Florida Community of Mindfulness

Composting Fear Into Fearlessness: Healing & Transforming the Separate Self through the Practice of Non-fear (2014) (1 of 3)

Three-day Retreat | April 2014

Buddhism teaches that to truly free the mind from fear, we can't simply deny or cover over its existence. Instead, we have to look deeply into the causes of our fears.

In this three day retreat, FCM Dharma teacher Fred Eppsteiner teaches that in order to overcome our delusions around life that create our fears, we need to practice mindfulness, calming, and insight to become intimate with these fears rather than trying to cast them out. By doing so, we discover a profound personal fearlessness within. We now have a capacity to live a courageous life.

 

Plum Village Visit (2016)

Tampa | July 3, 2016

Dharma teacher Fred Eppsteiner and other FCM Sangha members share about their experience at the 50th Anniversary Retreat for the Order of Interbeing held at Plum Village Monastery.

Taking Refuge (2016)

Tampa | May 1, 2016

In this talk, Fred Eppsteiner explains the meaning and significance of "Taking Refuge" in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, as well as the importance of the 5 Mindfulness Trainings as a way to halt the immediate sufferings we create for ourselves as we enter the path.

I Am Here For You: Living an Altruistic Life (2016 Retreat) (3 of 3)

Three-Day Retreat | April 2016

Members of the Florida Community of Mindfulness retreated together in April 2016 with Dharma teacher Fred Eppsteiner to study and practice the Buddhist teachings on living an altrusitic life and developing a compassionate heart.

I Am Here For You: Living an Altruistic Life (2016 Retreat) (2 of 3)

Three-Day Retreat | April 2016

Members of the Florida Community of Mindfulness retreated together in April 2016 with Dharma teacher Fred Eppsteiner to study and practice the Buddhist teachings on living an altrusitic life and developing a compassionate heart.

I Am Here For You: Living an Altruistic Life (2016 Retreat) (1 of 3)

Three-Day Retreat | April 2016

Members of the Florida Community of Mindfulness retreated together in April 2016 with Dharma teacher Fred Eppsteiner to study and practice the Buddhist teachings on living an altrusitic life and developing a compassionate heart.

Siddhartha's Awakening (2016)

Tampa | February 28, 2016

In this talk, Fred shares and comments on an account of Siddhartha Gautama's Enlightenment from Thich Nhat Hanh's "Old Path White Clouds." Fred relates how, although Enlightenment is the goal Buddhism, we have to start where we are by understanding our conditioning through mindfulness and looking deeply. Then we can dissolve our emotional afflictions through a process of de-conditioning, and finally, we can consciously re-condition ourselves in the direction of awakening. He also shares how true love comes from understanding the conditioning of others. Through this process of understanding and working with conditioning, we all have the capacity to become Buddhas.

Sumpa Lotsawa's Ear-Whispered Mind Training (2015)

Tampa | December 19, 2015

Dharma Teacher Fred Eppsteiner commented on a text by Sumpa Lotsawa from the early 13th Century entitled, "The Ear-Whispered Mind Training" during a Day of Mindfulness. He relayed how if one abandons one's issues, rests one's mind on that which brings well-being, turns one's mind to thoughts of understanding and compassion, and understands the nature of one's own mind, then one can be free of suffering.

The Dharma as Medicine (2015)

Tampa | December 19, 2015

Dharma Teacher Fred Eppsteiner expounds on the traditional formulation of the student's relationship with the Dharma during a talk given to students at a Day of Mindfulness. He explains that the student should see themselves as ill, the Buddha as the doctor, and the teachings as the prescription. He makes it clear that as long as we do not take the medicine as prescribed, we will continue to be ill.

Lojong - First Two Points of Mind Training (2015) (4 of 4)

Tampa | October 2015

During this October 2015 retreat at the Franciscan Center in Tampa, Fred focused on the first eleven trainings and practices found in the text “The Seven Verses (or Points) of Mind Training.” These retreat teachings focus on the Preliminaries and Cultivating Absolute and Relative Bodhicitta, the Unconditioned Awakened Mind. These profound teachings are foundational and essential for our path of transformation.