ZoomBuddhism: My favorite 4 FREE buddhist links, Nov 2020

 With the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a giant explosion of online resources for Buddhism. Most retreats have moved online. I've nicknamed this ZoomBuddhism, or the Zoom Buddhist Explosion. I am very happy about it.

Here are the resources that I find to be the best, along with some details:

• AudioDharma - https://audiodharma.org/  (FREE)
   This is my "home base" for where I started Buddhism. There are about 1000+ recordings and quite a few videos (since 2020, especially). Gil Fronsdal connects very well with me, but I have gained from many of the teachers. I also appreciate being able to search odd topics, like itching or sex or lying or boundaries or ???. There is also a basic app.
• Insight Meditation Center - https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/ (FREE)
  This is the physical center for AudioDharma, located in Redwood City, CA. With COVID-19, there are no in person gatherings, and the teachers are now doing live Zoom sessions, with YouTube Live streaming too usually. The best place to get started is to find a session on the calendar: https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/calendar/. If you are timid, look at the archives which are mostly un-edited, raw sessions. Often, they offer "guided meditation", which are words that guiding you in how to breath or visualize things. These are often a very good entry point for new people. (UPDATE 2022: They have a voluminous youtube channel)
• DhammaTalks.org - https://www.dhammatalks.org/mp3_index_current.html (FREE)
  My main teacher these days is Ajahn Geoff, formerly known as Thanissaro Bhikkhu. This website has books, articles and audio recordings.  He has grown to be quite famous in the Buddhist and Vipassana world because of his frequent and voluminous work as a translator of early Pali texts.  The link is to audio, his evening talks. These are more traditional dharma talks, touching on a subject or idea. They aren't really about guided meditations.  Thanissaro Bhikkhu is on the stricter side of things. I appreciate that he isn't always "just feel good and be gentle". (UPDATE 2022, they have a youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@DhammatalksOrg)
• Update 2022:  10 percent happier APP and website: https://www.tenpercent.com/ 
  I like Dan Harris and his relatable approach. He breaks it down very simply.   The caution here is that these techniques there are highly focused only on mental noting and decreasing reactivity. These are excellent things, but there are some elements of meditation that aren't simply noting or reducing reactivity. Notably, it de-emphasizes fabricating anything except relaxation, and the insight is perhaps limited to "letting go". 
• For alcoholics or people with other addictions: I recommend the Recovery Dharma, East Tennessee.  https://www.recoverydharmatn.org/meetings.html
  They do not mind if you are not from the local area. I stumbled on it when I went eclipse chasing in Aug 2017. It was a very sweet environment. Not large. Very earnest.
  Note the time zone is East Coast. Noah Levine has been censured for sexual misconduct, but he's no longer the head of the national organization. Plus, I feel that what he has done is helpful and earnest. His book is useful. Don't judge the book by the author's actions, especially the biggest lapses.

Outside of these free resources, I've found a lot of help from the following.

• Pema Chodron's Getting Unstuck audiobook on Audible. Really good about feeling stuck.
• Jack Kornfield's Buddhism for Beginners audiobook on Audible. About 9 hours, but very colloquial and with a lot of humor. I've re-listened about 10-20 times.
• Tricycle magazine is a great resource. It really spans a lot of Buddhism and it's intersection with more pop culture. If your view of Buddhism is too narrow, Tricycle will surely broaden it. (a few free articles online per month.)
• Try finding some of these on Overdrive or Libby in your local library. (where it might be free).

A few that I look forward to delving into:

• https://dhamma-dipa.com/
  I met Dhammadipa at a Thai Forest monastery for bhikkunnis in Northern California at Aloka Vihara. We had a really good dharma talk about pain. She answered my question about whether to open or close the eyes during meditation (it depends on the goal, a noting meditation or an inward focusing meditation).  I felt a strong depth in her practice while having a dhamma discussion.

On Contradictions and Getting the Most out of It.

A word of warning:  you will find a lot of contradictions in what you hear about Buddhism. Don't let this dissuade you. I like the phrase UUDR: Use what's useful, discard the rest. And, it's a good reminder to think about the lessons to Rahula (alternate sutta link). If you notice something helping you have less anger, greed, or delusion (which I also call wishful thinking or if-only thinking), keep going to that resource/teaching for help. Beware... there are things that are comfortable but not actually helpful. Getting what we want is comfortable, but actually breeds greed, anger, and delusion.  

Almost everything I've heard attributed to Buddhism is helpful at the right time.

Here's a specific example: Acceptance can be helpful or harmful.  If you are struggling with trying to control the world, acceptance can be very powerful. Just realizing and just noticing the present moment, whatever comes up, is very helpful. This is often early on the path (and sometimes later, too). But, Buddhism's overall richness isn't just about acceptance. If you accept your bad habits and impulsivity, you don't go very far to calming the mind. For me, it's a lot about thoughts of sex and relationship partners.... I fantasize a lot about finding love, companionship, and sex. So for me, a big part of my current practice is not accepting lustful thoughts and desires when they pop up.

The notes to Rahula of noticing and developing your watcher is very key. Because I also made the mistake of pushing away my lust and trying to squash it too hard, and that just made that impulse stronger. I actually needed to make friends with it, like befriending a problematic uncle who keeps coming back. And, then, once I really studied why the lust/uncle did what he did, I was able to figure out the Karma/causes of it. I was able to "garden" my mind so I didn't feed the lust impulses so much. The lust impulse still comes up, but I'm not hijacked so much anymore. I find I need to be accepting of the impulse, but not accepting of letting it run havok in my mind. And, that was a very, very, very hard lesson for me.

With all that said, probably the first 3 years, I didn't understand much of this and I just played talks before bed and while cooking. And, over time, a lot of this seeped in. Kinda like the famous saying attributed to Dogen: 

“Associating with a good person is like walking through mist and dew; though you will not become drenched, gradually your robes will become damp.”

With this post, I hope you find lots of fog!

PS. Funnily enough, I was trying to figure out how to kickstart Zoom-based communities in January of 2020 (https://buddhistfriend.blogspot.com/), but I couldn't figure out how to get people to seek it out. Well, COVID-19 changed all that! So now I can focus on figuring out apps and games.