Andrea Fella is the co-teacher at the Insight Meditation Center and the Insight Retreat Center. She has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1996, and teaching Insight Meditation since 2003. She is particularly drawn to intensive retreat practice, and has done a number of long retreats, both in the United States and in Burma. During one long practice period in Burma, she ordained as a nun with Sayadaw U Janaka. Andrea is especially drawn to the wisdom teachings of the Buddha. Her teachings emphasize clarity and practicality. Andrea is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, and teaches residential retreats for IMC and other retreat centers around the country
In our meditation practice, we often view the wandering mind as something that we have to overcome in order to deepen in our practice. But we can actually investigate the wandering mind as a mental phenomenon, and learn a lot about the way our minds work, deepening in our practice through this very investigation.
This talk explores the term "dukkha" (suffering), and the different ways it is used in the Buddha's teachings. The main way that "dukkha" is used is in context of the Four Noble Truths, and in that context, we begin to understand that dukkha is created by processes at work in our own minds. Seeing that, we realize that when we meet suffering, we are simply meeting our own minds, and that dukkha has something to teach us. As we understand dukkha with mindfulness and wisdom, that understanding helps to release us from dukkha and its cause.
