🌿 Noirin's Teachings
Dhamma talks and retreat teachings by Noirin Sheahan, co-founder of Satipanya Buddhist Retreat. Covers the Four Noble Truths, meditation practice, the Brahmavihāra, and the Satipaṭṭhāna.
70th Birthday Reflection
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30:08Noirin reflects on seven decades of spiritual seeking, from childhood rosary prayers to Buddhist awakening, sharing insights on faith, fear, and finding peace.
Meditation Guidance
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46:13Complete 45-minute guided vipassanā meditation following the Mahasi Method, with detailed body awareness and noting practice instructions.
Talks a. Pre-laryngectomy Recordings
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22:46Noirin Sheahan explores the Noble Eightfold Path as an 'ennobling' journey of untangling the knots of delusion, covering wisdom, attitude, ethics, and mental cultivation.
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17:27Noirin Sheahan explores the cessation of dukkha and Nibbāna, using analogies of fire going out and walking through woods at night to illuminate this subtle goal of the path.
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24:02Noirin explores the Buddha's teaching on taṇhā (craving) as the root of dukkha, examining sensual desire, craving for being, and craving for non-being with practical meditation guidance.
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23:35Noirin explores anattā dukkha, the suffering that arises from our illusion of being a separate self, and how recognizing our deep interdependence leads to peace.
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18:31Noirin explores the First Noble Truth of dukkha as unsatisfactoriness, examining how impermanence makes worldly happiness unreliable and points toward genuine spiritual fulfillment.
Short Retreat (5 days)
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38:41Noirin explores how to integrate the Noble Eightfold Path into everyday life, covering right view through right concentration with practical guidance for sustainable practice.
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37:07Noirin explores the first three Noble Truths - understanding dukkha (unsatisfactoriness), recognizing taṇhā (craving) as its cause, and experiencing the peace of cessation.
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48:28Noirin explores the five hindrances to meditation and the seven factors of awakening, offering practical guidance for working skillfully with obstacles on the path.
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43:34Noirin Sheahan introduces the Mahasi vipassanā technique, its origins in the Buddha's awakening, and practical guidance for developing momentary concentration through noting and mindful observation.
Retreat Talks - b. Longer Retreats, up to 4 Weeks
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41:35Noirin explores the Buddha's final teachings from the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, examining his last days as a model for closure, letting go, and finding peace within life's limitations.
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43:52Noirin explores the challenging Madhupiṇḍika Sutta, examining how attachment to perceptions creates mental proliferation (papañca) and leads to suffering.
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42:07Noirin explores the Buddha's raft teaching, focusing on the floods of becoming and ignorance, and how to navigate spiritual challenges with mindfulness and wisdom.
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39:46Noirin explores the Buddha's raft teaching as practical guidance for navigating life's floods of sensuality, views, becoming, and ignorance using the Noble Eightfold Path.
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50:59Exploring the third section of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta on contemplation of mind through five key pairings of mind-states.
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43:22Noirin explores the third satipaṭṭhāna - contemplation of mind - examining how greed, hatred and delusion can become objects of mindful awareness rather than obstacles.
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45:44Noirin explores the profound teaching the Buddha gave to Bāhiya, who achieved awakening from hearing just one brief instruction about bare awareness without self-reference.
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41:39Five progressive methods from the Buddha for dealing with unwholesome thoughts that arise during deep meditation, including metta, reflection, suppression, and investigation.
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40:36Exploring the Buddha's classification of wholesome and unwholesome thoughts, with practical guidance on working skillfully with sensual desire, ill-will, and their opposites.
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47:31Noirin explores the Mahātaṇhāsaṅkhaya Sutta, examining each link of paṭicca samuppāda (dependent origination) and how understanding these stages can lead to the end of suffering.
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43:40Exploring the Mahātaṇhāsaṅkhaya Sutta's teaching on dependent origination, examining how consciousness arises conditionally and how craving supports all experience.
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37:29Detailed exploration of the breath meditation exercises from the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, integrating traditional instructions with modern Vipassanā practice.
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40:31Noirin explores the five spiritual faculties (saddhā, vīriya, sati, samādhi, paññā) - the strengths that develop from meditation practice and support us through daily life challenges.
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41:29An exploration of the six sense spheres from the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, examining how sense contact creates the pathway to either freedom or suffering.
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40:06Noirin explores muditā, appreciative joy - the brahmavihāra that celebrates life's goodness while navigating the challenges of jealousy, excess, and finding balance on the spiritual path.
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43:28Noirin explores karuṇā (compassion) as mettā responding to suffering, distinguishing true compassion from its near enemies of pity and grief, and far enemy of cruelty.
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41:20Noirin explores mettā (loving-kindness) as the foundation of the four brahmavihāras, covering practice methods, common obstacles, and spiritual friendship.
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45:48Noirin explores equanimity (upekkhā) as the fourth brahmavihāra, emphasizing its wisdom-based foundation and role in balancing our relationships with others.
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47:30Noirin explores the five khandhas (aggregates) as what we cling to in experience, using vivid metaphors to show how attachment creates suffering and how letting go leads to freedom.
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50:26Noirin explores the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the Buddha's comprehensive guide to Vipassanā practice through the four foundations of mindfulness.
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43:50Noirin explores the Noble Eightfold Path as the way to end suffering, connecting the law of kamma to ethical living and meditation practice.
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47:12Noirin explores the second and third Noble Truths through the Wheel of Dependent Origination, showing how desire causes dukkha and how letting go brings peace.
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45:05Noirin explores the First Noble Truth - the existence of dukkha - examining its three forms: dukkha-dukkha, anicca-dukkha, and anattā-dukkha, with practical guidance for understanding suffering's n...
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40:16Noirin explores the seven bojjhaṅgas (factors of awakening) using the image of wild geese in flight, showing how mindfulness leads with supporting factors that balance our meditation practice.
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43:15Noirin explores the five hindrances to meditation—desire, aversion, dullness, restlessness, and doubt—offering practical wisdom on transforming obstacles into allies.