This is the function of the wisdom-teachings of the Buddha.
The most generally used wisdom-teachings of the Buddha are not statements about God or Ultimate Truth. The Buddha felt that such statements could lead to disagreement, controversy and even violence. Instead, Buddhist wisdom describes what we can all notice about life without having to adopt a belief.
The Buddha often used a medical model to describe his core teaching. There is sickness, the cause of sickness, the end of sickness and a cure for sickness. In the same way there is suffering. There is a cause of suffering. There is an end to suffering and there is a way that leads to the end of suffering. These are known as the Four Noble Truths.
There is suffering.
Life as we normally know it must always have a proportion of disagreeable experiences. Sickness, pain and distress are obvious examples. Even in relatively affluent societies people suffer from anxiety, stress or a loss of purpose or they feel incapable of dealing with life's challenges. Moreover, agreeable experiences are limited and transient. As human beings we are always vulnerable amid the uncertainties of life and no manipulation of our outer situation can protect us completely from the possibility of suffering.
There is a cause of suffering.
Suffering, in this case, is the inner conflict that we have with the natural ups and downs of life. Sickness and loss are natural as are gain and health. Our inability to peacefully abide with life's changes expresses itself in a variety of ways: fear, anger, greed, confusion, self-hatred, jealousy etc. This is because we often want what we don't have and don't want what we do have. This wanting is known as craving and attachment to craving is the cause of suffering.
There is an end to suffering.
When our lives are ruled by craving we are in a perpetual state of imbalance and discontent. If we learn to let go of craving our hearts return to a natural state of balance and ease in which there is a possibility of deep peace and profound compassion. The deeper the letting go, the deeper the peace and love.
There is a Way to the end of suffering and that is the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Noble Eightfold Path offers guidelines for the development of one's spiritual life. Right Understanding begins with an intellectual appreciation of the cause of suffering and culminates in a profound realization of the way things are. From Right Understanding, one's thinking becomes attuned to truth and hence Right Intention motivates one's actions, speech and thought. From here lifestyle issues are addressed in terms of Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood. All of this requires Right Effort and Right Mindfulness. Finally the ability to stay present and mindful is strengthened by Right Meditation.
The 'Right-ness' of these is that they entail living in accordance with virtue, meditation and wisdom, rather than from any self-centred position. Such a Way is therefore 'Right' for others as well as for oneself.
Someone who has fully cultivated this Way finds serenity and patience in themselves in times of difficulty, and the wish to share good fortune when things go well. They live a life free from guilt, and, rather than having violent mood swings, the mind and heart stay steady and buoyant through the circumstances of life.
Talks on the practice of meditation help to bring alive the Buddha's teachings of freedom.
Material courtesy of Dharma Seed. Please support their service!
These are the 15 most recent TNI talks. To listen to more True North Insight talks, please go to Dharma Seed.
Given today's frantic pace of life, more and more people are seeking a way to reduce tension, and find contentment and peace. True North Insight offers meditation teachings in a quiet and inclusive environment. These teachings show us how to develop the skills to wake up and become free of greed, hatred and delusion, and cultivate calmer and gentler ways of living. From this place of deep understanding, a profound and compassionate response to the world's suffering arises.
Dr. Zindel Segal, head of the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Clinic of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and one of the founders of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), expresses his support for True North Insight. Zindel Segal is also a professor in the departments of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Toronto. Click here to read his letter outlining the health benefits of meditation.
Meditation allows us to:
Best well-kept secret in Montréal, Sea of tranquillity
Boutique Alchimiste en herbe on St-Denis
Bluecony - Banc de méditation made in Québec
Boutique Sri Aurobindo on St-Denis (4125 rue St-Denis)
Futon d'Or
La Massagerie
Conforauly in Eatern Townships
Samadhi Cushions, Vermont, USA
Yoga centers and health and well-being stores
Large retail stores boutiques such as Winners, Indigo, etc. and online