Dharma Seed - dharmaseed.org: Donald Rothberg's most recent Dharma talks: Recent Episodes
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Donald Rothberg, PhD, has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976, and has also received training in Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice and the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, Kenyon College, and Saybrook Graduate School, he currently writes and teaches classes, groups and retreats on meditation, daily life practice, spirituality and psychology, and socially engaged Buddhism. An organizer, teacher, and former board member for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Donald has helped to guide three six-month to two-year training programs in socially engaged spirituality through Buddhist Peace Fellowship (the BASE Program), Saybrook (the Socially Engaged Spirituality Program), and Spirit Rock (the Path of Engagement Program). He is the author of The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World and the co-editor of Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers.
(Insight San Diego) Wise speech is an integral part of the traditional Buddhist path of awakening and a powerful way to energize our daily life practice, but is often underdeveloped in Western Buddhist practice. We’ll look in a very practical way at three aspects of wise speech: (1) developing presence in the midst of communication; (2) working with the four guidelines for skillful speech developed by the Buddha; and (3) becoming more mindful of and skillful with thoughts and emotions occurring during communication. For each of the foundations, a number of ways of practicing are offered. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) How do we see the world, especially and social world, from the perspective of awakening--with, we might say, "dharma eyes"? We explore this question in a time of great turmoil and concern in the world, particularly in the U.S. We start with several passages coming from an awakened mind and heart, including a passage from the Metta Sutta--how would one then look at the larger world? We explore how the Buddha himself looked at the world and social structures, particularly in terms of caste and gender. From our practice seeing greed, hatred, and delusion in ourselves, we learn how to see these qualities in others, and in the world. From our ethical training, we learn how to see when we are not following the ethical guidelines and when others are not, including on a larger social level. We also see how we can understand some of the larger social issues, particularly related to the climate crisis, racism, and gender, in terms of greed (especially), hatred, and delusion. We close, in this context, first with a pointing to ways of responding, using Joanna Macy's model of three ways that the "Great Turning" occurs, and then with a poem.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the nature of awakening. In the first 2/3 of the talk, we examine the traditional notion of awakening, as going beyond the habitual constructions of experience in all the parts of our lives. These constructions are rooted in reactivity (grasping and pushing away aspects of our experience), and a sense of self along with a world of objects known conceptually (through "signs"). We look also at the more positive sense of awakening to the "signless, boundless, and all luminous," to what the Thai Forest teacher Ajahn Mun calls the "primal mind." Then we ask about whether there are other dimensions to awakening needed for contemporary awakening, and examine in particular what awakening means in a time of turmoil. We take Thich Nhat Hanh as an exemplar--a practitioner dedicated to awakening practicing and teaching amidst the turmoil of war and exile. We outline a number of suggestions and guidelines for those practicing and awakening amidst the current turmoil.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with basic instructions in developing (1) concentration and stability, and (2) mindfulness, and then practice developing these two qualities. With mindfulness practice, we notice the main patterns of thoughts, emotions, and bodily experience. In the second half of the session, we work with being aware of the feeling-tone (linked with the Second Foundation of Mindfulness), noticing moderate (or somewhat greater) pleasant or unpleasant feeling-tones, and what occurs after we notice them. We also attend for a short period of two minutes to the moment-to-moment feeling tones of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, and then go back to basic mindfulness practice for the last part of the session.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this session, Donald gives about a 25-minute talk, followed by 15 minutes of discussion. How do we move from a week of metta practice into a time of turmoil and uncertainty in the U.S. and in the world? A number of guidelines and suggestions are given, including keeping the vision of practicing in all parts of one’s life, and keeping close the visions of awakening and of what Dr. King called the “beloved community.” In this time, staying connected with community is also crucial, as are, among many skillful intentions, practicing skillfully with difficult emotions, grounding in the body, cultivating cycles of engagement and withdrawal, and being careful about the amount of information one takes in. The talk ends by pointing to Joanna Macy’s model of three areas of transformation, and the invitation to respond to the call that each of us may hear. Discussion follows.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On the birthday of Dr. King, we explore some of the remarkable and powerful parallels between Metta practice and Buddhist teachings, on the one hand, and the life, teachings, and work of Dr. King, on the other. We explore in particular three areas: (1) the connection between Metta and the Christian tradition of acting from love that is central for King; (2) the wisdom perspective of seeing greed, hatred, and delusion, and developing understanding and manifesting non-reactivity through ethical grounding and nonviolence; and (3) the other qualities of the awakened heart--the Brahmavihara for the Buddha, and Dr. King’s way of manifesting qualities in addition to love, such as compassion, empathy, joy, and equanimity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with naming two general contexts for metta practice: (1) metta is practiced along with the other three brahmavihara—compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity—and when mature integrates the other three; and (2) there are different ways of practicing metta. We then look at another main way of practicing, likely the way that the Buddha practiced—radiating metta. After a brief overview, we practice radiating metta first through a guided spatial expansion of radiating metta, from one’s own heart to the infinite expanse. Then we practice briefly a simple way of just letting metta radiate. After practice, there is discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with a short overview of the nature of forgiveness and forgiveness practice. Then there is a guided practice of forgiveness, followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with a story and poem related to developing metta. Then there is an overview of the nature of metta and metta practice, and how the intention to manifest metta—good will, care, and a powerful friendliness—has many resonances with the core intentions of other spiritual traditions, often expressed in terms of manifesting love. We explore how we train in developing the intention to manifest metta and how we see what gets in the way. We look at several of the challenges of metta practice and how to work with them.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) As we begin a new year, it's helpful to remember the deep motivation of our practice--to awaken--and to ask how our intention to awaken manifests in our practice. In this talk, we explore the Buddha's metaphor of "awakening" (from sleep, from dreams) as a metaphor for spiritual practices, and how he also speaks of realizing Nirvana. We unpack how the Buddha understood Nirvana and awakening--both negatively, as the end of ignorance, and dukkha and reactivity--and more positively as going fully beyond the ordinary constructions of experience. We also look at how the Buddha understood the practical path of training to realize awakening and Nirvana, and how this was explicated through different teachings and practices. At the end, we briefly bring up the question of what a contemporary path of awakening looks like. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some basic instructions in developing concentration and stability, as well as mindfulness, we practice in silence. After about another ten minutes, there are several periodic brief periods of guided practice, in which we are guided to notice our main patterns of thought and perception of objects. In the latter part of the period, we are guided to drop constructions of experience in two ways.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The time of the Winter Solstice, leading up to the New Year, can be an important time for practice, as we, like the plants, stop, as we open to not doing as much, to stillness, and to listening. We look at some of the background, across different cultures, for the celebration of the Winter Solstice. We then explore five themes, five metaphors of darkness, that can support our practice at this time: (1) the darkness as related to a stopping and becoming still, like the earth; (2) being able to be with difficulties, the darkness as a metaphor for difficulty or challenge; (3) going into the darkness of not knowing—the unknown, the mystery; (4) the darkness as generative and creative; and (5) the darkness as luminous, generating light, opening us to the light. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At the time of the Winter Solstice, our practice (for the Wednesday morning gathering) connects our usual grounding in concentration, mindfulness, and lovingkindness with themes related to the later talk on the Winter Solstice, particularly opening to the unknown and mysterious, and to what is difficult, through mindfulness and compassion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the intersection of our more inner practice and our practice with the larger world, including the U.S. post-election world. Our starting point is seeing how widespread and predominant the emotions of anger and fear are in our society. We look particularly at the nature of anger and how to practice with it, especially in terms of our own anger but also in terms of the anger of others.Anger, it has been said, is the most confusing emotion in Western civilization, seen often over the last 2500 years sometimes as both entirely as negative and sometimes as a quality that manifests, for example, in the Jewish prophets, Jesus, and God. There's a confusion also among Western Buddhists, who may have conditioning related to aversion to anger combined with following problematic translations of terms like dosa (entirely negative in the Buddhist context) as "anger" (not entirely negative in the contemporary Western context).Based on these explorations of the nature of anger, we look at how to practice with anger individually, especially through mindful investigation of anger and how anger can lead either to reactivity and the formation of reactive views of self and/or other, or to skillful action. We also explore practicing with the anger of others through empathy practice.The talk is followed by discussion and sharing, including of the experiences of practicing with anger from several people. The meditation before the talk includes a guided exploration of an experience of anger in the last third of the meditation period (the meditation is also on Dharma Seed).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with basic instructions on settling, developing concentration, and mindfulness, with a few reminders to be present. Around 2/3 into the 40-minute meditation is a guided exploration of an experience of anger (the theme of the talk that follows is on understanding and practicing with anger).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) It's important for our teachings and practices to help orient us in relationship to all parts of our lives, including the larger social and political dimensions of our lives. In this session, we explore one core teaching and one central practice that together help us to respond skillfully to differences in political views. The teaching is that of dependent origination, particularly the sequence from contact to grasping. We see how the two forms of reactivity, grasping and pushing away (each potentially manifesting in many ways) result from pleasant and unpleasant feeling-tones, when there is a lack of mindfulness and background habitual tendencies. We can see how the underlying pain, for example, of many working-class people (economic pain; and the pain of feeling disregarded, left behind, and/or not respected), or the pain related to anxiety about changing gender roles, can, especially when manipulated by those in power who provide scapegoats, lead to reactivity. After presenting a model of empathy practice as crucial for bringing our practice to interacting with those with different views, we can also, through such practice, tune in with compassion to the underlying pain, and have a sense of the deep genuine needs, in our examples, for economic well-being, respect, and clarity around gender. We explore all of this in an exercise with the "empathy map," which is followed by discussion. (There were several files shared via screen sharing during the talk. These files can be accessed below and potentially downloaded, by clicking on the "Q" under "Documents," and looking for documents 229, 273, 274, and 275.)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After setting the posture and tuning into intentions, we have a short period of settling, typically through the breath or some other anchor. Then there is guidance to tune into the feeling-tone, especially when there is a "moderate" level pleasant or unpleasant feeling-tone, noticing tendencies to move to wanting/not-wanting or grasping/pushing away--the two forms of reactivity. We can also, when there is reactivity, tune into the pleasant or unpleasant "beneath" the reactivity, finding, for example, some compassion when there is underlying pain. Near the end, we also explore being with all feeling-tones for a very short period of a few minutes.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We gather for two hours together the morning after Election Day, 2024, in large part to ground what we are experiencing in our practice and in community. We begin with short reflections from Sylvia and Donald, followed by short periods of meditation and then sharing from many of those present at the gathering, with intermittent reflections from Sylvia and Donald. We finish with short talks from Sylvia and Donald and then a reading of the intentions of community members going forward in the next period of time.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with a review of last week's talk and exploration, on being a bodhisattva in our times. The theme was inspired by Donald's experience teaching two retreats north of Asheville, NC during Hurricane Helene and being inspired by the response of the retreat center, Southern Dharma, both locally near the center and in Asheville, combining community, inner practices, and helping others. In this session, we look first more at the traditional understanding of the bodhisattva, both in the context of the Buddha's teachings and later Theravada, and then Mahayana. We bring in images of the archetypcal bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara, Tara, Kwan Yin, and Manjushri, as well as examples of the vows of bodhisattvas, and an outline of the training of a bodhisattva in the ten paramitas (or "perfections"). We then ask about the nature of a contemporary bodhisattva, pointing to how connecting inner work and helping others can be a corrective to exclusively outer-oriented forms of activism and exclusively inner-oriented forms of Buddhist practice, in the context of a number of systemic crises that are facing us. After then looking at some of the capacities of a contemporary bodhisattva, we invite bodhisattva vows from those attending and hear from many. Discussion follows.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with Donald's experience of being at Southern Dharma Retreat Center in North Carolina, north of Asheville, teaching two retreats during Hurricane Helene, some four weeks ago, and how staff and community members have responded during and in the weeks since the hurricane, grounded in community and their inner practices. Such a response, linking inner practice and the outer support and help of others, resonates with the aspiration of the Bodhisattva, one dedicated to awakening and to meeting the needs of others. We explore some of the qualities and capacities of the bodhisattva, including being in touch with freedom and awakening, navigating difficulties and painful experiences skillfully, and following the challenging teaching of acting fully without attachment to the outcome or fruits of one's actions. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Insight Meditation Tucson) In the first part of the talk, we explore the Buddha's core teaching, "I teach dukkha and the end of dukkha." This teaching can be confusing as the Buddha gave at least four different meanings of "dukkha." We examine each of the four and find that only the last sense of dukkha as reactivity, developed in the teachings of the Two Arrows and Dependent Origination, makes sense of "the end of dukkha." We then look at ten ways of practicing with and transforming reactivity (see the attached file), discussing briefly each of the ten. The talk is followed by sharing, questions, and discussion.
(Insight Meditation Tucson) After guidance on the basics of our practice--developing stability and concentration, and cultivating mindfulness--and a period of silent practice, there is additional guidance, related to the later dharma talk, on noticing any experiences of reactivity and on exploring moderate or greater experiences of pleasant or unpleasant.
(Insight Meditation Tucson) The Buddha suggested the core of his teaching in one short sentence: "I teach dukkha [suffering or reactivity or a sense of unsatisfactoriness] and the cessation of dukkha.” We explore this teaching in several ways. We see how the Buddha had multiple ways of talking about dukkha, with only, I suggest, the understanding of dukkha as reactivity, making sense of what the end of dukkha means. Dukkha as reactivity is explicated especially in two teachings, the Two Arrows and Dependent Origination. We look at the meaning of reactivity and how it manifests in our experience. We also see how reactivity can often be enmeshed with insight, such it makes sense to speak of transforming reactivity rather than simply suppressing it. We then explore five ways of practicing with reactivity. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Insight Meditation Tucson) After settling our attention through concentration and/or mindfulness, there are further instructions in noticing any reactivity (involving grasping or pushing away in a more automatic way at the levels of mind, body, or emotions), then in attending to the feeling-tone (especially a moderate or a little greater sense of pleasant or unpleasant), and lastly in recalling an experience of reactivity in the last few days and exploring it with mindfulness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this second talk on practicing with mystery, we begin by talking more generally about the nature of mystery. We then review seven ways of practicing with mystery explored last week, while bringing in further examples of these ways of practicing, and add an additional two further ways of practicing. Reading of poems and excerpts from poems support this sense of multiple ways of practicing with mystery. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This is a fairly lightly guided meditation on ways to practice with a sense of mystery, linked with the talk on this theme. After grounding in posture and intentions, basic instructions in developing stability and concentration, and then in mindfulness, are given, with later periodic suggestions on ways to practice with a sense of mystery.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Inviting a sense of mystery as we practice can bring further aliveness, presence, and openness, and help us go beyond our habitual patterns of thinking and practicing. In the talk, we explore seven ways of practicing with mystery, with the aid of a number of poems. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Southern Dharma Retreat Center) In the final session of this series, teachers Ronya Banks and Donald Rothberg offer a number of resources that can help one navigate these times and the conflict between Israel and Palestinians. After a brief period of meditation, we offer four teachings and practices, each first explored through teachings and then briefly guided experientially: (1) the teaching of the Two Arrows and Dependent Origination pointing to the nature of reactivity--habitual and often unconscious grasping after the pleasant and pushing away the unpleasant or painful; (2) the teachings about attachment to views; (3) the cultivation of wise speech and empathy, increasingly pointing toward universal empathy and what Dr. King called the "beloved community"; and (4) practicing with difficult emotions, body states (including traumatic reactions), and thoughts. These teachings and practices are followed by a period of discussion, closing intentions, and the dedication of merit.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Related to the talk given after the guided meditation on the foundational practices and how we can talk very simply about them, we begin remembering our grounding in ethics, and then develop concentration, then mindfulness and wisdom, and later the kind and compassionate heart.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue with our exploration of how we contact what is "deep" in our lives and in life, and how we stay connected with our depths in our practice. We initially give a review of some of what we explored last week, recalling some of the many metaphors used for deepening in our lives in spiritual traditions, including awakening, being on a journey, liberation, seeing clearly whereas previously we didn't see clearly, coming to wholeness, among others. We recall the Buddhist emphasis on wisdom (especially the three ways of seeing that liberate--seeing into impermanence, dukkha or reactivity, and not-self; as well as touching nibbana); compassion; and skillful action. We hear also from several people sharing their experiences of their depths. We then explore a number of ways to stay connected in daily life with our depths, including several not mentioned last week. The talk is followed by discussion, including sharing of some ways that people in the group find helpful in terms of staying connected with their depths, including using phrases like "Begin again" and "Keep coming back."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) How do we live from the depths of our being? We explore this question in a number of different ways. We begin by looking at some of the metaphors for "spiritual practice" (itself involving metaphors), including the sense of touching and living from our depths, becoming a "big person" (a Mahaatta in the Buddha's phrasing), awakening, being on a journey, and seeing through our conditioning, delusions, and the 70,000 veils (as is said in Islamic tradition). In Buddhist tradition, we especially connect, as in the image of the bird with two wings, with wisdom and compassion, and with ways to bring these qualities into our actions and interactions. After inviting several people to share experiences of their depths, we then explore a number of different ways to stay connected in daily life with our depths. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A central way to describe our practice is to say that we aim to touch and deepen in wisdom and in the awakened heart (particularly through cultivating the “divine abodes”: lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity), and to live and act increasingly from wisdom and the awakened heart. This is like the well-known image of the teachings and practices being like the bird with two wings—wisdom and compassion (the latter signifying the different qualities of the awakened heart). In the talk, we cover five areas exploring particularly how we connect wisdom and the awakened heart: (1) the aspiration to grow in wisdom and the awakened heart and the nature of wisdom and the awakened heart; (2) our social conditioning (including gender conditioning) about wisdom and the heart and how they can be separate in our lives or one or both may be relatively undeveloped; (3) some ways that they seem separate even in Buddhist teachings and practices, particularly in how metta has sometimes been understood; (4) how to have from different teachings of the Buddha a deeper sense of wisdom and the awakened heart as connected and integrated; and (5) how we might integrate the two in our practices, particularly focusing on the practices we explored in the guided meditation. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A day before the Fourth of July and two days after Canada Day, commemorating establishing Canada, we explore the possibility of connecting the vision of individual awakening and freedom and the vision of social freedom and justice. We look at the "shadows" of these visions, of how greed, hatred, and delusion, whether individual or collective, as well as other factors, stand in the way of realizing these visions. We point to the importance of staying connected to these two visions in difficult and challenging times, and of how they can be brought together. After the talk, we have a group discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with a brief reflection on today's holiday, Juneteenth. Then we review last week's initial exploration of practicing with views, including (1) identifying the main teachings on views given by the Buddha, and (2) three basic ways to practice with views, including developing mindfulness of views, inquiring when there is a charge related to another's view, and developing careful listening. This review is followed by bringing in several further ways to understand and practice with views, including working with a specific teaching and letting the "view [coming from the teaching] be the meditation," exploring how sometimes to rest in a kind of unknowing, and then how awakening lies beyond views and concepts. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After initial instructions in developing stability and concentration, and then mindfulness, there are further instructions, given after 10 and after 20 minutes, on developing more mindfulness of views, stories, and narratives (related to the talk given after the meditation). At the end, there is an invitation to reflect on views or stories that have been prominent in the last few days.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review some of the main themes from last week's talk on developing concentration (samadhi), including the importance of such practice for the Buddha and his teachings; without samadhi, the Buddha says, there is no freedom. We examine ways of practicing (including outside of formal meditation) and look at some of the factors that indicate a deepening of samadhi (the jhanic factors). We then review the main challenges of developing samadhi, particularly over-active minds, sleepiness and low energy, and over-efforting. We also explore further challenges to the development of samadhi, including working with background thoughts, the ways that more unconscious material can surface in cultivating samadhi, and attachment to concentrated states. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a short overview about the nature of concentration (samadhi), there is basic guidance on cultivating samadhi along with some more advanced instruction in the last third of the guided meditation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) There are two main forms of meditation as taught by the Buddha: Developing concentration and developing insight. We explore how they go together, the nature of concentration (samadhi), and the different ways of developing samadhi. We also look at some of the typical challenges of developing samadhi, particularly over-active minds, sleepiness and low energy, and over-efforting. Throughout there is an emphasis on finding ways to integrate active effort with ease and relaxation. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At the beginning, there is a short discussion of the nature and importance of cultivating concentration or samadhi, followed by practical meditative guidance at the beginning and during the session.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue with the main ways of deepening practice identified in the talk from the week before, based on ways of deepening experienced in Donald's March four weeks of retreat. We go into more depth on each of the ten, inviting listeners to choose one or two ways of deepening for the next period of time. The talk is followed by discussion, and there's a downloadable pdf listing the ten ways of deepening practice (see below).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Following four weeks of Donald's personal retreat, he identifies a number of ways of deepening practice that he experienced and that we might bring into our lives. The invitation is to see what one or two or three ways of deepening resonate and seem to call us to our "next steps." Among the ways of deepening are going on retreats (understood as periods of intensive training), staying in touch with and periodically remembering one's deeper intentions, pausing and stopping regularly, clarifying priorities, the importance of working with the subtle energy body, opening to non-doing in meditation and daily life, integrating awareness and metta, and finding ways of regularly coming back if stuck, caught in reactivity, or lost in thought. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin by reviewing some and expanding last week's introduction to practicing to transform the judgmental mind, including clarifying our language and the way that in English "judgment" can ambiguously mean either an expression of the judgmental mind or a non-judgmental discernment. We identify examples of the judgmental mind, and point to how it can be understood in terms of the sequence of contact to grasping (and pushing away) in the Buddha's teaching on Dependent Origination, how negative judgments (in the sense of the judgmental mind) typically come out of unacknowledged or unprocessed pain. We also point to how our practice with the judgmental mind, as it goes deeper, begins to identify "limiting beliefs," often from childhood, that generate our most chronic judgments. We end the talk with naming a number of ways to practice with the judgmental mind. The talk is followed with discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a period of settling and general mindfulness practice, we invite noticing and being with any expressions of the judgmental mind (here called "judgments") if they occur. In the second part of the guided meditation, there is also a more direct investigation of a selected judgment, exploring it at the levels of body, emotions, and thought, and seeing whether any underlying painful or difficult experience can be noticed. We close with a brief three-part self-compassion practice (from Kristin Neff).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We frame the session in terms of there being three main inter-related aims of our practice: (1) developing wisdom and insight, (2) cultivating the kind heart and compassion, and (3) acting skillfully and ethically in all the parts of our life. In this context, it's interesting that having insight can still be connected with reactivity; it's possible to be both "right" and see something clearly, and be obnoxious.We look at one major way in which insight can be enmeshed with reactivity--what I call "the judgmental mind." We first clarify how "judgment" in English is ambiguous, sometimes meaning judgmental, sometimes meaning discerning without reactivity. The judgmental mind combines typically some kind of noticing, insight, observation, etc. with reactivity, and the key to transforming the judgmental mind is to work through the reactivity, using multiple tools.The last part of the talk outlines our major tools for transforming the judgmental mind, and invites next week's practice. We then have a discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore how we might practice metta (and other heart practices) in a way integrated with mindfulness, wisdom, and insight, building on last week's session. We begin looking at some of the ways historically and culturally that the "mind" and "reason" have been separated from emotion, dating from Plato and the Greeks, and continued in the modern world with the understanding of reason and science as separate from emotion (and the body). This has been a major part of our social and cultural conditioning, evident in how mainstream education occurs, and also linked with gender conditioning. We also examine how, dating from Buddhaghosa's text, the Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification), from the 5th century, metta and compassion has been labeled as practices leading to concentration, and not as linked directly with wisdom and awakening. This has been the basis for the 20th century Burmese approaches to metta and mindfulness, which have been the main influences in the West.However, when we look to the Buddha's actual teachings, as well as later Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings, we find much more of a connection between metta, compassion, and wisdom. We can see this in a number of texts which we explore, including ones in which the heart practices are seen as leading directly to wisdom, and development in awakening.In the last part of the talk, we explore ways that we can, in our formal and informal practices, integrate metta and wisdom. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with about 10 minutes of settling with our mindfulness (or another) practice. This is followed by about 5 minutes of practicing metta where it flows as easily as possible, and then by a guided practice in radiating metta, extended to radiating in a boundless way. We then return to a brief way of practicing radiating metta without visualization, followed by returning to mindfulness, infused with metta.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We often hear that the heart of the teachings and practice is to connect wisdom and compassion, clear seeing and the kind heart, developing what Jack Kornfield calls the "wise heart." Yet such a connection or integration can be challenging in several ways. First of all, we have major conditioning in modern Western culture to separate the "mind" and the "heart" (or emotions), as well as the body. Also we find tendencies in the Theravada tradition to see Metta practice as separate from Insight practice, as in the way that Buddhaghosa in the influential text, the Visuddhimagga, lists Metta practice as a form of Concentration practice, and in some of the ways that Metta is taught as a complement to insight practice in the West. In this talk, we begin to explore what it might look like to integrate more fully Metta and wisdom, mindfulness, and insight, both in formal practice and daily life. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with the basic instruction in metta (lovingkindness) practice, using the silent repetition of phrases. Then we move to a period of mindfulness practice, followed by metta practice, where the metta is most accessible, followed by an invitation to return to mindfulness practice, integrated with the energy and intentions of metta practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin by exploring the nature of some of the challenges of metta practice, including with difficult emotions, body-states, and thoughts, and how to practice when these challenges arise. The spirit is that of understanding challenges as part of the path of learning. We then focus on one way of deliberating bring metta practice to a challenging situation, through metta with the difficult person, followed by an account of one particular challenge, the “judgmental mind,” its nature and how to practice with it; this includes a short selection from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.s’ sermon, “On Judging.” Lastly, there is an introduction to forgiveness practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta practice is a wonderful, ancient practice that has parallels in the cultivation of kindness and love in other spiritual traditions; developing the wise heart of kindness is an ancient vocation. There are also parallels with the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his emphasis on bringing love to help transform injustice; we play a brief recording from Dr. King. We also explore different dimensions of Metta practice and how it relates to other pathways of awakening through mindfulness and wisdom. We then look at some of the main challenges of Metta practice, such as distraction, repetitive thoughts, sleepiness, and challenging emotions and body states, and how to practice with them.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this Opening talk, the teachers offer a land acknowledgement, introduce themselves, and Kaira Jewel gives a short talk on what metta is, how to practice metta and how we can take refuge in the retreat container.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Stephen Fulder, the founder and senior teacher of Tovana (the Israel Insight Society), is in conversation with Donald Rothberg. We hold the understanding of "crisis" broadly, remembering that we are in the midst of multiple crises, while giving more attention to Israel/Palestine. Such crises are a major challenge to our dharma practice. In this context, we explore a number of different themes, including bringing our practice to difficult experiences that often arise in a crisis, such as fear, emotional pain, reactivity, numbness, and the presence of repetitive negative narratives and views. We also identify, during the conversation, a number of resources, including qualities of compassion, empathy, equanimity, and the importance of finding a "refuge"and deep support in different ways. The conversation is followed by discussion, and a closing guided meditation.[During the conversation, we see a short (3:28) video of Tovana teachers speaking a sentence each about the current crisis, in Hebrew, with English sub-titles. The video can be seen at https://youtu.be/NqKoCm2TMhA?feature=shared.]
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with a brief review of the framework of ten foundations for practicing with differences and conflicts (defining conflicts as differences of goals, values, views, strategies, etc. and not necessarily involving hostility or aggression). Then we apply the ten foundations as guides for seeing how we can bring our practice (both more "inner" and more "outer") to the seemingly complex and intractable conflict of Israel/Palestine. After the talk, there is discussion of a number of areas and questions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start by reviewing briefly the two times' accounts of the foundations for practicing with differences and conflicts, first giving a definition of "conflict" as a difference of values, goals, or strategies, and not necessarily involving hostility or aggression. There's an invitation to focus on a conflict in one's life that is in the moderate range of difficulty, and bring this to mind as we work with ten foundations of skillful practice with conflict.We look again briefly at the multiple reasons why bringing our practice to conflicts is often difficult, and then review the more "inner" four foundations of skillful practice with conflict (1-4). We then bring in six further foundations which are more "outer," including (5) developing guidelines and agreements, especially in groups or organizations, but also with individuals; (6) clarifying a vision of a "win-win" or "both-and" approach to conflicts that meet the underlying interests or needs of all concerned; and (7) developing empathy. We offer two brief empathy practices, including one done in the context of one's own conflict. Three further foundations are offered: (8) grounding in Buddhist ethics, particularly the precepts and the understanding that one should bring care and kindness to all, and that all have Buddha Nature; (9) skillful speech (part of ethical training); and (10) the bringing of these ethical dimensions into collective life, through nonviolent action and the concept, in Dr. King's work, of the beloved community. After the talk, there is a discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start by reviewing last week's initial account of the foundations for practicing with differences and conflicts, first giving a definition of "conflict" as a difference of values, goals, or strategies, and not necessarily involving hostility or aggression. We also look again briefly at the multiple reasons why bringing our practice to conflicts is often difficult, and then review the more "inner" four foundations of skillful practice with conflict. We then bring in three further foundations which are more "outer": developing guidelines and agreements, especially in groups or organizations, but also with individuals; clarifying a vision of a "win-win" or "both-and" approach to conflicts that meet the underlying interests or needs of all concerned; and developing empathy. After the talk, there is a discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin by identifying the importance of developing skillful practice with differences and conflicts, whether inner conflicts or interpersonal conflicts or group or organizational conflicts or social or international conflicts. The claim is that the general principles and practices are fundamentally the same, even as the practices take different forms when there are more complexities.We first give a definition of "conflict" as a difference of values, goals, or strategies, and as not necessarily involving hostility or aggression. This definition may help to go against the prevalence of negative conditioning about conflicts; we look at a number of reasons why bringing our practice to conflicts is commonly difficult. For the rest of the talk, we examine four more "inner" foundations of skillful practice with conflict: examining our own conditioning; working with the core relevant teachings of the Buddha, particularly about the nature of reactivity (as in the teaching of the Two Arrows); practicing with difficult emotions, body states, and thoughts; and bringing in the heart practices. After the talk, there is a discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin by acknowledging the importance of Wise Speech practice, and then outline four foundations of Wise Speech that we've explored in previous talks. We then review how we can bring Wise Speech into difficult or challenging situations. The last half of the talk goes further, and explores how we can bring aspects of Wise Speech into situations of social and political polarization, including in our present time in the U.S. (and other countries). We watch two brief videos. The first is a selection from "A Force More Powerful" (a 6-part series on nonviolent action), on a moment of powerful empathic yet firm speech from Diane Nash at a critical moment in the Civil Rights movement in Nashville in 1960 (go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4dDVeAU3u4&t=3082s, with the video shared going from 43:04 to 48:58). The second is a brief contemporary account of an experience of "deep canvassing" (and deep listening) by Caitlin Homrich-Kneileng in rural Michigan (go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no0NzGhwobA). This is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first review four foundations of wise speech: (1) developing presence in the midst of communication; (2) working with the four guidelines for skillful speech developed by the Buddha; (3) bringing our mindfulness and skillful responses to our thoughts, emotions, and body states into our speech practice; and (4) empathy practice, tuning into others' and our own emotions and sense of "what matters." We then explore the importance of being with challenges and difficulties in our practice generally, and do two exercises exploring a difficult or challenging interaction with another, including working with an "empathy map." Discussion follows. (Materials on emotions [or feelings], needs, and an "empathy map" are given below, under "documents.")
(Benicia Insight Meditation) We start with a review and expansion of the main themes of the talk from two weeks ago, looking especially first at the possible confusion around the nature of "dukkha" (usually translated as "suffering"). We look at four meanings of dukkha in the teachings of the Buddha (the first of which is the most common meaning of dukkha as what is "painful"). Only the last sense of dukkha as reactivity (based on the teachings of the Two Arrows and of Dependent Origination) helps us make sense of what the "end of dukkha" means. We then give attention to a number of different ways of practicing to transform and "end" reactivity, followed by discussion with the community.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first focus on the importance of the practice of wise speech and then review three foundations of such practice: (1) developing presence in the midst of communication; (2) working with the four guidelines for skillful speech developed by the Buddha; and (3) integrating our practice to be mindful and skillful with thoughts, emotions, and body states with our speech practice. We then introduce a fourth foundation, empathy practice, aiming to understand and connect with another, exploring the roots of such practice in the innate capacity of empathy. We then identify a simple yet basic practice of tuning into someone's emotions and "needs" (or what matters to someone), based on the work of Nonviolent Communication (developed first by Marshall Rosenberg). A discussion follows, particularly examining bringing these practices into challenging interactions. (Materials on emotions--or feelings, needs, and an "empathy map" are given below, under "documents.")
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We examine first the Buddha’s teachings about awakening, We see how he understands the process as involving two processes. We are mindful of and work through what gets in the way of touching our natural awakening—greed, hatred, and delusion (or the two forms of reactivity—grasping after the pleasant and pushing away the unpleasant, along with ignorance about the nature of impermanence, reactivity or Dukkha, and not-self). We also develop those qualities which both support and manifest awakening, qualities identified in the teaching of the Seven Factors of Awakening. We see further how the Buddha at times identified the nature of awakened awareness as “signless, boundless, all-luminous,” and trace similar accounts of awakened awareness in the Thai Forest tradition and Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā.
Then we ask the question about whether these wonderful teachings and associated practices are sufficient for awakening in the contemporary world. We point to how such teachings and practices are crucial but also need to be complemented by and integrated with a contemporary map of awakening, identifying forms of contemporary conditioning (and greed, hatred, and delusion) that are not found in the traditional account. Broadly speaking, we can identify two inter-related core areas—a first identifying more “psychological” conditioning, and more “social” conditioning (for example, around gender, race, sexual orientation, age, etc.). The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Basic instructions in developing concentration and stability, on the one hand, and mindfulness, on the other, are given in the context of the teaching of the Seven Factors of Awakening; concentration and mindfulness are two of the seven factors. We also explore inquiry or investigation, a third factor, in the context of mindfulness.
(Benicia Insight Meditation) The Buddha famously said, "I teach dukkha and the end of dukkha." Yet what does this core statement of the teachings mean? In this talk, we explore at least four meanings of dukkha in the discourses; not recognizing these different meanings can lead to considerable confusion. Only one of these four meanings of dukkha, dukkha as reactivity, helps us to understand directly "the end of dukkha." We look particularly at the teachings of the Two Arrows and of Dependent Origination to support the understanding of dukkha as reactivity, clarifying some of the complexities of the teaching (including that very commonly our reactivity is mixed with some insight, pointing to how what is important is to "transform" reactivity rather than simply suppress it or get rid of it). Lastly, we suggest a number of different ways to practice with reactivity. The talk is followed by a period of discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with an emphasis on the importance of daily life practice, and on some of the ways that it is sometimes seen as secondary in insight meditation, when we center formal practice and retreats. We then explore eight different ways to deepen daily life practice, inviting the listener to see which one or two ways most resonate as part of one's "next steps" in deepening daily life practice. The talk is followed by a period of reflection and then by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We work with several modes of practice which can be developed in formal practice as well as in daily life (and that are discussed in the talk and discussion following this guided meditation). After a period of grounding in the body, we work with a heart practice (such as lovingkindness), a specific teaching (practicing with the sequence from contact to the feeling-tone of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, to wanting, and to grasping from the teaching of Dependent Origination is briefly given), and a "mixing" or "mingling" of formal meditation and a daily life activity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a guided meditation exploring the theme (also on Dharma Seed), we continue for a second week to examine how to support a sense of the ordinary aspects of daily life as being part of the process of awakening, as "sacred" or "sacramental," as connected moment-by-moment with our deeper values (and finding what language about this and what practices support us). We review the session from last time, with references to Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist contemplative practitioners who have articulated this sense of daily life practice, examining what gets in the way of this way of being with daily life (especially busyness, being lost in difficult emotions, and being cut off from the kind heart), and what supports it. Through stories and poetry, we then look in more depth at cultivating a sense of presence and even mystery in daily life, at how joy can open up this sense, and how it can be very helpful to support in different ways our understanding how the transformation of our wounds and difficulties can be seen as part of a "purification" process. In the discussion, we look more deeply into many of these themes.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After initial instructions, including inviting us to connect with our deeper intentions and as well practice with a sense of moment-to-moment mystery, we have about 10 minutes of silent practice, followed by further brief instructions inviting a moment-to-moment sense of presence and mystery, another 10 minutes of silent practice, further brief instructions on seeing our practice as connected with our awakening, and another ten minutes of silent practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We work with the metaphor of the spiritual "journey" and distinguish seven successive stages of this journey, using as main reference points the poem by Mary Oliver called "The Journey" (read near the beginning and at the end of the talk), the life of the Buddha, the lives of several great practitioners in the Thai Forest Tradition (Ajahn Mun, Ajahn Chah, and Mae Chee Kaew), and our own lives. The stages begin with taking life for granted, move through some sense of unsatisfactoriness or inadequacy about our ordinary and habitual lives and a call for something more. They lead to some kind of departure from the ordinary and habitual, opening, typically with difficulties, challenges, and purification, to our more authentic being and awakening, at least to some degree, and returning in a way to our everyday lives. This journey can take many forms, and the stages can sometimes be successive, and sometimes all appear in a short period. After the talk, we have about 20 minutes of discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore a theme coming out of Donald's recent month-long retreat, of how we can hold and work with the understanding that there is both a process of awakening, often seen as mostly gradual, and a typically everyday experience of our habitual tendencies, including our difficulties and challenges. We review and expand some of what we examined in the previous session, including looking more at how the Buddha understood the nature of samsara and nirvana, and at the seven practices suggested last week for navigating this area (available to be downloaded--see the previous week's talk). We then go somewhat further and deeper, pointing to further ways of practicing, such as inquiring into the sense of self found in different habitual tendencies, and developing a devotional attitude toward both our ordinary lives and our habitual tendencies, as making possible the awakening process. We also touch on Mahayana and Vajrayana perspectives--that samsara and nirvana are not different (articulated by Nagarjuna), and that awakened awareness and habitual tendencies are not different (from Tibetan Dzogchen). These practices and perspectives help us to maintain confidence and faith in awakening in the midst of things!
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Donald shares some of the main themes of his experiences from a four-week retreat that finished four days before the talk. The talk focuses on one theme--how there is an awakening process and yet how there remain habitual tendencies and time of greed, hatred, and delusion. How do we understand the relationship between understanding our "true nature" to be love and wisdom, and the fact that habitual tendencies appear frequently?We explore this theme in a few ways. We look at some of the understandings and stories in different religious traditions of something like this dynamic: How can there be "evil" when there is an all-powerful and all-good God? What account for this dichotomy? How are nirvana and samsara related? What guidelines and suggestions help us to practice so as to hold the aspiration to awaken and keep practicing with the acknowledgement of our habitual tendencies? Seven suggestions are given (see the attached file).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this talk of a series of talks on developing metta or lovingkindness, we look at the question of how we connect and integrate metta with our development of clear seeing, with our mindfulness and wisdom. This is an important question, particularly given that most Western practitioners of insight meditation have separate practices in which they develop metta, on the one hand, and mindfulness and wisdom, on the other. Are they integrated? How?In the talk, we explore: (1) related strong cultural tendencies to separate mind and emotions, as in, for example, science, and much education; (2) how in the basic teachings of the Buddha, there seem to be separate practices; (3) how, both in the teachings of the Buddha and in later Buddhist traditions (as well as in other traditions), there is often a deeper vision of the unity of the awakened heart and mind; and (4) how we can practice to integrate metta, mindfulness, wisdom, and awareness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with a short period of metta or some other heart practice, noticing how mindfulness brings us back to the practice when we are distracted. Then there is a longer period of mindfulness, hopefully infused some with metta, in the spirit of Sylvia Boorstein's wonderful invitation: “May I meet this moment fully. May I meet this moment as a friend.” We then have a second sequence of relatively brief metta practice followed by a longer period of mindfulness practice. The last part of the session is a guided practice of radiating metta, moving toward an integration of metta and a boundless awareness.b.Let it infuse mindfulness: Sylvia’s phrase. See how this is.c.Check periodically. Maybe do 2-3 minutes of metta.d.Radiating metta exploring a loving awareness.
(White Heron Sangha) We continually are aware of so much that is painful in the world, whether related to police violence, war, earthquakes, the challenges to democracy, or the climate crisis. How can we be with and respond to what is painful (and also hopeful) from the perspective of our practice? What is “wise view” in relationship to the pain of the world? How do we get caught in unskillful views? How can we respond skillfully? Inspired by many wonderful teachers and exemplars, in this talk and discussion, I want to explore ten foundational ways of responding to these questions that can orient us in these challenging times.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this second talk on Metta (lovingkindness) practice, we first review the foundational nature of the practice and its connection with the cultivation of wisdom and bring our practice into our lives and action in the world, with a reading of a poem from one of the early Buddhist nuns. We examine in some depth some of the challenges to Metta practice, what makes it challenging to manifest kindness and love, and point to some of the way to practice Metta in daily life.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with a short overview of practicing metta practice with phrases, followed by about 8-9 minutes of settling with mindfulness practice. Then we practice metta with phrases with beings with whom the metta flows most easily. This is followed by a period of guided practice of radiating metta.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The aim of our practice is to develop wisdom, love, and skillful action in our lives. We commonly cultivate these capacities separately and then integrate them. In this session, we first explore the nature of Metta, its etymology in words suggesting "friendliness" and "friendship," and the ancient vocation, found in multiple spiritual traditions of cultivating Metta or love or kindness. We then look at the multiple ways of developing Metta, both in formal practice and in daily life, and examine briefly some of the challenges in cultivating Metta. Then we have a guided meditation the last 15 minutes exploring "Radiating Metta," a way of practicing likely closer to how the Buddha taught Metta. We follow this with discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with a short introduction to Metta (Lovingkindness) Practice, working with phrases that tend to evoke Metta, kindness, good will, etc. Then there's a 10-minute period of settling (with mindfulness practice), followed by about 20 minutes of Metta Practice, with beings with whom Metta flows well.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore three broad areas connecting metta practice, Buddhist wisdom teachings, and other heart practices with the life and approach of Dr. King: (1) the deep resonance between metta practice and the grounding in love and the beloved community that is central for King; (2) the close parallels between the development of non-reactivity aiming at the end of dukkha in Buddhist practice and the teachings and practices of nonviolent action; and (3) the other aspects of the awakened heart central for Dr. King, including empathy, compassion, forgiveness, joy, and equanimity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta practice offers a radical and yet simple approach and training: To bring kind and wise presence and response to every situation. We incline toward an expansive friendliness, and see what gets in the way of metta. This is an approach centering on kindness and love which finds many echoes in many other spiritual traditions. And yet it can be a very challenging training; we look at a number of the common difficulties of metta practice and how to work with them, particularly distraction and lack of stability of attention, sleepiness and restless energy, difficulty in accessing the kind heart, and the arising of difficult emotions, thoughts, and body-states. As we practice, we integrate mind, heart, and body, increasingly touch our depths and learn how to manifest metta in the world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with an acknowledgment of the Winter Solstice, and the importance, in a time that is often very busy, of slowing down, like the earth in the Northern Hemisphere, of being relatively still and opening to the generative dimensions of darkness. We then review the main elements of what we explored last week, pointing to the main aspects of the Buddha's teaching on "views" (including belief, positions, etc.), explored through four core texts, and three ways of practicing with views. We then bring some further ways of practicing with views. One is opened up by working with the model, from Chris Argyris, of the "Ladder of Inference," in noticing tendencies to go from direct experience to generalizations (obviously very useful at times), and how sometimes reactivity drives us "up the Ladder" to generalizations. A second is in working with relatively unconscious or half-conscious views, whether about oneself, others, or the nature of things. We close with discussion, intentions, and the dedication of merit.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Practicing with views, beliefs, opinions, and narratives is a central part of our practice (in relationship to ourselves, to others, and in the larger society and world) and was strongly emphasized in the teachings of the Buddha. In this talk, we explore how the Buddha taught on views, emphasizing four core teachings. We then inquire into what is particularly problematic in our relationship to views is the way that we potentially are reactive in relation to views--habitually grasping and pushing away with our views. We then suggest three foundational practices for working with views and beliefs. There is finally about a twenty-minute discussion period.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some foundational mindfulness instructions, there's an invitation to track for views and beliefs when they appear, whether just for a few moments or in a more sustained way, linked perhaps with reviewing an interaction with someone or something that happened. Near the end, there's guidance to bring to mind a situation in the last few days in which there was a strong sense of a view taken and then explore the experience of holding a strong view.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore how to practice with the intention to take everything as the opportunity for learning--an approach which is named in different ways in Buddhist and other traditions, including the Zen saying, "The obstacle is the path," and the Tibetan Lojong teaching, "Turn all obstacles into the path of practice." How do we follow this intention as individuals, groups or communities, or whole societies? We look particularly at ways to take everything as practice as individuals and some of the challenges of such an approach. A key is opening to challenging or difficult experiences when they are in the "workable" range and not overwhelming, with mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion. Out of such a process may come gifts and the "cleaning up" of our residues of compulsive greed, aversion, and delusion!
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After foundational mindfulness instructions, there is guidance, just after the core instructions and then briefly twice more during the session, on approaching the silent sitting in the spirit of our talk theme, taking every moment as practice, as an opportunity for learning.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) One of the central intentions of our practice is to learn from all experiences. This is not easy, both with difficult experiences or with wonderful experiences; we might in both cases revert to habitual forms of consciousness and behavior. We explore ways that we might "turn all obstacles into the path of practice" (as is said in the Tibetan Lojong teachings), or see "the obstacle as the path" (as in Zen). Central is our practice particularly with unpleasant or difficult experiences, studying and transforming our reactivity. We also see how sometimes there are important gifts that come from painful and/or difficult experiences; we share together in the group some of these kinds of experiences. We end with an invitation to practice with this basic intention to learn from everything in the next week!
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) One of the central intentions of our practice is to learn from all experiences. This is not easy, both with difficult experiences or with wonderful experiences; we might in both cases revert to habitual forms of consciousness and behavior. We explore ways that we might "turn all obstacles into the path of practice" (as is said in the Tibetan Lojong teachings), or see "the obstacle as the path" (as in Zen). Central is our practice particularly with unpleasant or difficult experiences, studying and transforming our reactivity. We also see how sometimes there are important gifts that come from painful and/or difficult experiences; we share together in the group some of these kinds of experiences. We end with an invitation to practice with this basic intention to learn from everything in the next week!
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with a brief review of the last three Wednesday sessions on "Dukkha and the End of Dukkha," including briefly summarizing the teachings of "The Two Arrows" and "Dependent Origination" (going from pleasant/unpleasant to grasping/pushing away); grasping and pushing away are interpreted as the most important meaning of dukkha as reactivity. Then there is an acknowledgment of Yom Kippur occurring on this day and its relationship to our practice. The core of the talk is exploring ten fundamental ways of practicing with reactivity (a pdf of the ten ways will be posted linked with the talk). The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some brief initial instructions in posture, setting intentions, cultivating stability of mind, and basic mindfulness, there is a period of settling, followed by brief instructions on being mindful of any moments of reactivity, and then, some time later, on being mindful of any moderate or greater (while still workable) moments of pleasant or unpleasant experiences, noticing any tendencies to move from pleasant to craving and grasping (one form of reactivity), and to move from unpleasant to not wanting to pushing away in some way (the other main form of reactivity).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this third of three talks on "Dukkha and the End of Dukkha," perhaps the core teaching of the Buddha, we first review what was covered in the first two talks, starting with examining the multiple meanings of dukkha in the Buddha's teaching and the fact that most meanings of dukkha don't help us make sense of "the end of dukkha." Only a sense of dukkha as reactivity, as taught in the Two Arrows and in Dependent Origination suggest what the end of dukkha means. We then review ways of practicing with reactivity in individual practice, and in our relationships. On this basis, we then go further exploring the nature of reactivity in the larger social context, whether in individuals' reactivity or in various forms of institutionalized reactivity. We then look at two ways of practicing, first exploring our various forms of social conditioning, typically linked with reactivity, and then looking at how nonreactivity in Buddhist practice maps very closely onto the traditions of nonviolence from Gandhi, King, and others. This is followed by discussion, in which we in part look at some of the complexities and challenges of this approach.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this third of three talks on "Dukkha and the End of Dukkha," perhaps the core teaching of the Buddha, we first review what was covered in the first two talks, starting with examining the multiple meanings of dukkha in the Buddha's teaching and the fact that most meanings of dukkha don't help us make sense of "the end of dukkha." Only a sense of dukkha as reactivity, as taught in the Two Arrows and in Dependent Origination suggest what the end of dukkha means. We then review ways of practicing with reactivity in individual practice, and in our relationships. On this basis, we then go further exploring the nature of reactivity in the larger social context, whether in individuals' reactivity or in various forms of institutionalized reactivity. We then look at two ways of practicing, first exploring our various forms of social conditioning, typically linked with reactivity, and then looking at how nonreactivity in Buddhist practice maps very closely onto the traditions of nonviolence from Gandhi, King, and others. This is followed by discussion, in which we in part look at some of the complexities and challenges of this approach.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After initial instructions for settling and stabiliizing, and then for basic mindfulness, there are about 10 minutes for stabilizing, followed by brief instructions to track reactivity, and about 10 minutes later for exploring moderate or great levels of pleasant or unpleasant (when in the workable range for mindfulness), noticing any tendencies toward reactivity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After initial instructions for settling and stabiliizing, and then for basic mindfulness, there are about 10 minutes for stabilizing, followed by brief instructions to track reactivity, and about 10 minutes later for exploring moderate or great levels of pleasant or unpleasant (when in the workable range for mindfulness), noticing any tendencies toward reactivity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This is the second of three talks in successive weeks on the "dukkha and the end of dukkha," at the center of the Buddha's teachings. Last week was an introduction and focused on individual practice; this week gives a review and then focuses on relational practice, with others. In the review, we once again point to the multiple meanings of "dukkha" in the Buddha's discourses, all but one of which don't help us to make sense of the "end of dukkha.". Rather, only an interpretation of dukkha coming out of the teachings of the Two Arrows and Dependent Origination, in which dukkha is understood as reactivity, as grasping or pushing away habitually in a variety of ways, can help us understand what "the end of dukkha" means (see the attached PDF file on the sequence from contact to grasping in the teaching of Dependent Origination). We then look at a number of ways of practicing with reactivity, and open to exploring the nature of reactivity in relational contexts, followed by pointing to a number of ways of practicing with reactivity in our relationships. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This is the second of three talks in successive weeks on the "dukkha and the end of dukkha," at the center of the Buddha's teachings. Last week was an introduction and focused on individual practice; this week gives a review and then focuses on relational practice, with others. In the review, we once again point to the multiple meanings of "dukkha" in the Buddha's discourses, all but one of which don't help us to make sense of the "end of dukkha.". Rather, only an interpretation of dukkha coming out of the teachings of the Two Arrows and Dependent Origination, in which dukkha is understood as reactivity, as grasping or pushing away habitually in a variety of ways, can help us understand what "the end of dukkha" means (see the attached PDF file on the sequence from contact to grasping in the teaching of Dependent Origination). We then look at a number of ways of practicing with reactivity, and open to exploring the nature of reactivity in relational contexts, followed by pointing to a number of ways of practicing with reactivity in our relationships. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After brief basic meditation instructions related to stabilizing attention with an anchor, and then being present to the anchor or whatever else is predominant, there is an 8-minute or so period of settling and stabilizing. Then there is guidance to notice and be mindful of any kinds of reactivity (manifesting in the body, emotions, and thoughts), if in the workable range. After another 10 minutes or, there is guidance to notice a moderate or greater level of the pleasant or unpleasant (as long as it is workable), staying with the sense of pleasant or unpleasant, noticing any tendencies to reactivity (wanting and grasping, or not wanting and pushing away, at the levels of body, emotions, and/or thoughts).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After brief basic meditation instructions related to stabilizing attention with an anchor, and then being present to the anchor or whatever else is predominant, there is an 8-minute or so period of settling and stabilizing. Then there is guidance to notice and be mindful of any kinds of reactivity (manifesting in the body, emotions, and thoughts), if in the workable range. After another 10 minutes or, there is guidance to notice a moderate or greater level of the pleasant or unpleasant (as long as it is workable), staying with the sense of pleasant or unpleasant, noticing any tendencies to reactivity (wanting and grasping, or not wanting and pushing away, at the levels of body, emotions, and/or thoughts).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Buddha, at the center of his teaching, taught "dukkha and the end of dukkha." Yet it is not clear either what "dukkha" means or what "the end of dukkha" means. In this talk, we explore this core teaching in several ways. First, we distinguish four different meanings of "dukkha" that can be seen in the discourses of the Buddha, only the last of which, interpreted as "reactivity," helps us to make sense of the "end of dukkha." (See the attached PDF file.) This meaning of dukkha can be reconstructed from two core teachings, the "Two Arrows" and Dependent Origination (see the attached PDF file). We then look at several ways of practicing with reactivity, including understanding and working with the common complexity of there frequently being some kind of insight or something important being "mixed" with reactivity, as, for example, when I am very reactive about injustice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Buddha, at the center of his teaching, taught "dukkha and the end of dukkha." Yet it is not clear either what "dukkha" means or what "the end of dukkha" means. In this talk, we explore this core teaching in several ways. First, we distinguish four different meanings of "dukkha" that can be seen in the discourses of the Buddha, only the last of which, interpreted as "reactivity," helps us to make sense of the "end of dukkha." (See the attached PDF file.) This meaning of dukkha can be reconstructed from two core teachings, the "Two Arrows" and Dependent Origination (see the attached PDF file). We then look at several ways of practicing with reactivity, including understanding and working with the common complexity of there frequently being some kind of insight or something important being "mixed" with reactivity, as, for example, when I am very reactive about injustice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After brief basic meditation instructions related to stabilizing attention with an anchor, and then being present to the anchor or whatever else is predominant, there is a 10-minute period of stabilizing. Then there is guidance related to noticing a moderate or great level of the pleasant or unpleasant (as long as it is workable), staying with the sense of pleasant or unpleasant, noticing any tendencies to reactivity (wanting and grasping, or not wanting and pushing away, at the levels of body, emotions, and/or thoughts). Near the end, there is some further guidance on staying with moderately unpleasant sensations for 2 minutes or so.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After brief basic meditation instructions related to stabilizing attention with an anchor, and then being present to the anchor or whatever else is predominant, there is a 10-minute period of stabilizing. Then there is guidance related to noticing a moderate or great level of the pleasant or unpleasant (as long as it is workable), staying with the sense of pleasant or unpleasant, noticing any tendencies to reactivity (wanting and grasping, or not wanting and pushing away, at the levels of body, emotions, and/or thoughts). Near the end, there is some further guidance on staying with moderately unpleasant sensations for 2 minutes or so.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin by examining again the nature of equanimity, identifying seven core qualities of equanimity, including a kind of faith or confidence, illustrated with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s account of his midnight "cup of coffee" experience. We point to two typical distortions of equanimity--being overly cool and cut off some from the awakened heart, and disconnecting from action. We then look at the nature of compassion, and see how the development of compassion helps us to respond to these two distortions. In a parallel way, we see how several typical distortions of compassion, such as pity (the "near enemy"), burnout, and confusion (or lack of wisdom), are remedied by the development of equanimity! Together, they help us develop wisdom and the awakened heart, supported by courage (as we learn from the Vietnamese Buddhist tradition).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After basic instructions in (1) settling and stabilizing attention, and (2) practicing mindfulness, there is 5-minute period of settling and stabilizing. Then there are several practice suggestions for cultivating equanimity, especially by noticing and exploring reactivity and any appearances of the "Eight Worldly Winds." After another 10 minutes or so, there is also guidance in two main ways of developing compassion, through opening in mindfulness to what is difficult or painful, and through a three-step self-compassion practice from Kristin Neff.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Equanimity is a balance and non-reactivity, and a connection to an inner freedom, with whatever is happening. It is a quality deeply needed both in meditation and in daily life, particularly in our challenging times. We explore equanimity first by seeing how it manifests in the lives of some of the most beloved humans who have lived, and then by identifying seven core qualities of equanimity. We identify as well some main ways of practicing to cultivate equanimity, and some of the challenges of such practices. We end with a discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After basic instructions in (1) settling and stabilizing attention, and (2) practicing mindfulness, there is a brief general guidance in practicing to cultivate equanimity, especially by noticing moments of reactivity (semi-consciously or unconsciously grasping or pushing away at the level of body, mind, or emotions), and exploring them. Such guidance is repeated about 15 minutes into the silent practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On the Fourth of July, we look at the relationship between the freedoms opened up by the dharma, the teachings and practices of awakening, and by the promise and actuality of democracy, at this time of peril for democracy in the U.S. and elsewhere. Can we imagine a spiritually-grounded democracy? To respond to this question, we examine the vision of democracy, remembering both some of the words of the founders and the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "America is essentially a dream, a dream as yet unfulfilled. It is a dream of a land where people of all races, all nationalities and all creeds can live together as brothers and sisters." We also explore the vision of dharma and awakening, including the Buddha's creation of a community separate from the prevailing caste system of his time. Yet we also need to look at the many "shadows" of both democracy and dharma, which obscure the vision and prevent its full realization. We end by pointing to a number of ways to renew, develop, and practice our visions of "spiritual democracy" in the different parts of our lives.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore further a number of skillful practices and dharma resources for situations involving polarization, differences, and conflict, whether internal, relational, or collective that were identified in the previous week. Two days after last week's talk, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade; we start by examining the nature of polarization at the social level. We look also at the possibility of belonging, community, non-polarization, and moving toward Dr. King's "beloved community," in the midst of differences. Then we focus further on the centrality of empathy and listening to those with different perspectives, offering empathy practices that complement the other practices identified in the talk. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of increased political polarization in the United States and many other places, we look at how, in so many settings, whether the larger political situation, or social change organizations, or spiritual communities, there is very often a lack of skill in working with differences and conflicts. We examine some of the roots of why being with differences and conflicts is hard, including widespread social conditioning to be either conflict-avoidant or conflict-indulgent, and several other core roots. We then suggest six basic practices which address these roots, including: (1) being willing to open to and explore differences and conflicts, (2) empathy, (3) working with views, (4) working with reactivity and difficult emotions, (5) wise speech, and (6) heart practices. The invitation to listeners is to practice these six (or some of the six) for the next period of time!
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start by acknowledging the mass shooting in Texas that occurred yesterday, in the context of our practicing with fear, following up an earlier guided meditation and sharing (not recorded) related to the shooting. We then look generally at the three core ways of practicing with fear, going into some depth on each: (1) cultivating mindfulness and clear seeing (wisdom), (2) working with the heart practices, and (3) acting skillfully. We then focus on how the process of awakening typically involves at each new stage an opening to fear, and also mention some of the dynamics of the "Dark Night of the Soul." Lastly, we look at how to explore and work with fear related to our social world, in terms of the three ways of practicing with fear. There follows a period of discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review briefly some of what we covered in the last session (April 27) on practicing with fear. We then explore the various types of fear reported in the group, what we find bringing mindfulness to hear, particularly what's experienced in the body and in the mind, and the importance of having antidotes to fear, when the level of fear is at a high level and our usual practices are not effective. We also point to the way that as we develop and move into new areas of learning, we also often open up to new fears that are part of the new territory. We close with a period of questions and sharing.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of last week's exploration of the relationship of Buddhist practice to Passover, Easter, and Ramadan, we explore a theme that is part of those holidays, and central to our practice--how we work with fear and anxiety. We look at the centrality of such practice, and the different types of fear, distinguishing the unskillful aspects (such as confusion, reactivity, and the continual repetition of negative narratives) from the at times skillful aspects (such as recognizing danger). We then suggest ways of bringing mindfulness to fear, as well as ways of understanding and responding to fear.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this time of the confluence of Passover, Eastern, and Ramadan, we look at their core messages of liberation, going beyond death, and spiritual purification, and the links of such messages to Buddhist practice, with the aid of images and music.
(Louisville Vipassana Community) On this 54th anniversary of the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 55th anniversary of his talk, "Beyond Vietnam," at the Riverside Church in New York, we explore the nature of Buddhist practice to transform racism, in the context of examining the nature of awakening in the contemporary world. We start by asking whether we may be undergoing a kind of "Fourth Turning," in which there is emerging an expanded contemporary sense of awakening, which includes the transformation of forms greed, hatred, and delusion not explicitly identified in the traditional understanding of awakening. Answering the question affirmatively, we point to two broad areas of ignorance, related to psychological material, and to social conditioning and institutions. On this basis, we then use the traditional Buddhist framework of training in wisdom, meditation, and ethics (and action) to give a preliminary account of a Buddhist approach to transforming racism. From a wisdom perspective, we look particularly at the Buddha's response to the caste system, and his sense of caste divisions as arbitrary (and empty) constructions, followed by looking closely at the constructions of whiteness, blackness, and race in the colonies in the 17th century, linked with greed and the strategy of divide-and-conquer, which have been central to maintaining racism since then. We then look more briefly at the nature of meditative and ethical training in the transformation of racism. A discussion period follows the talk.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A few days after returning from four weeks on retreat at Spirit Rock, Donald reflects on a number of themes related to his retreat, including: the importance of retreat (as well as short periods of meditation) and getting away, if possible, from everyday demands and busyness; the centrality of noticing habitual tendencies and patterns; opening to the unknown and the mysterious; attending to what surfaces, including difficult material, deep aspirations, and insights; the importance of exploring "non-doing" in meditation and activities, and an opening to what is larger than oneself; and taking everything as part of a path of learning.
(East Bay Meditation Center) Just before this Valentine’s Day, we’ll explore, in meditation and a talk and discussion, what helps us to open our hearts to our deep loving nature, and what gets in the way of such opening. We’ll focus on how central it is, and often how hard it is, to be able to develop and express self-love and self-compassion. Yet these qualities are necessary for bringing love into our relationships and into our world, which deeply needs love and heart connections. We’ll identify perspectives and practices which help us to open our hearts to love!
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Yassir Chadly, a long-time friend of Donald's who is a Sufi teacher, musician, and former Olympic swimmer, originally from Morocco, is in dialogue with Donald, and then, during the last part of the session, with the whole group. We explore Yassir's background, the three main levels of practice in Sufism, practicing in Sufism with what arises in the heart, parallels between Sufi and Buddhist practice, how to make sense of how and why some act negatively in the name of a religion (we discuss Islam and Buddhism), the unity of traditions in their deep mystical expressions, and the need to work together across traditions in our current world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) There is weaving together in the talk of several areas, including (1) Donald's stories of his encounters with and learning from Thich Nhat Hanh, starting in 1987; (2) the life story of Thich Nhat (1926-2022); and (3) exploring Thich Nhat Hanh's core teachings, including his teachings about "interbeing," engaged Buddhism, mindfulness, and "being peace." There is a slide show of Thich Nhat Hanh's life shown during the talk available as a pdf file. The talk is followed by the first 3 minutes and 19 seconds of a video of Thich Nhah Hanh talking about "War and Peace Within" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk1jpeo3w6U) and a period of discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A 35-minute or so guided meditation in the manner of Thich Nhat Hanh (connected with the talk honoring Thich Nhat Hanh). The guided meditation is mostly silent, with three short periods of guidance, using these words:
(1) Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out. Breathing in, I calm myself. Breathing out, I feel at ease.
(2) Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment. Bring body and mind back to the present moment. So that you do not miss the appointment with life.
(3) Breathing in, I see myself as a flower. Breathing out, I feel fresh. Breathing in, I see myself as a mountain. Breathing out, I feel solid. Breathing in, I see myself as still water. Breathing out, I reflect all that is. Breathing in, I see myself as space. Breathing out, I feel free.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first explore several important themes in metta practice: (1) how metta practice can be seen as a training in learning to “lead” with the heart; (2) ways of working with difficult experiences, such as anger, fear, and the presence of the judgmental mind, that can arise in the “purification” process connected with metta practice; (3) how metta practice opens us to our radiant depths; and (4) the nature of metta practice with the “difficult person” and its connection with forgiveness practice. Then we explore the nature of forgiveness—clarifying what it is and isn’t; distinguishing between forgiveness as an outer, interpersonal and social process, giving several examples, including from the Heiltsuk indigenous tradition and South Africa, and forgiveness as an inner practice; and identifying some of dynamics of inner forgiveness practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta practice is one version of the ancient vocation to live from kindness and love, that is found across spiritual traditions. In Buddhist tradition, it is in the family of “heart practices” that are called the brahmavihara: Lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. In this context, we explore how metta practice both opens us up to this deep kindness and warmth and to what is the way of metta. We also examine some of the challenges of metta practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta practice is one version of the ancient vocation to live from kindness and love, that is found across spiritual traditions. In Buddhist tradition, it is in the family of “heart practices” that are called the brahmavihara: Lovingkindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity. In this context, we explore how metta practice both opens us up to this deep kindness and warmth and to what is the way of metta. We also examine some of the challenges of metta practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this second exploration of the nature of inquiry or investigation, we first review some of what was covered in the first talk. We situate inquiry or investigation within the teaching of the Seven Factors of Awakening, as one of the three "energizing" factors. After outlining five modes of inquiry and reviewing the first two--inquiring with mindfulness and deep listening--covered last time, we explore a third mode of inquiry--using a teaching to guide one's practice--pointing to using several possible teachings as examples. We then focus on a fourth mode--radical questioning--giving several examples. We end with a period of discussion and dialogue.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a period of settling, we work with two main forms of inquiry or investigation (one of the Seven Factors of Awakening). The first is inquiry through mindfulness when an experience has some duration: Asking what's happening and exploring what's going in the body, the emotions, and the story-line or narrative. The second is inquiry through working with a teaching. Here we work with a simple teaching, coming from the Four Noble Truths: "If there's suffering (or struggle), where's the attachment (or fixed idea, etc.)?" We explore these in formal meditation; they can also be applied in the flow of daily life.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Inquiry is one of the Seven Factors of Awakening, and can be a crucial factor in our practice, leading to greater energy, interest, and learning. Yet we may believe that meditation should be about "not thinking." We explore how we need to be able to not be ruled by thinking; this can make it possible then to use thinking and question fruitfully in inquiry. In the talk, we outline five modes of inquiry, going into depth on two of them: (1) bringing inquiry into our mindfulness practice in several ways, and (2) listening deeply, particularly through the body and emotions (in the "dropping down practice") when there are repetitive thoughts and narratives. After the talk, there is discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some basic instructions in settling with an anchor, and on being with and seeing clearly what's predominant when somewhat settled, we can also explore several instructions for bringing inquiry (or investigation) into practice, through (1) asking what is present right now; (2) exploring with mindfulness an experience that has some duration, asking, "What's going on in the body? . . . What emotion is there and how does it change? . . . What's the narrative or storyline"; and (3) examining the memory of a challenging experience, and inquiring into what is present in re-living that experience.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Our practice aims at awakening (and awakened beings help others awaken). We review briefly the nature of awakening for the Buddha and later Buddhist traditions, and the centrality of the teaching of the Seven Factors of Awakening. We then explore the two foundational factors--mindfulness and equanimity--identifying their core qualities, as well as how to practice to cultivate each of these factors, both in formal meditation and in the movement of daily life. There is a talk and then discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After we set the context of the holiday of Thanksgiving, including Native perspectives, we explore the inter-related qualities of generosity and gratitude. Gratitude is especially in relationship to acknowledging the generosity of others, and of life. We clarify a number of ways to cultivate these two qualities. The talk integrates some discussion and is followed by a longer period of discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Remembering the teaching about there being 84,000 "Dharma Doors," we explore a number of such "doorways to awakening." The interest is especially in inviting us each to have a sense of what at the current time brings one's practice alive, identifying one's "edge of current learning." This may be to identify a current challenge or difficulty and approach it as part of one's practice, and/or to emphasize a dimension of formal and/or informal practice that brings interest, joy, and aliveness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) There’s an outline of how in concentration practice and insight practice, there is deconstruction of some of the structures of ordinary experience, including the separation of knower and known, the solidity of the object, and the will (which is absent in choiceless awareness). We then explore the nature of awakened awareness, with references to how this appears in the teachings of the Buddha, the Thai Forest tradition, and the Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions. Finally, some of the main accessing techniques to open to awakened awareness are described.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore further the nature of samadhi and samatha practice, cultivating samadhi, pointing to the importance of samadhi and samatha practice, the different ways of practicing, and some of the challenges of such practice. We identify five main challenges and suggest some of the ways of working with the challenges.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the last two sessions that Donald has offered on traditional teachings about awakening and contemporary maps of the path of awakening, we explore the core teaching of the Seven Factors of Awakening: mindfulness, investigation, resolve or energy, joy or rapture, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity. We look both individually at each of the seven, and also suggest a number of ways of practicing with this teaching, whether in a particular meditation session, in daily life, or over a sustained period of time. At the end, there is some discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A lightly guided meditation, linked with today's talk, inviting one or more of the Seven Factors of Awakening.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) While much of our interest in practice may be focused on finding some degree of peace and understanding, or on making workable challenging states of body, mind, and heart, it's helpful to keep the vision of how practice aims at awakening (bodhi). In this talk, we explore how the Buddha understood awakening and the path to awakening, as well as perspectives on the lived experience of awakening from later Buddhist traditions. We then ask the question about whether a contemporary path of awakening simply follows the traditional path of awakening. We explore how it's important also to include as parts of the path of awakening teachings and practices that help us work with both more psychological material (such as connected with difficult early experiences, trauma, limiting beliefs, etc.) and with our social conditioning (such as around race, gender, sexuality, class, age, etc.), areas that may not be adequately transformed only with the resources of traditional paths of awakening.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first review last week's theme of traditional understandings of awakening and the path to awakening, focused on the teachings of the Buddha, of the Thai Forest tradition, and of Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra. Then we explore the question whether we have need as well of contemporary maps of paths to awakening, to get at dimensions of contemporary greed, aversion, and delusion that are not identified in traditional maps. We suggest the need for such maps, and for integrating traditional understandings with examination particularly of psychological and social conditioning. If not transformed, such conditioning can lead to many problems for all practitioners, including teachers and those with some significant taste of awakening. Discussion follows.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a number of sessions focused on practicing with reactivity and with challenges, we focus on awakening and awakened qualities. We survey the Buddha's main understanding of awakening as the ending of greed, aversion, and ignorance, as well as his pointing to a "signless, boundless, luminous" awareness at times. We also explore some of the understandings of a similar "awakened awareness" found in the Thai Forest tradition and the Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions (in part through slides, which can be found below, at this Dharma Seed site). Finally, the suggestion is made to set the intention especially this next week to cultivate one or two awakened qualities.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with the intention to cultivate awakened qualities, then have a period of settling, followed by opening up experience and particularly noticing any reactivity (habitual grasping and pushing away) and awakened qualities, such as mindfulness, concentration, equanimity, joy, etc.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We name some of the personal, relational, and collective challenges of our current times, and point to a number of guidelines and support that help us to skillfully take such challenges as part of our practice of awakening. Discussion follows the talk.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin by naming some of the important supports for daily life practice and by exploring further the importance of practicing with reactivity (compulsively and habitually grasping after or pushing away). It's helpful to focus on the center of practice: Transforming reactivity and learning better how to respond skillfully in all parts of our lives. It's also important to name some of the complexities of practicing with reactivity: (1) Seeing that the pleasant and unpleasant aren't the problem, that reactivity is the problem; (2) understanding that this isn't about passivity but rather about skillful response; and (3) clarifying that reactivity can often be enmeshed with important insight, clarity, and intelligence, such that the aim of practice is to separate out the reactivity from the insight. In this context, we then look further at the Eight Worldly Winds (pleasure or pain, gain or loss, fame or disrepute, and praise or blame) and point to a number of guidelines and suggestions for practicing when they arise.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some general instructions for settling and seeing clearly and a period of practice, there is guidance for practicing with the Eight Worldly Winds (pleasure or pain, gain or loss, fame or disrepute, and praise or blame). We focus first on being attentive to moderate or greater levels of pleasant or unpleasant experiences (when the experiences are in the "workable" range). Then we bring in attention to the other Winds, when they arise.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with a review of the last two sessions related to deepening daily life practice, including identifying some of the challenges of contemporary daily life practice and some basic ways of deepening such practice, the importance for such practice of mindfulness of the body, and the centrality of practicing with reactivity (based on looking closely at the sequence from contact to grasping or pushing away). We then, for the rest of the session, explore the teaching of the Eight Worldly Winds (pleasure or pain, gain or loss, fame or disrepute, and praise or blame) as a way of looking out for eight specific experiences that are likely to lead to reactivity. In all of this, we focus on how we might learn from and respond skillfully to such challenging situations rather than simply react in a largely unconscious and habitual way. The talk is followed by a discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this guided meditation, we start with about 10 minutes of settling. We then attend to when there is a moderate or greater pleasant or unpleasant feeling-tone, bringing some investigation as to what occurs in ones' experience, including tendencies to reactivity (grasping or pushing away). Toward the end of the guided meditation, there's an invitation to track for those forms of reactivity coming after one of the Eight Worldly Winds (pleasure or pain, gain or loss, fame or disrepute, and praise or blame).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with a review of last week's opening exploration of deepening daily life practice, naming some of the challenges of daily life practice, some initial ways of deepening such practice, and the centrality for such practice of mindfulness of the body. We then, for the rest of the session, explore how we can practice with reactivity when it arises, in its two forms--grasping after the pleasant and pushing away what is taken as unpleasant. We ground such practice in the Buddha's teaching in the model of Dependent Origination of the sequence from contact to feeling-tone to wanting (or not wanting) to grasping (or pushing away). We then point to a number of ways of practicing with reactivity and some of the complexities of such practice, particularly the ways in which reactivity can be enmeshed with discernment. A discussion follows!
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this guided meditation, we start with about 10 minutes of settling. We then attend to when there is a moderate or greater pleasant or unpleasant feeling-tone, bringing some investigation as to what occurs in ones' experience. Toward the end of the guided meditation, there's an invitation to track for any moment of reactivity (grasping onto the pleasant in some way, or pushing away the unpleasant).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In an important sense, daily life practice is central and vital; it is where we live! Yet at times in the non-monastic Insight Meditation approach as it's developed in the West, such practice has been somewhat marginalized, with retreat practice and formal meditation practice at the center. We explore first the challenging context of daily life practice for many Western practitioners, including not just such a lack of sustained emphasis on daily life practice, but also the challenges of living in what is often a very busy, "mental" culture and society. We then look at a number of ways to bring more awareness into daily life, inviting the listener to see what one or two ways of practicing might be emphasized in the next period of time. We give a more in-depth focus on one very central way of bringing more awareness into daily life--developing mindfulness of the body. We offer a number of different practices that support such mindfulness of the body.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A year after the massive demonstrations in the US following the killing of George Floyd, we reflect on different aspects of the integration of Buddhist practice and transforming racism, identifying nine key themes.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We inquire into doing and not-doing in five ways: (1) identifying the importance of a number of different kinds of "doing" and skillful effort in meditation; (2) pointing also to the centrality of a kind of not-doing (or letting go of doing) and receptivity in meditation; (3) the importance of investigating the "doer" and one's identity as a doer, in a number of different ways, in meditation and daily life; (4) the vision of a doing that comes out of being, that comes out of a deep not-doing, a vision that we find in different spiritual traditions--here we mention ways that this vision is found in Jewish, Christian, Taoist, and Buddhist traditions; and (5) how we explore and cultivate this doing coming out of a deep not-doing in daily life, in "flow experiences," in activities in which we are deeply grounded, and in such areas as sports, music, art, and dance.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the nature of faith (or confidence or trust), how it is developed, and the challenges that arise. We look at the traditional teachings on faith (or saddha) in several contexts, and examine how faith or confidence develops in our practice and in our lives We particularly look at some of the challenges that arise, both in the everyday experience of the Eight Worldly Winds, and in more protracted experiences of something like the "Dark Night of the Soul." The last part of the talk points to what mature faith, confidence, and trust look like, a kind of faith in our own depths and in our own deep resting in the nature of things. We then have a period of discussion and sharing.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Our practice points toward a deep kind of faith (or confidence or trust) that is possible, in which there is faith both in our unique being and in our connection to being itself. We explore how we develop such faith, starting with a brief account of how faith (saddha) is understood in the teachings of the Buddha, and then exploring how faith is developed at different stages of our practice, particularly beginning and intermediate.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We briefly review the main themes of our practice in the last sessions: The importance of "doing" and skillful effort in our formal practice and in our daily lives; the parallel importance of "not-doing" (particularly receptivity) in these areas; some ways to inquire into the nature of our identities as "doers"; some ways of bringing these practices into daily life; the experience of "flow" and being an "expert" in a given area as pointing to a kind of "doing" coming out of a deep not-doing; and the theme of not-doing in Taoist tradition (emphasizing the work of Chuang Tzu) and Buddhist tradition. We suggest that all of practice points toward this deep non-doing as an expression of awakening. We then explore this territory in a 20-minute guided meditation, followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A thirty-minute or so guided meditation, lightly guided, with three successive instructions: (1) to set intentions in light of whether one needs in general to emphasize "doing" more or less, and then to focus initially on settling, connecting with the primary object and noticing when one is distracted; (2) to emphasize receptivity as a dimension of not-doing in being with what is predominant, after an initial period of settling; and (3) opening to a kind of "choiceless awareness," simply noticing what is occurring moment by moment.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review briefly the basic perspectives that we've explore in preceding sessions: the importance of active "doing" in meditation and daily life, the importance as well as receptivity and "not-doing" in meditation and daily life, and ways in which to inquire into our more fixed identity as a "doer." We then look at two broad perspectives on a doing coming out of a deep not-doing: (1) in "flow" experiences and the experiences of "experts" in a given area, with examples from art, music, sports, and everyday life; and (2) in spiritual traditions, with a particular emphasis on Taoist and Buddhist sources. Then there is a second guided meditation, about 20 minutes long, and beginning at 35:55, grounded in the earlier guided meditation before the talk, in which we explore a progressive letting-go of both more gross and more subtle dimensions of meditative doing, opening up to a deeper non-doing, which can be the basis for the "doing coming out of a deep not-doing" we explored in the talk. Finally, we have open discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) About a 30-minute guided meditation emphasizing the balance of more active "doing" and more receptive awareness (a kind of "not-doing") in meditation. We start with intentions and then settling of attention and awareness, followed by opening up to what is predominant, integrating both more active and more receptive dimensions of practice. This session is followed by a talk on the theme of doing and not-doing in meditation and daily life, and a second guided meditation, which goes more deeply into not-doing.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with a brief review of what we’ve explored in the last two sessions on this theme, including the importance of both doing and not-doing in Buddhist practice and the nature of identification with the “doer” (and the related themes of self, time, and the future). We then go into more depth inquiring into the nature of the “doer,” including a brief guided meditation looking into the experience of “doing” and opening to not-doing in meditation. We lastly further investigate traditions (Jewish, Christian, Taoist, and Buddhist) that point to the importance of a doing coming out of not-doing, and ways that we can experience and explore this doing coming out of not-doing in daily life, including in the experiences of creativity in art and music, and being “in the zone” in sports.
(InsightLA) First, we consider further some of the qualities of mudita, how joy is central to the teachings of the Buddha, how the cultivation of joy is crucial for being able to address difficulties and painful situations, how joy can be understood as a deep expression of our fundamental nature, and how joy can be present even in the midst of difficulties. Then we explore the nature of equanimity, pointing to several of the qualities of equanimity, including balance, evenness, unshakability, undetstanding and wisdom, warmth, and responsiveness. We also examine some of the typical distortions of equanimity and importance of the interconnection of the four brahmavihara as one to avoid such distractions.
(InsightLA) We first explore some further suggestions in the practice of metta, particularly related to working with distraction and an active mind, and then related to practicing when difficult states of mind, body, and emotion come up. We then begin to clarify the nature of compassion as the expression of the awakened heart in the presence of pain and difficulty. We link compassion to the understanding of the nature of how the conditioned mind reacts to what is painful, referring to the sequence from contact to grasping in the teaching on Dependent Origination, and the explication of the teaching of Dukkha (or "reactivity") and the end of Dukkha. We then explore further the receptive and active dimensions of compassion, some difficult distortions of compassion, and ways that compassion manifests toward self and others.
(InsightLA) We first explore the nature of the four, interconnected brahmavihara as expressions of the "awakened heart." We then orient ourselves to the beginning of formal practice of the brahmavihara by clarifying the nature of metta (or "lovingkindness") practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We briefly review the main themes from last week, including the importance of "doing" and effort in the teachings and practices of the Buddha, the importance also of "not-doing" (through letting go and cultivating receptive mindfulness), and elements of our conditioning to be a "doer." We go in more detail into this conditioning, pointing to ways of practicing and inquiring. Then, finally, we explore how there is an advanced way of being in which doing comes, so to speak, out of non-doing; we look at this in terms of the teachings of Lao-Tzu, Chuang-Tzu, and Dzogchen. We close with a kind of developmental model of the stages of inquiry into the doer.
(Benicia Insight Meditation) Edited. We explore the nature of equanimity and how to cultivate, with Donald particularly inspired by the qualities of equanimity he found in his father Simon, with the day of the talk the 100th anniversary of Simon's birth! We look at the Pali terms for equanimity and the general qualities of equanimity: Evenness, balance, unshakability, wisdom, connection with the awakened heart, and responsiveness, linking these qualities with particular ways that we can develop equanimity. Following the talk, there is a sustained discussion of various themes and questions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature of doing and not-doing, first in dharma practice generally. The Buddha’s teachings seem full of exhortations to diligence, mindfulness, and skillful effort and doing. Yet there also is a clear place for not-doing—for example, in letting go and in cultivating mindful receptivity to experience. We can also see how being a “doer” is so central to many of our identities, whether in our roles or work or even our meditation. Given these dimensions of doing and not-doing, we suggest a number of ways to inquire into and respond to our patterns and habits related to doing and not-doing, both in meditation and daily life.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the January 6 session on practicing with intentions in individual formal and daily life practice, and on Inauguration Day, we explore practicing in more community, social, and collective settings. In this context, we point to the importance of combining i"inner" and "outer" practice, and to two possible inspirations: (1)the figure of the bodhisattva who combines awakening and helping others, and (2) the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a kind of bodhisattva. On this basis, there is a short period in which those present are asked to write their own intentions and/or vows to guide their responses to the current needs and crises of our world. Some share their writing!
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Practicing metta is an ancient vocation in which we incline toward metta, toward a warm, expansive friendliness, each moment. In doing so, we also come to see what gets in the way of metta. A metta retreat offers us a focused period of training, helping us then to bring our metta more into our formal practice, our daily lives, and a world deeply in need of metta. Yet there are challenges in metta practice. We also identify a number of these challenges, and how responses to the challenges point to some of the fundamental ways that training in metta transforms us.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this time of transition, for the earth in the Northern Hemisphere, for many of us in the New Year, and for the U.S., in which clarity of intentions is so important, we explore two types of intentions: (1) aspiration or being guided by one's deeper values and intentions, sometimes taking the form of vows; and (2) moment-to-moment intentions. We are especially interested in connecting the two types of intentions. A focus on moment-to-moment intentions (cetana) helps us with wise action and practice moment-to-moment, seeing which intentions are skillful and which are not (including implicit or even unconscious tendencies linked with habitual energies). We look a number of ways of practicing with intentions both in our formal and our informal practice. We close with a short writing exercise bringing out our core intentions and next steps for the coming period, and then have a period of discussion and sharing.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After setting the context of the Winter Solstice, in terms of the earth and the history of many varied cultures which have had rituals and ceremonies at this time, we explore, through teachings, stories, and poems, five ways that we open to the dark: (1) We stop and become still, like the earth. (2) We learn to be more able to be skillfully with difficulties and challenges.. (3) We become more comfortable and skillful in conditions of not knowing, as we open to the unknown, the mystery, and shadow areas, both individual and collective. (4) We come to experience darkness as generative and fertile, creative and dynamic. (5) We come to experience darkness as luminous, as generating light, as opening us to the light.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review some of what we've covered in previous sessions, including the Buddha's teachings on views, the core of the problem being reactivity (grasping and pushing away) in relationship to views--not views themselves, and three ways of practicing with views. We then introduce one of the three forms of deeper inquiry into views mentioned, the approach of Nagjarjuna (c. 150-250 C.E.), the "second Buddha." Nagarjuna demonstrated a method of showing how any reactively-held views, including Buddhist views, leads to contradictions and absurdity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the important, complex, and often challenging theme of practicing with views (or beliefs)--a central theme of individual practice and a vital area in the contemporary collective context. We first review the teachings of the Buddha on views, mentioning several key texts in which it's clear that he takes a highly pragmatic approach to views; views are helpful if they are conducive to awakening and traditional Indian metaphysical views are both not helpful and not ultimately resolvable in terms of their validity. An approach to views is unskillful if based on reactivity, on grasping or fixating, on the one hand, or pushing away in aversion, on the other. We also explore how many social views are the result of manipulation and control, as in propaganda and the social construction, often for reasons of manipulation, of many of our most central concepts and views. In the last part of the talk, we explore several ways of practicing with views, including (1) developing mindfulness of views, (2) inquiring into fixed views (we outline a number of methods), and (3) cultivating listening and empathy. The talk is followed by discussion, with comments and questions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Buddha famously said, “I have dukkha and the end of dukkha.” Yet it can be confusing to know what the Buddha might have meant. One reason for the confusion is that there are multiple accounts of dukkha in the discourses; we explore four of them, finding that, for the first three, it doesn't make sense to speak of the "the end of dukkha." Only for the fourth sense of dukkha, which we find both in the teaching of the Two Arrows (or Darts) and in the teaching of Dependent Origination does "the end of dukkha" make sense. On this basis, we then explore the nature of dukkha, interpreted especially as reactivity, which we find in two forms--grasping and pushing away. We lastly explore eight core ways of practicing with dukkha.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Practicing with one's views or opinions or beliefs is central both to traditional Buddhist practice and to what is needed in a society polarized by views; it is also central to relationships and skillful communication, especially in difficult or conflictual situations. We establish in this session a foundation for such practice, by identifying both the core teachings on views by the Buddha and three basic ways of practicing with views. We explore the core teachings on views especially by looking at five key passages from the Buddha's discourses, getting a sense of how attachment to views can be problematic. We also identify three ways of practicing with views: (1) becoming mindful of one's views, (2) inquiring into one's views when one notices an opposition with the views of others, and (3) listening and developing empathy in relationship to the views of others. After the talk, we discuss together many questions and points related to these teachings and practices.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The morning after Election Day in the U.S., with the result in the Presidential election still uncertain, we explore a number of ways of practicing--in both a more inner and a more outer way. Participants, who include several from outside the U.S., share some of what they are experiencing, and we explore several ways of working with challenging emotions, thoughts, and body-states. We emphasize the importance of compassion for self and others, empathy--including across lines of difference, working with one's own views, participation in a community, and connection with traditions and approaches--such as that of the bodhisattva--that give one resources for the "long haul." Eve Decker brings in a vital further resource--song--three times during the session, with "Sending You Light," "We Who Believe in Freedom," and the dedication of merit from the Chinese Pure Land tradition.
(Marin Sangha) What does our practice look like at a time of multiple crises? We explore the great contemporary need for many of us to deepen in our path of awakening, and deepen in or sustain our ways of responding to the needs of our world. We look at the nature of awakening, both in its traditional and contemporary forms, and ask: How might I bring my practice of awakening up a notch or two? We look at how we can integrate this awakening process with our responsive action, pointing to what we might call a contemporary curriculum for those integrating inner and outer transformation. Following the talk, we have a discussion covering many aspects of our theme of awakening in a time of crisis.
(Insight Meditation Tucson) We examine both the nature of equanimity and how to develop more equanimity, both in formal meditation and in the flow of our lives, including in the context of multiple contemporary crises. Equanimity has qualities of balance, evenness, unshakability, understanding and wisdom, faith, joy, and responsiveness. It can be cultivated in our basic mindfulness practice, as we develop more balance, particularly by learning from tends to unbalance us, including difficult emotions, thoughts, and body-states. We can also particularly focus on the teaching of the "Eight Worldly Winds" (or Conditions): pleasure and pain, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We focus, in the context of difficult or challenging communication, on the integration of individual, inner practice and skillful speaking. After a review of eight general guidelines for skillful speech and how we do inner practice related to, but separate from, such challenging communication, we look at ways to bring inner practice in speaking and relating. We also focus on several more "outer" skillful ways of speaking to bring about mutual understanding, including using relatively neutral observations free of interpretations, and cultivating the practice of empathy. We then look at how to integrate more inner and more outer dimensions of practice in the context of several challenging situations.
(East Bay Meditation Center) We explore the nature of fear and how to practice with fear. Syra speaks first; Donald speaks second, starting at 17:00. Discussion, including questions, starts at 34:43.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review eight important capacities that help us to be skillful in difficult and challenging situations involving speech and communication. We then continue to explore how we might combine more "inner" and more "outer" responses, here focusing especially on "inner work" with difficult emotions (we look at working with anger and fear), thoughts and narratives (we look particularly at those connected with the judgmental mind), and body states. A discussion follows the talk.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the foundations of wise speech and the eight guidelines for skillful speech when there are difficult or challenging situations, we explore the connection of inner practices with such situations. We look at two dimensions of such practice: (1) looking at and transforming conditioning that makes it hard to engage in such situations, such as related to negative views about conflict and anger, and discerning when there is spiritual bypassing in relationship to difficulties; and (2) bringing mindfulness, inquiry, and investigation to difficult emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, etc.,and to thoughts and narratives (especially generated by the judgmental mind). We will continue this exploration, including of difficult body states, next time..
(Insight Meditation Tucson) We explore the deep resonance between Buddhist practice and nonviolent action (in the tradition of Mohandas Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Cesar Chavez, and others). We first examine the core of Buddhist practice as expressed in the Buddha's statement: "I teach dukkha and the end of dukkha; we explicate dukkha as "reactivity." We then show how the nonviolence of Dr. King follows the same core understanding of developing non-reactive and nonviolent responses--for him especially to the institutionalized reactivity of greed and hatred. We identify six basic themes of such nonviolent action, which, in the words of John Lewis, is ultimately "love in action."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After reviewing three foundations of Wise Speech--the four ethical guidelines for skillful speech, presence and mindfulness during speech, and the practice of empathy--we explore, on the basis of these foundations, how to be skillful during difficult or challenging situations of speech and communication, whether involving two individuals, a group, or a larger society. We identify eight perspectives, practices, and capacities that support skillful speech during such difficult situations.
(White Heron Sangha) The Buddha said, “I have taught dukkha [usually translated as “suffering”] and the end of dukkha.” This teaching is the heart of our practice, yet it is often misunderstood or even confusing to people, primarily because there are at least four different understandings of dukkha in the teachings. We’ll explore the nature of the teaching, emphasizing particularly the interpretation of dukkha as "reactivity" (particularly linked to the teaching of the Two Arrows or Two Darts), which comes in two forms--grasping or greed, and compulsive pushing away or aversion. We'll point to how we might practice with the teaching at this time of crisis--in our formal practice, in our practice in daily life, and in our work, service, and/or activism.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the previous talks in this series, and a clarification of the different dimensions of our practice, we continue to explore the foundation given last time--empathy practice and the intention to understand and connect with another. We work with two brief exercises which point to ways of practicing empathy. Then we examine the four guidelines for wise or skillful speech given by the Buddha--for our speech and communication to be truthful, helpful, kind and loving (even when saying difficult things), and timely.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with a brief review of the three previous talks on deepening practice during the pandemic (and other crises), including clarifying three broad areas of practice: Formal meditation practice, daily life practice, and work, service, and/or activism as practice. In this session, we explore the foundations of Wise Speech as practice, mentioning three foundations. The first two include (1) the ethical guidelines given by the Buddha regarding skillful speech, and (2) developing presence and mindfulness during speech (including listening). We focus most of the time on the third foundation of cultivating empathic connection with another, clarifying the difference between empathy and compassion, giving some of the findings of studies in neuroscience about empathy, and examining what blocks empathy. We then work with a simple (yet powerful) empathy practice of tuning into (1) emotions, and (2) what matters, and move into a period of discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of what we've explored in the last two sessions, in terms of ways of deepening daily life practice in terms of formal practice, informal practice, and one's work, service, and/or activism, we go more deeply into two areas. We look at how to practice with exploring and seeing intentions, and some ways to make connections between formal and informal practice--in the flow of daily life. The talk has a few references to the life of Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights activist and Congressperson, who died on July 17, 2020, and is followed by discussion..
(Insight Meditation Tucson) We explore the nature of ethical commitment and how our commitment not to harm also implies, following some of the teachings and actions of the Buddha and of other teachers, such as Thich Nhat Hanh, a commitment not to let others harm (or kill). On this basis, we then outline a number of possible ways to act to address the harm of racism, clarifying an important aspect of such action--that our actions to address harm as much as possible not cause further harm themselves. We end by remembering that we need perspectives and capacities, inner and outer, that help us to be engaged for the "long haul."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with a brief review of the previous week's talk and discussion, in which we explored a number of ways to deepen (1) our formal practice; (2) our informal (daily life) practice; and (3) our service, work, and/or activism as practice. This exploration points to a broadened sense of practice. We then examine in some depth three inter-related foundational areas for deepening practice in all three areas: (1) developing mindfulness of the body; (2) working to transform reactivity (here as a translation of "dukkha"), including as it manifests in challenging or difficult experiences; and (3) pausing and setting intentions. Our discussion particularly goes into being skillful with challenging experiences.
(Insight Meditation Tucson) In this second talk in the series, we first review the main "wisdom" perspectives presented last week, that give us some orientation toward understanding and transforming racism. Then we explore the second area of training: meditation and inner work, identifying four main themes and practices, the first three of which are supported significantly by working in small groups: (1) understanding and working with "implicit bias"; (2) cultivating mindfulness of our racial conditioning and the experiences which arise in investigating race and racism; (3) heart practices like compassion and empathy; and (4) the importance of continuing to access, as best we can, deeper experiences of our being.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Our current crises present both challenges and opportunities. We look at three main ways to deepen our practice at this time, focusing on (1) formal practice; (2) more "informal" (or "daily life" practice); and (3) our work, service, and/or activism. For each of these areas, a number of suggestions are made, inviting the listener to discern the one or two or three ways that most resonate and connect with one's own edge of learning.
(Insight Meditation Tucson) In this first talk in a three-part series, we work with the traditional model of a threefold training in wisdom, meditation, and ethics, beginning with identifying three perspectives that can guide our understanding and practice. The first is to remember the Buddha's rejection of the caste system and its core claims, and the welcoming of all, from any caste or from no caste, into his community. The second is to understand how greed, hatred, and delusion, the transformation of which is at the center of our practice, are not just individual but also institutional and systemic in nature. The third is to see how race, in terms of blackness and whiteness, is a social construction without biological reality, appearing in history at a certain point a little over three centuries ago (we look in some detail at how whiteness appeared in colonial Virginia at the end of the 17th century); it is a construction very clearly connected with divide-and-conquer strategies by the wealthy elite, which then has terrible consequences.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Traditional Buddhist training occurs through development in wisdom, ethics, and meditation. We use this model to help us to understand Buddhist practice that aims to transform racism. We start by reviewing briefly the first three perspectives offered in the previous week, which fall under training in wisdom. Then we look at how ethical practice and in particular the practice of non-harming can be the basis for action, based on an understanding of ethical practice as guiding both one's personal behavior and one's responses to harm in one's communities and society. Lastly, we explore meditative training and how in particular mindfulness and compassion play central roles in the transformation of racism.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We open up five perspectives, the first three of which have more to do with understanding and the last two of which have more to do with practice and action. The five perspectives are: (1) remembering the Buddha's elimination of caste within his community; (2) understanding how greed, hatred (including racism), and delusion are not just personal but are also institutionalized; (3) understanding through looking at US history how race is a construction (with terrible consequences)-- both initially in the 17th century and later, commonly linked with divide-and-conquer strategies by those with economic and political power; (4) how our ethical practice calls us not just not to harm in our personal actions, but also not to let harm be done by others; and (5) the identification of different dimensions of transformative practice. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of our last two sessions exploring the nature of dukkha as reactivity and how to practice to transform reactivity, in the context of the Buddha's teachings of Dependent Origination and the Two Arrows, we explore a third aspect of practice. Some of our experiences of reactivity, particularly those in which there are repetitive and habitual patterns, sometimes open up to reveal old and relatively unconscious material, part of our "ignorance," giving us the chance to access and transform such material. This can occur, for example, when there is trauma, or when there are limiting beliefs originating from childhood (or sometimes later) related to psychological and/or social conditioning. A general model is given of four steps in the transformation of such material.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first review the main themes from last time: (1) the nature of reactivity, and dukkha as reactivity in the Buddha's teachings, (2) the nature of awakening and freedom as liberation from reactivity, and (3) four main ways to practice with reactivity. We then look more deeply, noticing that very commonly reactivity is mixed with insight, discernment, intelligence, or something important or valuable, as when I become reactive when someone doesn't keep an agreement, or at social injustice. We explore how to transform reactivity by separating out what is valuable from the reactivity, in a number of ways, so that we can keep the insight or intelligence, and use it as the basis for wise, compassionate action. We close the talk with Eve Decker singing, "Simple Truth," about skillful ways to work with reactive self-judgment, and then have a period of discussion, including questions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with some remembering of our current context of crisis, and the possibility of having major learning and transformation come out of this time—personally, relationally, and collectively—rather than simply going back to the old “normal.” Then we continue to explore the different dimensions of awakening from our habits and conditioning, here looking at what may be the most central dimension—transforming dukkha (or “reactivity”—compulsively grasping after the pleasant, pushing away the unpleasant); the Buddha said once, “I teach dukkha and the end of dukkha.” We examine: (1) the nature of dukkha or reactivity, grounding in the core teachings of Dependent Origination and the Two Arrows; (2) the nature of non-reactivity, or freedom or liberation or responsiveness; and (3) how to practice to transform reactivity, identifying six ways of practicing, and focusing here on the first four.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of some of the suggested ways to practice with the pandemic given last week, we explore two key capacities for our times: Compassion and equanimity. We look into the key aspects of compassion and equanimity and also how to cultivate them. For each of the two qualities, we also have songs inspired by and inspiring the qualities, from Eve Decker. A period of discussion, including questions and responses, concludes the session.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Questions and responses, as well as suggestions and shared insights from the group.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A talk giving a number of ways to approach this time of "sheltering-in-place" in terms of perspectives, intentions, core practices, and skillful actions, seeing the crisis as a great opportunity as well as a challenge.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin by pointing to how combining traditional Buddhist training with transforming psychological and social conditioning and unresolved material suggests the contours of a contemporary path of awakening. We then identify some of the main areas of the contemporary “shadow,” of unconscious, unresolved conditioning and developmental wounds, such as anger, fear, death, shame, conflict, trauma, grief, sexuality, and so on. We then give a “map” of four stages in the transformation of the shadow (particularly in a meditative context), starting with finding ways to access the shadow, then learning to be with and explore the shadow, then transforming the shadow, and then integrating the shadow work with daily life.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the role of working with transforming psychological conditioning and unresolved material (incomplete developmental tasks, developmental wounds, trauma, limiting beliefs, etc.) in a contemporary path of awakening. Using the concepts of unconscious material and of the “shadow” (individual and collective), we point to how the Buddha faced his own shadow (the four heavenly messengers that he found outside of his conditioning in the palace). We then explore some tools and ways to open to and work with unconscious or shadow aspects of ourselves, both in and out of formal meditation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this session, we explore first in a more general way the complex relationship between transforming our psychological conditioning (including any residues of trauma) and meditative training, pointing to a kind of emerging contemporary map of how these practices come together (and how this map relates to more traditional maps). Near the end of the talk are inquiry questions to help us explore our own unresolved issues of a more psychological nature.
(East Bay Insight Meditation Community) A guided meditation exploring the nature of our experience of time, followed by a talk and discussion.
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) A guided meditation exploring the nature of our experience of time, followed by a talk and discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We focus in this session on four ways of practicing that help us to transform our conditioning in relationship to time: (1) opening to the present moment, as in our core practice of mindfulness; (2) exploring impermanence reflectively and experientially in several ways; (3) accessing, at least briefly, a timeless awareness, and learning to live from this awareness more and more; and (4) noticing and examining our various forms of conditioning around time. The first three ways of practicing correspond to the guided practices in the earlier guided meditation. For the fourth, we look especially in this session at the powerful ways that our cultural and social conditioning operates, comparing some of the main aspects of conditioning in the mainstream U.S., with its emphasis on future planning, productivity, and busyness, among other orientations to time, with how some other cultures experience time.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After starting with the foundational mindfulness instructions for settling, becoming less distracted, and then seeing clearly whatever is predominant in experience, we explore three ways of practicing that help us to transform our conditioning in relationship to time: (1) opening to the present moment; (2) exploring impermanence, particularly the arising, staying, changing, and passing away of experiential phenomena; and (3) accessing, at least briefly, a timeless awareness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to investigate our experience of time, focusing first more extensively on common patterns of experiencing time in a conditioned way. We then point to three main ways that our sense of time is transformed as we awaken, related to a deepened sense of impermanence as well as a greater sense of presence, and, finally, a movement, so to speak, into timeless awareness. Relatedly, we point to four main ways of practicing to investigate our experience of time, related first to examining our various conditioned constructions of time, and then to opening further to impermanence, presence, and timeless awareness, which can then also, to speak, hold time.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore two dimensions of integration in metta practice: (1) connecting metta and the awakened heart with wisdom, especially through the connection between metta and equanimity; and (2) pointing to ways to continue our metta practice in several dimensions of daily life—in individual practice, in being with others, and in our participation in the wider social world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Instructions for "radiating metta" and guided practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Guided by a recent translation of a poem about metta practice by an early Buddhist nun, from The First Free Women, we contemplate the simple yet radical and profound spirit of metta practice. The author tells us: "I have followed this Path of friendship to its end. And I can say with absolute certainty—it will lead you home.” We look at how metta cuts through fear, how it deepens concentration, how we work with the challenges of metta practice, how we navigate the “purification process” linked with metta practice, and how we integrate the kind heart, mindfulness, wisdom, and skillful action.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At an often frenetic time in our society, it can be important to find a time to stop and dis-engage from our busy-ness, for a few hours, a half-day, a day, or longer. This can help us in many ways, including knowing more deeply and intuitively what our next steps might be, in alignment with our integrity. This is crucial both individually and for those engaged in responding to the crises of our world. We explore five key ways to be with such a process—to embrace the darkness of this time, and to come to know how being with the darkness is generative and brings light.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Following last week’s initial inquiry into our experience of time, and, for many, a week of practice related to time, we explore (1) further aspects of the nature of the ordinary conditioning related to the experience of time, bringing some of our own findings as well as material from philosophy, physics, and psychology; (2) some further material on how the Buddha and other awakened beings teach about time and the timeless; and (3) several main practices that help us to explore and transform our conditioning related to time, including developing mindfulness in the moment, opening to “flow” states, and exploring impermanence.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Guidance generally on mindfulness practice, followed by guidance on several ways to explore time, including being in the present moment, noticing patterns to time, and opening in different ways to the impermanence of experience.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this initial inquiry into our experience of time, we explore (1) the nature of the ordinary conditioning related to the experience of time, including how we relate to past, present, and future, how we take time to be objectively “real,” and how we learn as children to use the construction of time; (2) how the Buddha and other sages seem to experience and teach about time, including about the “timeless”; and (3) how to practice to explore and transform our conditioning related to time.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A day before Thanksgiving, we explore the central importance of cultivating generosity (dāna) and gratitude (kataññutā), and their interrelationship. The Buddha teaches (AN 2.11): "These two people are hard to find in the world. Which two? The one who is first to do a kindness, and the one who is grateful and thankful for a kindness done.” We look at a number of ways to practice to cultivate generosity and gratitude, and some of the nuances and complexities of such practices, including the importance of gratitude as a practice in difficult circumstances. Ultimately, these two practices teach us to rest more and more with a sense of interdependence and what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “interbeing.”
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A day before Thanksgiving, we explore the central importance of cultivating generosity (dāna) and gratitude (kataññutā), and their interrelationship. The Buddha teaches (AN 2.11): "These two people are hard to find in the world. Which two? The one who is first to do a kindness, and the one who is grateful and thankful for a kindness done.” We look at a number of ways to practice to cultivate generosity and gratitude, and some of the nuances and complexities of such practices, including the importance of gratitude as a practice in difficult circumstances. Ultimately, these two practices teach us to rest more and more with a sense of interdependence and what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “interbeing.”
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, when it is said that the veils of ignorance are lessened, we explore ways to “begin again,” both in the moment and more generally,--to re-align our lives, guided also by Buddhist resources and by poets, sages, and activists. Through guided reflections, we examine (1) ways in which we are “off the mark,” in which we need re-alignment; (2) what we wish to let go of and/or forgive; and (3) our deeper aspirations for the next period of time.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In our fourth exploration of how to practice with conflict, we examine four practice resources, inviting listeners to keep in mind, as we explore the resources, a conflict (whether an inner conflict, an interpersonal conflict, or a larger social conflict); conflict is understood as a difference of, or tension between, positions or values or needs. The first resource is that of the tools of our inner practice: mindfulness practice, heart practices such as compassion, lovingkindness, and forgiveness, and ways to work with difficult emotions and thoughts such as anger, fear, sadness, frustration, the judgmental mind, etc. The second resource is that of the "win-win" or "both-and" model of conflict transformation, in which the aim is to move from an "either-or" or "win-lose" framework toward the "win-win" way of meeting the underlying values or needs of both sides; at times, we may need to move away from the "win-lose" framework through "avoidance" (time outs, cease-fires, etc.) or compromise, on the way, if possible, to "win-win." The third resource is that of empathy, taken as a practice central to working with conflicts of any kind. The fourth resource is that of working with attachments to fixed views that typically arise in conflict situations of any kind, especially through through mindfulness, inquiry, empathy, and heart practices.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review what we’ve explored so far about practicing with conflict, including our conditioning and stereotypes about conflict (typically with views of conflict as negative), ways to bring our meditation practice into working with the “inner” states (emotions, thoughts, bodily states) that arise with conflict, and the “both-and” or “win-win” perspective on approaching conflict. We then bring in a further important resource—empathic understanding of another—outlining a simple way to “practice” empathy. We then work with an exercise bringing empathy to someone with whom one is in conflict. Then we discuss all of this.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore further how to connect dharma practice with being skillful with conflict. We look at the various forms of conditioning around conflict, including the prevalent negative connotations of the word, “conflict,” the very common conditioning to either avoid conflicts or “act out” in conflicts (with avoidance being much more prevalent in our group), the tendency to see conflicts dualistically (in terms of winner vs. loser, right vs. wrong), and the tendency to project negative qualities onto one’s opponent. We examine more briefly some of the meditative resources for working with conflict and the importance of empathy, before focusing on the “win-win” or “both-and” model of conflict transformation; we work with several examples of conflicts given by the group.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The world deeply needs a culture of skillful conflict transformation, informed by dharma practice. In such a culture, we would have individuals who combine inner capacities such as mindfulness, skill with difficult emotions, empathy and compassion, and equanimity, with perspectives on how to work with conflicts, whether inner, interpersonal, or social. In this talk, we look at some of the prevalent social conditioning around being with conflict, including tendencies to avoid conflict or act out when there are conflicts, and widespread tendencies to see conflicts dualistically and to project negative aspects onto “opponents.” In this context, Donald presents some images and reflections from his just-completed time of teaching and traveling for 3 1/2 weeks in Israel and the West Bank. He then focuses on some of the inner capacities important for being skillful with conflict, next time examining some of the perspectives on conflict that have come out of the fields of mediation, negotiation, and conflict transformation. There is also a time of discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Description: We first look briefly at the general framework of this series of talks and discussion; we examine: (1) the conditioning of the “ordinary habitual mind,” understood through examining 10 different parameters of that mind; (2) the nature of the “Buddha mind” in terms of these 10 parameters; and (3) how we practice with a given parameter to enact this transformation. Today’s talk is the second covering the nature and sense of self; we review some what was covered last time. We then take the rest of the session examining one manifestation of the “thick” self—the conditioned sense of the “doer.” We look at a number of ways in which the doer becomes more obvious, as when there is anxiety about not doing anything; we might notice this sometimes on a vacation or in retirement. We also examine the cultural dimensions of the conditioning around finding identity as a doer. We then look at how it’s possible to have our doing come more out of presence and being, with reference to the teachings of the Buddha and Chuang-Tzu especially. We conclude with a series of exercises in which we develop a sense of doing that comes more out of presence and being.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first look briefly at the general framework of this series of talks and discussion; we examine: (1) the conditioning of the “ordinary habitual mind,” understood through examining 10 different parameters of that mind; (2) the nature of the “Buddha mind” in terms of these 10 parameters; and (3) how we practice with a given parameter to enact this transformation. Today’s talk is the second covering the nature and sense of self; we review some what was covered last time. We then take the rest of the session examining one manifestation of the “thick” self—the conditioned sense of the “doer.” We look at a number of ways in which the doer becomes more obvious, as when there is anxiety about not doing anything; we might notice this sometimes on a vacation or in retirement. We also examine the cultural dimensions of the conditioning around finding identity as a doer. We then look at how it’s possible to have our doing come more out of presence and being, with reference to the teachings of the Buddha and Chuang-Tzu especially. We conclude with a series of exercises in which we develop a sense of doing that comes more out of presence and being.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After situating today’s theme in the context of the nature of the “ordinary habitual mind” and how it is transformed, we look at the fourth parameter of transformation: the nature and sense of self. We start by recognizing the often conceptually confusing nature of this area, and then proposing a primarily practical way to approach the area. We first identify the conditioned sense of self as permanent, independent, and separate, how this sense of self manifests in various ways and why this can be a problem, connected with suffering. , We then briefly suggest how the elements of such a conditioned sense of self are absent in an awakened being and how other positive qualities are present. Finally, while recognizing a number of complexities, including developmental issues, we look at two practical ways to explore and transform the conditioned sense of self: (1) by looking out for and being mindful of when there is a “thick” or “big” sense of self, and (2) finding various ways, in the flow of daily life as well as in formal meditation, to “thin” out the self, developing ways of experiencing with no or much less of a sense of self.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Basic Mindfulness Instructions and a Guided Meditation on Exploring the Nature of the Self
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to focus on two core themes related to developing the open, awakened heart: (1) Seeing what blocks the heart and responding skillfully in the moment and over time, and (2) cultivating the open awakened heart in a variety of ways, both in and out of meditation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief account of the ten parameters of transformation that we’re considering in this series, we look at one of them--the ordinary habitual “heart,” our emotions and our access (or not) to kindness and care. We examine many factors that block or limit the awakened heart of kindness and love, including greed, hatred, and delusion; several dimensions of social and historical conditioning; the split between mind, body, and emotions; unhealed wounds; emotions like fear and anger; and attachment to views. We point to some of the ways, including in meditation practice, to access the awakened heart.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We contextualize our conditioning in relationship to the different “parts” of our experience—related to our thinking, emotions, and body—by examining some the social and cultural history of the last few hundred years, in which thinking has been increasingly differentiated from emotions and the body. We then examine further the nature of our ordinary, habitual experience of the body. The main focus is on a number of “body practices,” including mindfulness of the body in both formal meditation and daily life, ways to self-regulate when there is high activation, using the body in investigation of experience, and the body as a key to presence in speech and interaction.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After an overview of ten aspects of the transformation of the ordinary habitual mind, and a review of the first, examining how thinking is transformed, we look at (1) the nature of contemporary habitual experience of the body, (2) the nature of the awakened experience of the body, and (3) how we practice to enact this transformation, particularly focusing on various aspects of mindfulness of the body.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After an overview of ten aspects of the transformation of the habitual mind, we start with the first, examining how thinking is transformed. We look at (1) the nature of habitual thinking, with some attention to contemporary conditioning, (2) how such habitual thinking is transformed, and (3) how we practice to enact this transformation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature of the spiritual journey, using three reference points: (1) Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Journey”; (2) the life of the Buddha; and (3) the experiences of our own journeys. The journey goes from taking life for granted through questioning, looking for something deeper, leaving the habitual, going through challenges and “purification,” awakening, and then a return.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) As we are poised to return from one or two months of practice, we consider a number of supports for continuing our practice in all the parts of our life, whether more individual, more relational, or more collective, including the archetype of the Bodhisattva, which can inspire us to connect inner and outer practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief overview of the “three ways of seeing that liberate” (into anicca, dukkha, and anatta, or impermanence, reactivity or suffering, and not-self), and how to practice investigating anicca and dukkha, we explore a practical way to understand and investigate anatta or not-self. We focus on two ways of investigation: (1) noticing when the sense of self is “thick,” and studying it; and (2) learning in a number of ways to be with the flow of experience with less or little or no sense of self, as we “thin” the self.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore how to develop samadhi or concentration in samatha practice, through examining: (1) the nature of samadhi and samatha practice, (2) their place and importance in our practice, (3) some ways to practice to develop samadhi or concentration, (4) some of the challenges of samatha practice and how to work with them, and (5) how samadhi or concentration supports insight practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some further examination of the nature of mindfulness, we explore the Second Foundation of Mindfulness, first pointing to the central importance of the practice of being mindful of the “feeling-tone.” As articulated in the teaching on Dependent Origination, we study the sequence, that occurs when there are not mindfulness and wisdom, of (1) contact; (2) feeling-tone; (3) wanting the pleasant (or aversion to the unpleasant, and unawareness of the neutral), and (4) grasping the pleasant (or pushing away the unpleasant, or continued unawareness of the neutral). We look at the experiential nature of the pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral, and suggest a number of ways to practice with feeling-tone.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the last two weeks' theme of the seven stages of the spiritual journey, we focus on how practice develops through transforming ten aspects of the "habitual ordinary mind," including our ways of thinking, how we relate to the body and heart, our senses of self, time, and "external" world, and so on.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An overview of metta practice and two methods of practicing metta (through phrases and through “radiating metta”), followed by a guided practice period and a few Q&A.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On the first evening of a four-week retreat for some, and the beginning of the fifth of eight weeks for others, we explore the “map” of our foundational practices: (1) developing wise or right view and intention; (2) samatha practice, developing concentration (or samadhi); (3) insight practice, with mindfulness as a core practice; (4) the heart practices, particularly lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; (5) grounding in the body; and (6) touching freedom and awakening.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the seven stages of the spiritual journey presented the week before (originally with reference to Mary Oliver’s “The Journey,” the life of the Buddha, and our own journeys), we explore how for each stage, there are particular practices and intentions that are central. As we explore the practices, we get a better sense of the variety of practices that we may work with at different points in our own journeys, and which are most appropriate at which times.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Partly in honor of the recently deceased poet, Mary Oliver, we use her poem, "the Journey", as a reference point for understanding the nature of the spiritual journey. Two other reference points are the life of the Buddha, and then the experiences of our own lives. After an exploration of the very nature of the journey, and how a journey may take years, or two weeks, or an hour, we explore seven stages of the spiritual journey, starting with taking life for granted, being caught up in habitual and conditioned mind and behavior, and ending with some degree of awakening and then re-entering the "ordinary" world, often bringing gifts from the journey. In between is the heart of the journey. [The talk ends at 1.06.23.]
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first review the three themes identified as the "shared heart" of Buddhist practice and the life and work of Dr. King: (1) non-reactivity (the end of dukkha) and nonviolence; (2) love, metta, and compassion; and (3) the integrity and coherence of one's life, such that this "shared heart" appears increasingly in all parts of one's life. Then we imagine a kind of dialogue between Western Buddhists and Dr. King, identifying both the great jewels and some of the blind spots or underdeveloped areas of each. This points toward the aspiration to bring together the best of both approaches, to bring together deep inner and outer transformative practice; we make use of a number of resources, including the figure of the bodhisattva, in clarifying this aspiration.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review and deepen the exploration of three core themes that are the shared heart of the approaches of the Buddha and Dr. King: (1) the wisdom and understanding of the nature of dukkha and the aim of ending of dukkha - understood in this context as reactivity and violence in their different forms; (2) the centrality of the wise heart- understood as love, metta, compassion, etc and the importance of acting from this wise heart; and (3) integrity - the coherence, consistency, and authenticity of one's life, especially in relationship to the first two themes. We then begin an imagined "dialogue" between the Buddha and Dr. King that might point to an integration of deep inner and outer practice based on these principles.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This is a second longer talk given during the daylong of January 20, 2019, on "Dukkha and the End of Dukkha," led by Donald Rothberg and Heidi Bourne.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Buddha famously said, “I have taught one thing and one thing only, dukkha [suffering or reactivity or a sense of unsatisfactoriness] and the cessation of dukkha.” In this daylong, we explore this core teaching as it is expressed in the Four Noble Truths and the teaching of the Two Arrows. We suggest ways to study and implement this teaching both in formal meditation and in everyday life, through practices and reflections that bring together the wisdom of seeing the roots of dukkha, the compassion and kindness that can hold our difficulties, and skillful action to transform dukkha.This talk give an orientation for the daylong.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On the day after Dr. King's birthday, we explore three themes that are central both to dharma practice and to the life and work of Dr. King, and that are interpreted in strikingly similar ways. The three themes are (1) the core of wisdom as an understanding of non-reactivity, the end of dukkha, nonviolence; (2) the centrality of love/metta or lovingkindness/compassion; and (3) integrity--the wholeness and coherence of one's life guided by these core principles and spiritual qualities.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore a number of ways to continue to deepen our metta practice, in terms of individual practice, bringing metta into relationships, and being guided by metta in our participation in the healing and transformation of the world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the core intention of metta practice, to bring kindness, warmth, and care to every moment and every being. We examine how metta practice develops further steadiness (samadhi), how it helps us to lead with the heart and work with what stands in the way of the open, kind heart. As we practice further, we open increasingly to the radiance of our hearts and our being. We keep training, and we bring our metta practice into the world, where it is deeply needed. We close with two stories of metta practice in the world in challenging situations.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We use six metaphors for darkness to suggest ways to orient our practice, both in general and here at the time of the Winter Solstice. We look at darkness as stopping (like the earth), as being with the difficult and painful, as not knowing (and being with the mysterious), as opening to the shadow, as generative and fertile (like the earth), and as luminous.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue exploring a number of ways to “practice with darkness.” We first review of some of the themes explored last week, including understanding practicing with the darkness in terms of (1) stopping, (2) being with the difficult or painful, (3) not knowing, and (4) how the darkness is generative and fertile. We then examine the themes of the “shadow” (both individual and collective”) and how darkness can be luminous, with reference to the experience of the “Dark Night” first spoken of by St. John of the Cross.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Inspired by the moving into the darkness of the Winter Solstice, we explore four understandings of darkness that can guide our practice at this time: (1) the importance of stopping, as seems to be the case at this time of year with the earth, disengaging for a period, and listening deeply; (2) being more skillful with what is difficult or challenging; (3) learning to be with what is unknown or unresolved; and (4) seeing how the darkness can, as is so with the earth, be generative and fertile. We apply these understandings mostly to our individual practice, but also to the difficulties and unknowns of our collective situation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review last week’s focus on developing gratitude, and continue with the related practice of developing generosity. We explore the importance of generosity across multiple spiritual traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and, in more depth, Buddhism, pointing to several practices of practicing generosity and some of the challenges of such practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Through teachings, poems, stories, and reference to the science related to cultivating gratitude, we explore the nature of gratitude and how to practice it.
(Asheville Insight Meditation) We explore the core teaching of the Buddha; he says, "I teach one thing and one thing only, dukkha and the end of dukkha." We examine how we can understand and practice this teaching in terms both of individual and collective dukkha, especially understanding dukkha as reactivity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Description:We review first why speech practice is so important and how it connects with the Noble Eightfold Path, and then two of the foundations of skillful or wise (or right) speech. We cover: (1) working with the four guidelines from the Buddha for wise speech, and how we can use the guidelines both to guide our speech and as spurs for mindfulness, when we find ourselves going against the guidelines; and (2) developing a sense of presence during speaking and listening. We then explore some general ways to strengthen our speech practice, as well as begin to bring it into challenging or difficult situations involving speech and interaction. We end with a speech exercise involving dyads, and discussion of the exercise and our practice generally.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We start with an overview of the contemporary importance of training in wise speech, and the place of wise (or "right") speech traditionally, as one of the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddha. We then examine two foundational aspects of wise speech, first a grounding in the ethical guidelines for speech given by the Buddha, and secondly the intention to be present and mindful during speaking and listening. Finally, there is a guided practice in dyads especially of the second foundational dimension of speech practice.
(Santa Fe Vipassana Sangha) We look at "reactivity" as a non-literal "translation" and clarification of the nature of dukkha, and examine, through a talk and discussion, a number of ways to practice when reactivity or dukkha arises. We remember the Buddha's teaching: "I have taught one thing and one thing only, dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.”
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After first reflecting on how our work with the judgmental mind connects with traditional Buddhist practice, we explore four stages in the trans-formative process connected with direct inquiry into judgments. This complements the more indirect approach of developing the heart practices and awakened qualities.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature of the judgmental mind, its differentiation from non-reactive discernment, and some sample judgments (using "judgments" here to refer to expressions of the judgmental mind), including judgments related to social conditioning. We outline the two main modes of transformation involved in our practice, a more direct transformation of judgments, on the one hand, and the cultivation of awakened qualities (particularly through heart practices), on the other.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this introduction to a daylong on Wise (or "Right") Speech, there is a focus on the importance of Wise Speech for our practice and on the core ethical guidelines for wise and skillful speech given by the Buddha.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Description: We first explore how concentration practice is both helpful and important for insight practice, and how the two practices are related. We then look at the nature of insight practice, and in particular examine three ways of liberating seeing in insight practice, namely practices in which we cultivate seeing anicca (impermanence), dukkha (reactivity or unreliability or suffering), and anatta (not-self).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some general reflections on the nature of concentration (or samadhi), concentration practice, and its place and importance, we explore the nature of skillful effort. We particularly focus on the balance of "pro-active" effort and relaxation/ease, identifying a number of specific practice tips and suggestions that support development in both aspects of practice, as well as how to cultivate the balance between the two. [A clarification about terminology: There are two terms that have at times been translated as "effort”: (1) The 6th factor of the Noble Eightfold Path is “Right Effort” (same vayama); (2) Viriya is one of the Five Spiritual Faculties and one of the Seven Factors of Awakening and is often translated as “energy,” sometimes as “effort.”]
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the six ways of practicing with difficulties and challenges presented last week, we explore the important teaching of the “Eight Worldly Winds” that keep us caught in reactivity—pleasure and pain, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, and praise and blame. Working with this teaching gives us another very helpful lens for working with difficulties and also with our tendencies to grasp—onto pleasure, gain, fame, and praise. We suggest several ways of practicing with this teaching, as a further way to deepen and energize our practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) One of the glories of our practice is the capacity to respond skillfully, with wisdom and compassion, to difficult, challenging, and/or painful experiences. In this talk and discussion, we explore six ways to practice skillfully with difficulties, focusing more in 1-5 on “inner" practices: (1) Stay connected with core teachings and perspectives, particularly about working with reactivity; (2) develop mindfulness in these situations, which helps us with non-reactivity and knowing what is happening; (3) have a few ways to come back to balance and non-reactivity after one is reactive, lost, stuck, or overwhelmed; (4) take the difficult situation as an opportunity to go more deeply, potentially uprooting some of the roots of reactivity and habitual tendencies; (5) continue to cultivate awakened qualities, helping us to shift our center of gravity from reactivity to responsiveness; and (6) cultivate ways of responding more skillfully in “outer” ways, including speech and interactions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After first naming some of the challenging bodily, emotional, and mental experiences that arise in a human life, and particularly in the context of aging and dying, we explore the different “tools” for responding skillfully to these challenges, including clarity of intention, assessing the intensity of the experience and coming back to balance after overwhelm, mindfulness, body practices, heart practices, and wisdom perspectives.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Focusing on aging, the stages of life, and dying is a major “dharma door” or gateway. We examine a number of different perspectives to orient us as we go in that door, including how such a focus helps us to clarify the centrality and urgency of spiritual practice, working through social conditioning regarding aging and dying, using the lenses of teachings and practices investigating impermanence and the nature of the self, and awakening.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After clarifying further the fundamental practices of our retreat, particularly the three ways of seeing leading to liberating insight, we examine the third way of seeing—seeing anatta (or not-self). We focus less on understanding this way of seeing conceptually, and more on identifying two main ways of practicing—(1) opening to being mindful of the flow of experience, increasingly with a “thinned out” self or lack of self, and (2) noticing and being mindful of when there is a “thick” sense of self.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After examining the nature and importance of samadhi practice, we focus on how to practice samadhi and the main challenges to developing samadhi (and how to work with these challenges).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the previous sessions in this series, particularly the last one, we explore a fifth way that things are not as they appear, looking at the habitual tendency to separate oneself and everything else, to experience on the basis of a core duality of subject and object, knower and known, self and other, and the problematic nature of this habitual tendency.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An overview of the nature of the judgmental mind, how it is distinguished from non-reactive discernment, and ways of transforming the judgmental mind. With Q&A.
(Sacred Stream Center) We examine the importance of practicing skillfully with thoughts and emotions as one of the foundations of mindful communication, pointing to several ways of working with thoughts and emotions, with a guided meditation using the "RAIN" method (recognize, accept, develop interest and inquire, and "non-identify" with what is occurring).
(Sacred Stream Center) We explore (1) the importance of speech practice, (2) the place of speech practice in traditional and contemporary paths of awakening, (3) the central resource from the teachings of the Buddha on speech practice--the four core ethical guidelines, and (4) some ways to implement these guidelines and connect them with other practices.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the previous talks in this series, we look at the "constructed" or "empty" nature of phenomena (trees, chairs, and other "external" objects), with perspectives from psychology, philosophy, the neurosciences, and especially, Buddhist practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of our first three sessions, exploring three ways that “things are not as they appear,” we explore how there is typically a sense that we are given a world of solid, separate individual beings and objects . We focus here on the counter-understanding related to selves and beings, that the nature of the self is “empty,” as developed in the teaching of anattā or not-self.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of our first two sessions on this theme, we explore the third of the five ways that things are not as they appear. We look into how we see permanence and solidity where in reality there is a lack of permanence and solidity, pointing to a number of practices that help us examine this theme.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review some of the main themes covered in the first session on this theme, in the context of a series of talks on five ways that “things are not as they appear.” We first examine in more depth some ways that we see through the lens of the personal self. We then explore how we also see through the lens of our social conditioning, particularly focusing, on this morning when students are walking out of their schools and universities to point to the need to respond to gun violence, on ways that we don’t see, for various reasons, many of the roots of gun violence clearly.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Marisa Handler and Donald Rothberg give an overview of the nature of the "Dark Night." Marisa speaks particularly about her Dark Night experiences; Donald gives a brief account of the Dark Night in the work of St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), a Spanish Christian mystic who coined the term (“La noche oscura del alma”) in his writing, and then looks at how elements of the Dark Night appear in shaman's accounts of their initiatory experiences as well as in Buddhist tradition.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Our Practice is to "wake up" from being asleep and not seeing our lives and experience clearly, with wisdom. We explore four ways that we see in a distorted manner, and explore the first two in this session, pointing to practices to help us see more clearly in these two areas.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review and expand several perspectives on the relationship between knowing and "not knowing" (or openness) and three core practices of not knowing: (1) in mindfulness practice; (2) in listening to others (and oneself); and (3) in challenging transitional phases of one's life, when significant concerns in one's life are not resolved or clear. In the context of the third type of practice, we explore the "Dark Night," first named by the Spanish mystic, Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), which may be briefer or longer, in terms of some of its dynamics and some suggestions on how to work with it.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the centrality of the practice of "not knowing," that helps us to move from ordinary knowing to extraordinary knowing. We examine both the obvious value of many kinds of knowing and the shadow side of knowing, including its habitual and often addictive nature. Then we look at three ways of practicing not knowing: (1) in our mindfulness practice; (2) in listening to others as a practice; and (3) in being with transitional periods in our lives, when some important aspect of our lives remains unresolved.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look from several perspectives at the nature of metta. We then identify several ways that metta practice develops, as we deepen in samadhi (concentration); as we learn to "lead" with our awakened hearts; as we work through difficult states, emotions, and unconscious material that may block metta; as we integrate metta with our wisdom and embodiment; and as we bring our metta practice out into the world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Framing practice broadly in terms of our individual, relational, and collective practice, we explore on New Years Day the meaning of letting go and setting intentions, being in touch with visions. We end with a short ritual of letting go and setting intentions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Instructions on breath, body and senses, thoughts, and emotions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Inspired by the darkness of the earth, we are guided by a sense of the darkness as suggesting: 1) stopping and stillness; 2) being with difficulties; 3) opening to unknowing and mystery; 4) generativety, creativity and fertility and 5) luminosity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the basic qualities of equanimity and five main practices to cultivate equanimity, we focus on two ways in particular that equanimity can be confusing and/or become distorted: (1) when equanimity is not integrated with the awakened heart, and (2) when equanimity is more aloof and not responsive and active. As equanimity develops, it becomes rooted in a deep, compassionate, responsive, and unshakeable awareness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Continuing after our exploration of the first parami, generosity, with examining the last parami, equanimity-- what it is, and some ways to cultivate great equanimity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look at the nature and importance of generosity, and how to practice and activate generosity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Donald Rothberg first gives an account of the connection between the core of Buddhist practice and the nonviolent traditions of Gandhi and King. He then poses the common critique of nonviolence—that it doesn’t work with dictators, authoritarian governments, and situations of pervasive violence, that “it wouldn’t work with Hitler,” while telling some stories of actual highly effective nonviolent resistance against the Nazis. Tiffany Easthom, the Executive Director of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, an organization working to protect civilians and foster dialogue in situations of violence, then gives an extended account of the organization’s work, with a PowerPoint presentation (attached pdf file available at this site). She covers both the basic principles and strategies of the organization and a number of accounts of its work in various countries where there is violence, ranging from South Sudan to Syria to Myanmar.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some further examination of the nature of samadhi practice, we look at the “three ways of seeing that liberate,” focusing especially on impermanence (anicca) and dukkha, with some attention to not-self (anatta)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review the core teaching of the Two Arrows in terms of individual practice, and then understand its application in the social context as exemplified by Dr. King's nonviolence.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the powerful teaching and how it might be understood and practiced, this week more in terms of individual inner practice, and next week, more in terms of interpersonal and social action.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Near the end of the retreat, offering of some integrative reflections to help us each reflect on our next steps following our three-day retreat.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A short talk on the nature of forgiveness, followed by instructions for one type of forgiveness practice, and then guidance in this practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) First, there is a short account of the various types of meditative practice that complement more outwardly-oriented nonviolence training and that could constitute more inwardly-oriented nonviolence training. Then there is a brief introduction to metta practice, along with guidance in this practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore ten ways of responding, internally and externally, to “opponents,” particularly those with radically different views, whether a family member, co-worker, or fellow community member, on the one hand, or those in the public realm.
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) We explore the nature of equanimity, why equanimity is important, several ways to practice equanimity, and some of the challenges of developing equanimity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this second talk following Donald’s five weeks in Israel/Palestine, we focus first on how to bring our practice to difficult and sometimes stuck places generally, whether individual, interpersonal, or collective. What helps? We then, with a deep breath, examine the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the aim of bringing empathy, compassion, understanding, and other aspects of our practice to what we interpret as a conflict between two traumatized peoples (albeit an asymmetrical conflict in which one side has much more economic, social, political, and military power). How do we understand, approach, and transform such inter-generational trauma? Some initial steps are identified, again with the suggestion that the dynamics are similar to many less complex but still very difficult and stuck situations of an individual or interpersonal nature.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the first of two talks reflecting on just returning from five weeks of teaching and traveling in Israel/Palestine, we start to explore two themes: (1) identity in the context of Buddhist teachings about anatta and Donald's experience of being with many people in Israel with very similar East European Jewish ancestry; and (2) how to understand, be with, respond to, and transform unresolved and tragic historical trauma and suffering, found both with Jewish Israelis and Palestinians both in Israel and the occupied territories. A second talk will continue this exploration.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center (Angela Center)) We explore one model of how we follow the trail of judgments, studying them closely, and eventually accessing their generation by (relatively) unconscious limiting beliefs. At a later point, the transformation of these limiting beliefs and the integration of such transformation in daily life become possible.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center (Angela Center)) An overview of the nature of the judgmental mind, the distinction between judgment (in the sense of being "judgmental") and discernment, how the judgmental mind is transformed, and some of the tools and perspectives important in this process of transformation.
(Santa Fe Vipassana Sangha) We explore a powerful teaching found in variants in many traditions, from the Gita to Chuang Tzu to the book of Job to the teachings of the Buddha to Gandhi. This teaching could be expressed as bringing together, paradoxically, committed action and non-attachment to outcome. The Gita and Gandhi spoke of disciplined action without attachment to the fruits of the action. The Buddha pointed out the ways of getting attached through the Eight Worldly Winds. We explore the nature of the teaching and some ways to practice it, as well as what a mature expression of the teaching looks like. There is also discussion.
(Santa Fe Vipassana Sangha) An overview of the importance and nature of engaged practice in our times, using the traditional Buddhist framework of training in wisdom, meditation, and ethics. We point to what such training means traditionally as well as to several aspects of each of these dimensions of engaged training.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the first two sessions in this series, we explore three foundational practices for deepening daily life practice, first (1) grounding in awareness of the body, and (2) taking challenges (internal and external) as practice. We then explore experientially (3) a practice of stabilizing in mindfulness and then carrying out an activity with as much awareness as possible, then returning to mindfulness, then bringing awareness to another activity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore a number of ways to deepen practice, here particularly focusing on having a broad view of practice, that includes formal meditation, but brings in many dimensions of practice, some traditional, some more contemporary. We explore evolutionary perspectives on the nature of contemporary practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore a number of ways to deepen daily practice, inviting each participant to choose one or two (or three) ways to deepen for the next week.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Loving-kindness is the practice of cultivating a warm, open heart towards ourselves and others. First session on first day.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At a time when there is a great need for us to have a sense of practice in all the parts of our lives—our individual consciousness, relational life, and social engagement—we explore the powerful vision of integrating Buddhist practice and traditions of nonviolence; each has its strengths and weaknesses. We do so by pointing to the shared heart of Buddhist practice and the nonviolence of Martin Luther King, Jr.—identifying four main areas: (1) the “optimistic” view of the deep goodness of human nature, (2) the understanding of reactivity and “passing on the pain” as the roots of dukkha (or suffering) and violence; (3) the grounding in an ethics of non-harming and nonviolence; and (4) the centrality of lovingkindness (metta) and love that is ultimately extended to all.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Reflections on some of the main themes of a just-completed retreat, focusing especially on several themes related to daily life, including our relationships, to information, doing, time and intention.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the nature of integrity in a life of practice, identifying challenges to integrity and engaging in dyadic inquiry to illuminate one's own relationship to integrity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Integrating Inner and Outer Awareness During Speaking -- Talk, Exercise, and Discussion
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Overview of Wise Speech Practice and the Buddha's Wise Speech Ethical Guidelines -- Talk, Exercise, and Discussion
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore some of the different dimensions and meanings of integrity in our practice at this time, including looking at some of the challenges to integrity and how we work with such challenges. We continue to keep the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as one reference point in our inquiry into integrity, and include an audio excerpt from his final speech, in Memphis in 1968.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review the deep intention of both Buddhist practice and the life and work of Dr. King to bring wisdom, love, and skillful action to all parts and all moments of our lives. We then look at how this results in a life of integrity, of wholeness, in terms of the Noble Eightfold Path, on the one hand, and the extension of the "love ethic" to the social and political dimensions of life by Dr. King, on the other. We look at the challenges of Dr. King's stance on Vietnam, and listen to an excerpt from his "Beyond Vietnam" speech at the Riverside Church in New York on April 4, 1967.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta practice offers a radical approach: To bring the wise, kind, and embodied heart to every moment and to every situation, even when things are difficult. Yet there are a number of challenges to such practice. These challenges are identified, and suggestions are given on how to work with these challenges.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the shared heart of the approaches of Buddhist practice and of the life and work of Dr. King (playing a recording of Dr. King reading "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"), pointing to how their integration is crucial to respond to the needs of our times.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This time of greatest darkness is a time, when we may, like the earth, stop much of our outward activity, going inward for the sake of renewal and return. As we settle our minds, bodies, and hearts, we open to the generative and fertile darkness and stillness of the unknown and the difficult, and to the gifts, insights, and light that manifest through such opening.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a talk continuing to explore the need for contemporary versions of the Bodhisattva, we engage in reflection and ritual, developing personal vows for ourselves as Bodhisattvas in training, and expressing them before the group (the latter is not in the recording).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the contemporary need for a new kind of Bodhisattva, one dedicated both to awakening and to helping others. We examine the Bodhisattva's resonance with the indigenous shaman and the Jewish and Christian prophets, and identify some of the qualities and capacities in which the contemporary Bodhisattva trains.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first explore further the "three ways of seeing that free" (examining the "three characteristics" of phenomena), with particular emphasis on a practically-based overview of anatta (not-self). We then see how samadhi practice and insight practice develop, as they progress, toward a third mode of practice--opening to "awakened awareness" or "radiant mind." We look at the nature of awakened awareness, and point to several practical methods of accessing awakened awareness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature and importance of samadhi (or concentration) practice in the context of the sequence of the three core practices of the retreat—samadhi practice, insight practice, and opening to “radiant mind.” We also examine a number of ways to engage skillfully in samadhi practice, including in the context of several core challenges to such practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The day before Thanksgiving, we explore the nature and practice of generosity and gratitude and how they are interrelated. We look at both individual and cultural dimensions of these two qualities.
(Insight Santa Cruz) A guided meditation exploring experience increasingly without a sense of self, through mindfulness of the five "aggregates" (khandhas or skandhas): form, feeling-tone, perception, thoughts and emotions (and other "mental formations), and consciousness.
(Insight Santa Cruz) An overview talk for a daylong of teachings and practices related to exploring anatta (not-self).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A talk, followed by discussion, helping us to understand this time we have entered, after the 2016 election, and pointing to our core practices and understandings as our foundations and guides.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A set of interactive practices in the manner of Joanna Macy's "Work That Reconnects," exploring our post-election experiences.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We often say, "Let no part of your experience be left out of your practice." Okay-- how about "practicing with the election"? We explore 5 ways to focus our practice in this context, through (1) practicing with views and positions; (2) developing empathy; (3) working with difficult emotions; (4) seeing the world through the lens of our practice; and (5) acting.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of last week's overview about the nature of empathy and empathy practice, we explore working with some of the challenges of such practice, and what a high level of empathy looks like.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature of empathy and its importance, the biological basis for empathy, what gets in the way of empathy, several ways to practice empathy, and what empathy looks like when highly developed.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of the current election campaign as well as the context of our daily lives, we explore how to understand and practice with our views, opinions, and interpretations. We first look at the nature of views, the Buddha’s teachings on views, and three main ways to practice with views, with particular attention to being mindful of reactivity (attachment and aversion) in relation to views. We then examine the nature of empathy and how to cultivate empathy in relationship to others (and ourselves), including those with different views.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of our previous practices with everyday views, we explore more subtle views, including, including the methods of the Buddha's Middle Way, Nagarjuna, and Zen.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to examine the nature of views and attachment to views, exploring the Buddha's pragmatic approach and working with an exercise to go more deeply into views, attachment to views, and what helps us be less attached to views.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the nature of the judgmental mind and the inner practices to transform it, we begin to work with how to practice with judgments in the context of interaction and communication. We start with looking at views and our attachment to views, offering three practices for the next week.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We combine a review of the nature of reactive judgments related to social conditioning (particularly related to social hierarchies such as those connected with race, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc.) with an outline of some ways to transform these judgments (pointing to the need also to transform the associated power structures).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Partly with the reference point of recent violence in Orlando, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Dallas, we explore the nature of judgments related to social conditioning. We look at judgments, both conscious and more hidden (in "implicit bias"), related to social hierarchies based on race, gender, class, sexual orientation, etc. We suggest some initial ways to practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the basic framework used for transforming judgments, we explore how to investigate judgments in multiple ways that take us toward opening up the hidden unconscious roots of judgments.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of what we've covered in past talks, we explore the four stages of transforming the judgmental mind, focusing more on the 2nd through 4th stages.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On the occasion of the last gathering and teaching in Spirit Rock's Community Meditation Hall-- a talk, reflections by those present, and a ritual.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review briefly the nature of the judgmental mind and how to work with it, then focusing on the first two of four steps in transforming judgments.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief account of the nature of the judgmental mind, we explore (1) a more direct way of working with judgment through mindfulness, inquiry, reflection, etc.; and (2) a more indirect way of working with judgment, through cultivating awakened states and resources.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Sylvia and Donald introduce John Namkung, a practitioner of the Wednesday community at Spirit Rock. John reflects on why he decided to help the refugees. He presents photos and videos of his experiences in the accompanying PowerPoint presentation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the nature of the judgmental mind and how to practice with it, we consider how the perspective of neuroscience can inform our practice of transforming the judgmental mind, both those judgments that are more personal and those that are more social in origin.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We examine the nature of the judgmental mind, its relationship to discernment, the importance of working with the judgmental mind, and some practical ways to begin transforming the judgmental mind.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore further the nature of samadhi practice, then examine the relationship of samadhi practice and insight practice generally. We focus for most of the talk on practicing "three ways of seeing"--seeing impermanence, dukkha (reactivity, unsatisfactoriness), and anatta (not-self)--with an emphasis on practicing with seeing impermanence.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A remembrance of Donald's mother, Bernice, five weeks after her death (4 weeks were in retreat), identifying the main spiritual themes of her life (love and family, music and beauty, and social justice), and exploring the dynamics and sequence of Donald's grieving process.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review including practicing with "gross" impermanence (and death), we focus on (1) practicing with more subtle, moment-to-moment impermanence, (2) or some characteristic challenges to practicing with impermanence, and (3) on how practicing with impermanence takes us more deeply.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Investigating impermanence in the contexts of sound, sensation, thinking, the breath, experience as a whole (with eyes closed), and seeing.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Working with Transforming Judgement Mind: Welcome, Introduction and Overview.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Based on the earlier meditation, we examine the importance of reflection on and mindfulness of, impermanence, both gross impermanence and moment-to-moment impermanence; why it's difficult to be deeply aware of impermanence; practices to explore impermanence; and deeper understandings opened up by practices with impermanence.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Guidance for bringing metta practice from the retreat into our daily lives, in these three inter-related areas, bringing in the voice of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the last part of the talk, at the time of his birthday and the public celebration of his birthday.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta practice carries a profound intention: To bring kindness and an awakened heart to all beings and all situations in our lives. We explore the nature of this intention, and some of the main ways that metta develops: through a basic stabilizing of our lives and awareness, particularly in living ethically, and in formal practice, as concentration develops; through a process of purification of that which blocks or stands in the way of metta; and through an integration of metta in our lives, to the point where metta is less a doing and practice, and more a way of being, which we then bring into the world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore through reflection and a ritual, the process of renewal - stopping, opening to both the difficult and the beautiful, letting go and setting intentions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brie account of the nature and centrality of "insight" in our practice, we focus on one core area of insight-studying and practicing with dukkha, interpreted as reactivity. Ten ways of such study and practice with reactivity are offered, leading to a deepening of non-reactivity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this wonderful retreat time of the Winter Solstice, we explore ways that we might open to and embrace the darkness in a number of ways, note how darkness leads to light, and, as well, invite the light.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue the investigation of the nature of fear, and the skillful ways to work with fear, both internally and externally, bringing in further emphasis on compassion, empathy, understanding and learning from those who have faced fear deeply.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An exploration of the importance, personally and socially, of practicing with fear. We work especially with these tools: (1) mindfulness and the study of fear (What is fear? How does it manifest in the body, emotions, and thinking); (2) heart practices like metta and compassion; and (3) developing wise and skillful responses.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We expand last week's exploration of practicing with reactivity, identifying eight further ways of practicing with reactivity in its many manifestations--individual, relational, and social.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) As we face multiple crises, yet also open to new transformations - inner and outer- a new type of spiritual practitioner is needed, who is able to connect inner and outer transformation. Echoing the Buddhist bodhisattvas, Jewish prophets, Jesus, many indigenous leaders, Gandhi, King, and Dorothy Day, among others, the "new bodhisattva" follows a new kind of training which is outlined.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After looking at the multiple sources of confusion about anger for western Buddhist practitioners, we examine a number of perspectives and ways of practicing with anger.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this time of year (Harvest Festival, Yom Kippur etc.) of new beginnings and seeing where we have "fallen short" or want to forgive in some part of our lives, we go through a series of reflections, traditional and contemporary, leading to a re-dedication to our deeper intentions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first cover an overview of the two main inter-related ways that transformation of the judgmental mind occurs: (1) mindfulness and investigation of judgments; and (2) cultivating awakened states, particularly through "heart practices." In this talk, we examine four stages of the first way: investigating and transforming judgments by first noticing them and becoming more mindful of them in terms of the body, core narratives, emotional energy, etc., and then going beneath the surface of judgments, revealing and transforming the underlying habitual tendencies and core limiting beliefs, often initially unconscious.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature of the judgmental mind, including the distinction of reactive judgments with non-reactive discernment, how judgments often carry insight and intelligence, and the two main ways of inner transformation of the judgmental mind.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The teaching of anattā (“not-self”) points to one of the three fundamental areas of liberating insight taught by the Buddha (along with the teachings on impermanence and on suffering or dukkha). Yet anattā can very challenging and confusing for contemporary practitioners. Is there “no self” (as anattā is sometimes translated)? How do we make sense of our feelings of individuality, identity, ancestry, and vocation? How do we address our own personal experiences of woundedness, trauma, and oppression? Are these all simply to be “transcended”? How is a sense of self actually in many ways important for contemporary spiritual development, and how is working with our own individual conditioning, whether psychological or social in origin, central to our liberation? How do we integrate attending to such conditioning with opening as well to the power and energy of experiences beyond the habitual sense of self? In this daylong, we will explore these vital questions primarily in a practical way. Using the metaphors of “thinning the self” and working with a “thick” sense of self, we will cover three aspects of practice: (1) cultivating, in several ways, the “thinning” of the self, both in meditation and in everyday life, including working with the Five Skandhas or “aggregates” of experience; (2) tracking and working with different manifestations of a “thick” sense of self, both as appearing in experience and as hidden to awareness; and (3) opening to experiencing beyond a fixed sense of self, as awareness, compassion, and responsiveness deepen.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the balance of active and receptive effort and letting go and other expressions of the middle way--as a general principle in concentration and insight practice in everyday action and in accessing the depths of our being.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of our ethical practice we took a look at a second aspect of speech practice - practicing empathy through an overview and a practice with guidance in the last part of the session.
Roughly 68 minutes in duration.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue with our exploration of ethical practice, set in the context of the overall training to awaken. We focus in this first session on Fourth Precept ("Right" or "Wise" Speech) on the four core ethical guidelines for speech (truthfulness, helpfulness, speaking from the heart, and good timing/appropriateness of the speech), in the context of the general importance of speech practice, suggesting a number of ways of practicing.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the general nature of ethical practice, we look at outer, inner, and social dimensions of practicing the Second Precept - not taking that which not given - including a song and discussion of some of the challenges of such practices.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Set in the larger contexts of the importance of ethical practice, we focus on the meaning and practical of non-harming, with some reflections on responding to the killings of nine African Americans at a bible study class in Charleston, South Carolina.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We examine practicing with the Three Characteristics, particularly with Dukkha (suffering) and anatta (not-self). Then we explore "spacious awareness," a type of non-conceptual awareness beyond the splits of knower and known, particularly in the teachings of the Buddha and the Thai Forest tradition, with some reference to Tibetan and Zen traditions. Thirdly, we outline a number of ways to access this kind of awareness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A practically-based exploration of the nature of concentration and its place in practice, how to practice concentration (complementing the morning instructions), five challenges of concentration practice and how to work with them, and the relationship of concentration and insight practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After an introductory outline of the nature of creating an "other" we look at three ways of practicing: 1. Studying the process of "othering" in oneself, in relation to both others and self; 2. Countering the process of othering and 3. Developing farther universal belonging, the "beloved community".
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the theme of "othering", we look some more forms of "othering" and how we practice in examining "othering" in ourselves. We then explore the area exponentially in an exercise, followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the contexts of our practice of examining the nature of self and of a recent conference on "Othering and Belonging," we look at ways that we create an "other." We may do this in terms of social groups (according to race, age, gender, religion, ability/disability, educational level, etc.), interpersonally, or in terms of parts of oneself (I "other" my fear or shame or brilliance). This week we focus on "othering" (the "other" is often noticed, but not really known or seen), how to track our own ways of othering, and how to work with and transform othering, opening to greater compassion, wisdom, and connection.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of some of main themes related to taking everything as learning, we look especially at what qualities and practices support taking everything as learning. Including mindfulness, equanimity, confidence and faith, heart practices, setting intentions and using the imagination to stay open to possibilities.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) As our practice matures, we increasingly intend, and have the capacity to take whatever arises in our lives as part of our practice. We explore what makes this intention hard to implement and what supports taking everything as part of a learning process.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) As our practice matures, we increasingly intend, and have the capacity to take whatever arises in our lives as part of our practice. We explore what makes this intention hard to implement and what supports taking everything as part of a learning process.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On this last evening of our monthlong retreat (two months for some), we explore how to bring our practice out in our daily lives in the world. We examine (1) the nature of the archetypal "return" in the spiritual journey; (2) the figure of the bodhisattva; and 3) some suggestions for foundational, intermediate, and advanced modes of daily life practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some reflections on some of the reasons why anatta (not-self) can be confusing, we explore especially how to practice with anatta: (1) opening to a sense of flow increasingly without a sense of self; (2) exploring the many ways in which there is a "thick" sense of self, both appearing in experience and sometimes hidden to immediate experience; (3) further meditative ways to "thin" the self; and (4) ways of thinning, especially as our practice deepens, the "meditative self."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) With poems, stories, haikus, and teachings, we explore the nature of equanimity, how to practice to cultivate equanimity, and some of the challenges of in our development of equanimity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An overview of (1) the nature and importance of concentration in our practice; (2) some suggestions on how to strengthen concentration; (3) some of the challenges of cultivating concentration, including striving, spiritual bypassing, and attachment to states of concentration; and, briefly, (4) the relationship of concentration and insight practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Mindfulness of Feeling-Tone (the Second Foundation of Mindfulness) and Introduction to the Third Foundation of Mindfulness (here, practicing with thoughts and emotions)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of the beginning of a month-long retreat (and, for some, beginning the second month of a two-month retreat), we explore briefly the cross-cultural expressions of a spiritual "journey" or "path," and the typical stages of such a journey.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the last two talks - on the general theme of "not-self" and two ways of practicing (opening to the flow of experience, examining the "thick" self) we look at further ways of practicing including being aware of the particular constituents without adding "my" and "mine"; cultivating heart practices such as lovingkindness, compassion, forgiveness and empathy and opening to a "pure awareness" what has been called in the Thai Forest tradition, the "primal" or "radiant" mind.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look in more depth at two more ways to "thin" the self, to explore anath: 1. cultivating of "flow" and 2. examining several ways that there is a "thick" sense of self
(Tucson Community Meditation Center) An exploration of the challenges of connecting our mindfulness and heart practices, of how equanimity practice interpenetrates with the other three brahmavihara, of the nature of equanimity, and of some of the "near opposites" (or near enemies) of equanimity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Insight into "not-self" (anatta) is one of the core aspects of wisdom. After briefly reviewing some of the challenges of understanding anatta, we look at four practical ways to explore anatta, through focusing on 1) everyday and meditative experiences of "flow", 2) studying the "thick" or strong sense of self when it appears, 3) practicing in other ways to "thin" the self, and 4) opening to awareness without a sense of self or identification with the contents of experience.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In our practice, we aspire toward a kind of wholeness, with no part of our life left out. In this talk, we explore two ways of developing more of such wholeness - (1) through connecting metta with mindfulness and wisdom, here examined especially in connecting metta and equanimity; and (2) through connecting formal metta retreat practice to everyday life practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, we explore how to extend the awakened heart of Metta when there is pain or distress or difficulty. In particular, we examine the practices of compassion and forgiveness, with Dr. King's work and life as a reference point.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore race and racism and how we respond to these through our practice. We focus on (1) the challenges of responding to collective suffering, (2) exploring the ignorance related to race and social conditioning on many levels, and (3) working with the various emotions and thoughts that arise in exploring race and racism.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Using as reference points Mary Oliver's poem, "The Journey", the story of the Buddha's life, and our own experiences, we outline the archetypal stages of the spiritual journey from the taken-for-granted habitual life, to receiving "heavenly messengers" putting that life in question, to shifting our core life intentions, to working with challenges, to awakening, and, finally, to a return to the "ordinary" world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At the time of the winter solstice, we explore, through teachings, stories, and poetry, how we can embrace the dark - in stopping and being still, in opening to the unknown and to mystery, in being with difficulties, and in creativity and the coming of what is new - and open to the light, as it emerges from the dark.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We examine, in the context of contemporary concerns about racism, how we relate teachings about suffering, compassion, transforming ignorance, courage, and skillful action to our responses to racism. We also look briefly at the history of race and racism, and suggest ways of responding to racism individually, relationally, and collectively.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of the teachings of the Four Noble Truths and of generosity, gratitude and Dependent Origination, and our previous practices. We explore the nature of craving, greed and grasping and how to practice to explore and transform these qualities.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature of gratitude and offer a number of forms of gratitude practice. We cover different expressions of the nature, what we're grateful for, being grateful even for difficulties, and the challenges of gratitude practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the important of generosity practice (including how it appears in different cultures), focusing on low it counteracts greed (especially), hatred and delusion. We suggest a number of practices for the next week.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Third Foundation #2: Further Instructions and Ways of Practicing Based on the Text
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Third Foundation #1: Initial Instructions, Key Terms, and Ways of Practicing
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore ways to bring the formal practice and spirit of metta(loving kindness) into our individual, relational and collective practice in the world; with some suggestions, poems and stories.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After exploring the nature of Metta practice, we focus on how Metta practice increasingly helps us to meet each experience with our awakened hearts; develop in concentration, go through a kind of purification and integration of mind, heart and body; open to our heart's depth and bring our practice out into everyday life and the world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Starting with the observation that often our ethical practice may be taken for granted, we look for ways to deepen our practice. We look to find our own personal ethical learning and practice, whether related to the individual, relational or social aspects of our ethical practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Continuing our exploration of ethical practice during earth care week. We examine, through the frame work of the Four Noble Truths, the question of the nature of climate change and how to respond as individuals, as communities, nationally and internationally.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the meaning of ethical practice - its relationship to meditation and wisdom practice, how it is more a training than a following of external principles, how there are individual, relational, and social dimensions to our ethical practice, and how it can deepen for us. There's a brief overview of the five lay precepts and a taking of the precepts.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore how to practice with conflicts, focusing especially on the vision of non-dual conflict transformation and empathy, learning particularly though a series of exercises.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore a more relational way of practicing with challenges, looking at practicing with conflict. We examine some of the personal and cultural conditioning about conflict, as well as ways to bring wisdom, empathy, compassion and skillful action into conflicts, whether inner, interpersonal or social. Conflict is defined more neutrally and simply as a difference in objectives, goals or values.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review the basic approach of cultivating responsiveness and working with reactivity, looking more at (1) ways of coming back to balance, (2) cultivating mindfulness, and (3) developing other skillful means with challenging thoughts and emotions. Then we explore in more depth how to practice with fear and anxiety.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of understanding our practice most generally and deeply as developing responsiveness, we examine how to practice with thoughts and emotions, including difficult ones such as those connected with the judgmental mind and anger.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We focus on becoming response-able (rather than reactive) as the heart of our practice, examining what responsiveness means and how we cultivate it in relationship to thought and emotions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) How can we be skillful with our speech practice in difficult or challenging situations? We examine a number of principles and capacities, particularly deep listening, that can guide us.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the possibility of taking radical responsibility for our thoughts and emotions at the ability to respond skilfully, rather than react. We look at three ways of practicing with thoughts and emotions. 1. coming back to balance when out of balance. 2. cultivating mindfulness of thoughts and emotions. 3. working more actively with thoughts and emotions, including habitual patterns.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the importance of speech practice, its place ijn the path of awakening, the four ethical and behavioral guidelines for "right": or "wise" speech, and ways of developing mindfulness in spech practice
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We get to know in part through images, the teachers and practices of the Thai Forest Tradition and then focus on four aspects of their teaching.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore briefly the history of Thai Buddhism, and thus focus especially on the lives, practice, and core teachings of Ajahn Mun and Ajahn Chah and the Thai "forest Tradition" more generally.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Our core practice of mindfulness is based on Mahasi Sayadaw's technique of noting, starting with the breath and moving to all aspects of experiences. How did we receive this practice? We explore the fascinating history from the Buddha through the 19th and 20th Burma, to the West, where these techniques of mindfulness are influential in many settings.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An introduction to working with judgments; identifying particular perspectives and practices that help us in this transformative work, including examining the nature of judgments.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore, through stories, poems and teachings, four inter-related ways to practice with difficult emotions, 1- using antidotes, 2- cultivating the "heart practices" of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, forgiveness, etc, 3- cultivating mindfulness and 4- bringing wisdom to the experience
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the tendencies to polarize inner and outer practices, the vision of connecting them, some socially engaged Buddhist exemplars, and how the principles of transformation are the same whether in individual, relational or collective domains.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This is a dharma talk that Donald gave for our volunteer sangha on the theme of "The Path of Service," which is also the theme that Spirit Rock staff are working with this year.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of foundational, intermediate and advanced daily life practices, we focus on several central practices, working with intention, using the imagination, grounding in the body and taking difficulties as practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After reflecting on some of the challenges of contemporary daily life practice, we look at three levels of such practice, and many types of practices within each level.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Just returned from a month of retreat practice, i offer various reflections on retreat theme, including impermanence and death, working with inner guidance, and taking all experiences in a learning context, and on core practices, (concentration, insight, metta, and open spacious awareness), ending with a brief song.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look at the importance of the different parts of our practice - intentions, ethics, mindfulness, wisdom and grounding in the body - for responding to difficult situations- individual, interpersonal and related to the wider world. We then look at how to develop and practice compassion in difficult situations.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore compassion and practice to help us respond to difficulties particularly pain and suffering. We examine the distinction between pain and suffering, the nature of compassion, receptive and active compassion, the shadow of compassion and some types of compassion practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin by identifying several supports for practices with difficulties and then explore forgiveness practice in further depth - with Q & A at the end.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An introduction to forgiveness as an inner practice to work with reactivity toward self or others. Includes a guided practice and questions and response.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore (1) our individual metta practice - formal and informal 0 in our daily lives, (2) metta practice in the context of our many types of relationships, and (3) metta practice as service and action in our wider world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Forgiveness practice is one of the family of "heart practices" and particularly valuable in relationship to difficult experiences, both interpersonal (or social) and in relationship to oneself. We look at forgiveness in the context of metta practice, exploring the dynamics of forgiveness through stories and core guidelines of forgiveness practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At the Winter Solstice, we can learn better to embrace the dark-in multiple ways, and to invite the light. Using poetry, stories and teachings, we explore how practicing with darkness and light can deepen and illuminate what Mary Oliver calls our one "wild, precious life."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the theme of ignorance, we explore how we don't often see the deep nature of things - as impermanent, leading to suffering if grasped and empty of an independent self and how to practice to see deeply.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of the transformation of ignorance, we look at views, beliefs and opinions - traditional teachings, how to use them skillfully, ways that we use them unskillfully and how to practice with views.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After reviewing why and how we focus on transforming the different inter-related forms of ignorance - personal, social and spiritual - we focus on ten steps in transforming personal ignorance.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Talk, guided meditation, and discussion, with some attention to the model of the six internal and external sense bases.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Review of the first three foundations of mindfulness and an introduction to the Fourth Foundation
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review and explore how crucial and challenging the root human problem as that of ignorance. We then examine in more depth the roots of personal ignorance, particularly as represented as limiting beliefs and how to access and transform such ignorance.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) For Earth Care Week we review the three aspects of ignorance examined last week - personal (or psychological), social, and universal. We focus on the social roots of ignorance with attention mostly to understanding and responding to the climate crisis.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We examine the centrality of ignorance as a root of suffering and three main inter-related forms of ignorance - (1) Personal and psychological (2) Social and (3) Universal
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a further investigation of how to practice when core limiting beliefs linked to judgments are activated, we examine four ways to bring our judgments practices into relational contexts, ending with a song.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Starting from the context of the teachings of dependent origination, we examine three interrelated forms of ignorance -- personal, social and universal -- and how they condition the judgmental mind. We then can see how two ways of transformation can transform, over time, these forms of core ignorance: (1) The way of mindfulness, investigation and accessing transforms ignorance, and (2) the way of cultivation [ ] qualities, especially through "heart practices."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We inquire into the nature of the "judgmental mind", how it is different from non-reactive discernment, why it is important to work with the judgmental mind, and how we transform it.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first look at the nature and limits of concentration, in part through the story of the Buddha. We then see how stillness developed in concentration, in relationship to the (relatively) still object, is brought to changing objects for the purpose of clear seeing of impermanence, suffering, and not self, leading to freedom.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An exploration of the challenges of skillful or wise effort in the context of concentration practice, covering (1) the process of purification, (2) a series of suggestions for skillful effort, and (3) how skillful effort deepens into effortless effort.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of our foundational speech practices, we explore some suggestions for how to practice when there are difficulties or challenges, supported by three exercises.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of foundational speech practices, we explore, through a talk, exercises, and discussion, developing empathically through attention to emotions and values (or "what matters"), both in ordinary non-conflictual interactions and in conflicts.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to establish foundational perspectives and practices, through (1) a brief review of the previous session, (2) a focus on combining inner and outer awareness, (3) exploring empathy in relationship to feelings and emotions, and (4) two exercises to develop presence and empathy.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look at (1) the importance of speech practice; (2) the practice of cultivating inner and outer awareness at the same time; (3) the roles of awareness, intention, and action in speech practice; and (4) the speech guidelines of the Buddha. We end with a guided practice period.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore 1) the spirit of metta practice; 2) some of the challenges of the practice, particularly framed in the terms of the five "hindrances"; 3) some of the fruits of the practice, as it matures.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) General Instructions on metta and introduction of the "benefactor" category, with Q & A.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The last in a series of talks--an outline of the twelve factors of "liberative" or "transcendental" dependent origination, an analysis of the cycle leading from being able to work with suffering through to liberation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of dependent origination. We also review ways of intervening in the cycle of suffering, and then begin to explore the teaching of "liberative" or "transcendental" dependent origination-focused on the causes and conditions leading to freedom and liberation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of dependent origination we look at ways of understanding several examples of suffering according to the model, and then point to multiple ways that we intervene-especially in the areas of action, direct experience, dispositions and ignorance.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After some general background on dependent origination, we look in detail at the twelve links (nidana) with an interest in seeing how we can intervene to break cycles of conditioning and unskillful action.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An introduction to the core teaching of Dependent Arising, with a brief account of (1) what we bring to experience (links 1-5), (2) What happens in experience (links 6-9), and (3) The consequences of experience (links 10-12). This is an analysis of the roots of suffering (dukkha) and how it is perpetuated.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this time of climate disruption, we need powerful responses--integrating more "inner" spiritual practices and principles, on the one hand, with skill in "outer" responses, on the other. This integration or marriage can happen in many ways as we participate in the "great turning"--whether our primary emphasis, to use Joanna Macy's analysis, is stopping further damage from occurring, transforming our institutions, or helping to shift consciousness. Without this integration, however, spiritual practice runs the risk of becoming a kind of middle-class escapism and activism runs the risk of being caught in self-righteousness, attachment to views, demonization of the "enemy," and burnout. We need a new integration! We look at several dharma principles that can be the basis for such an integration, consider briefly how Spirit Rock is responding (and might respond further) to climate issues, and especially look at the figure of the bodhisattva.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At the time of Earth Day, we pose a a dilemma and challenge. Dharma practice is so compelling. The climate crisis is so compelling. Which do we choose? Both, in our own ways. We look at the ways that our practice (and principles of generosity, compassion, ethics, interdependence, and wisdom) call us to regard and that those responding deeply need spiritual practices and principles to meet the great need.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Reflections after just having returned from retreat, on (1) the nature and beauty of retreat, (2) the range of practices done---concentration, insight, metta, and open awareness; and (3) the deep intention to connect retreat and daily life.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This is the first segment of a daylong on cultivating wise or "right" speech, including when there are difficult speech situations. There is a general introduction to speech and communication practice and an overview of the basic guidelines for speech given by the Buddha.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief overview of the Foundations, we explore both experientially and through teachings four ways of practicing with the aggregates:
1.) recognizing when they are present, 2.) tracking their arising and passing away, 3.) noting when a thick sense of self is present and opening to experience without such a sense of self, and 4.) noting when suffering or dukkha appears and responding skillfully
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Our inner practice of metta and our practice of metta in the world are interwoven as we come more and more to practice in all activities and all parts of our lives. We explore this interconnection in terms of metta as a formal practice, challenges in metta and ways of bringing metta into the world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Weaving in the views and voice of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday with the teachings of the Buddha on metta, and with observations of how metta practice develops, we explore the spirit of metta practice and themes of living from the awakened heart; developing concentration, purifying and eventually unifying mind, heart and body and opening to our radiant depths, we bring metta to the world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the Fourth Foundation, particularly through the frameworks of the Five Hindrances and The Four Noble Truths.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) For "A New Year's Day of Practice: Resting and Re-Visioning," this talk in the afternoon pointed to ways that our practice can work with the three aspects of time: with training in present-centeredness, with studying and eventually letting go of the negative patterns from the past, and with aspiring in the future (in this New Year) to develop in ways that are helpful for both the personal and universal dimensions of awakening. A guided visualization helps us particularly with letting go and being in touch with what calls us from our depths for the next period of time.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This is a short wrap up of this talk. A few minutes between parts 1 and 2 were missed.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review the Four Foundations with continued emphasis on the Fourth, including attention to a number of practical situations. Pt 1 of 2.
*There are a few minutes missed between pt 1 and 2. Part 2 is the wrap up of the talk.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of the winter solstice, we explore how to open up to different aspects of darkness (stopping and stillness, not knowing and mystery, difficulty and creativity) and how we, in doing so, open to light.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look at both a "deep" determination and various ways to practice moment to moment determination, pointing to examples from the Civil Rights movement and Aung San Suu Kyi. We also explore the difference between skillful and unskillful determination.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the first three foundations, we look at the general nature of the Fourth Foundation of the specific frameworks used and some ways to practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore mindfulness of thoughts and emotions, including the three sets of instructions in the text, and mindfulness of difficult thoughts and emotions (and what to do when mindfulness is very hard or impossible).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the First and Second Foundations, we explore the Third Foundation: 1. as mindfulness of thoughts and emotions, and 2. as mindfulness of the presence or absence of greed, hatred and delusion, offering a number of practices for both.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore 1. Why attention to feeling-tone is so crucial for our practice and freedom; 2. the nature of the feeling-tones of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral; and 3. seven ways to practice with feeling-tone.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A second examination of mindfulness of the body with some review of last time, and a focus on the six core practices of mindfulness of the body --breath, postures, activities, body parts, elements, and decaying body.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Using the Satipatthana Sutta as a guide, we explore the first three practices of mindfulness of the body. We point to the great traditional and contemporary importance of mindfulness of the body, and suggest a number of ways to practice in daily life.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) What is mindfulness? Why is it important? How does its practice bring us toward freedom? We look generally at mindfulness and then at how we practice mindfulness of 1. the body 2. feeling tone 3. thoughts and emotions (citta) and 4. larger patterns of experience (dhammas).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, and inspired by our practice of beginning again moment-by-moment, we explore and reflect on what is most important, where we are out of alignment or integrity, forgiveness, and re-dedication to our deeper aspirations.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) With the background of the last weeks exploration of our individual practice to see self and open increasingly to not-self, we connect that practice with our responses to global crisis, particularly global climate disruption. We see its roots in part in individualist models of self, and point to the importance of dharma practice in our responses to crisis.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore in this integrative sessions, how a "thick" sense of self appears in various ways, and how we open to experience with progressively "thinner" senses of self. We also look at how anxiety and disorientation may arise at each stage, and how to understand what skillful uses of self are.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the parami (or "virtue" or "perfection") of patience, including its nature and the nature of impatience, exemplars of patience, the connection of patience with other virtues (particularly wisdom and equanimity), and how to practice to develop patience.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of our explorations of the last sessions, we outline a five-stage model for opening sequentially to more subtle aspects of not-self.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of past weeks, we examine the Buddha's basic teachings on self and not-self in terms of 1. the model of the "aggregate" of experience, 2. The link between a sense of self and conceptualization, and 3. practices to discern self and open to not-self.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review briefly the last two talks and explore three ways of practicing: 1. Investigating self when it appears; 2. Opening to experiences of not-self; and 3. doing "heart practice" like lovingkindness and compassion to balance our being as we do more deeply.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of last week's overview of exploring self and not-self, we look at five aspects of self: 1. a more neutral sense of "mere I" 2. Cultural conditions to be a particular kind of self; 3. the social self related to others 4. the wounded or stuck self; and 5. the subtle aspect of separation from other things are person. We suggest practicing to explore these five varieties.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore how the topic of self and not-self can be very confusing, for a number of reasons. We then present five perspectives for exploring this theme, a general way of making some sense of self and not-self and two initial practices to study 1. the sense of self, and 2. experience beyond limited senses of self.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore on this July 4th 1. The beauty and power of the vision of the 4th of democracy, equality, compassion, and happiness, 2. the contemporary problems that imperil the realization of this vision; and 3. a contemporary vision of addressing these problems and their inner and outer roots, inspired by the vision of the "new Bodhisattva."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look at several ways to practice when strong, difficult emotions and thoughts are present. 1) Finding antidotes - ways to get unstuck if we are stuck; 2) mindfulness using various tools; and 3) wisdom.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) For many Western Buddhists, it is challenging and often confusing to know how to work with views, theories (whether spiritual or social) and the judgmental mind. We explore the nature of views and judgements and how to practice with them, especially in the context of service and social action.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A second overview of socially engaged Buddhism is offered, through vignettes and stories of engaged practices, a discussion of some of the challenges of connecting inner and outer transformation, and a sense of the great creative possibilities of such an approach. With Q&A.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of connecting inner and outer transformation, we explore how to train to be wise and skillful in using views, concepts, and theories.
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) An exploration of the implications of mindfulness. Of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral, and suggestions of concrete ways to practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look at one of the primary training areas of a Bodhisattva, one who connects inner practice and helping others ethical practice. We consider an expansive understanding of the five lay precepts, and the challenges of ethical practices.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of a unit to Occupy Oakland, reflections on the importance for our times of developing our lives to connect inner and outer transformation, and of the inspiration to be bodhisattvas.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We situate the transformation of the judgmental mind in the context of the path of awakening - distinguishing reactive judgments from nonreactive discernment, clarifying why working with judgments is important and pointing to several ways of practicing with the judgmental mind.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the metaphor of the "spiritual journey" to help illuminate phases of our practice, using three reference points: 1. Mary Oliver's poem, "The Journey" 2. The journey of the Buddha and 3. Our own individual journeys.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) As we come near the end of a month or two months of retreat practice, we can reflect on how we might connect, as we enter the "world", our "inner" and "outer" practice. We can be inspired and energized by the figure of the bodhisattva, and by seeing the continuity of the core teachings and practices throughout all the parts of our lives.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After an analysis of the roots of suffering based on the teachings of Dependent Arising, we explore two aspects of the path of awakening. The first aspect is about gradual awakening; the second is about immediate awakening in awareness, first momentary, then gradually stabilized.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore (1) the nature of concentration: (2)the qualities developed in concentration practice; (3) how concentration practice (and practice in general) engenders a powerful process of purification of body, heart and mind; (4) the nature of wise effort in concentration practice (balancing active and receptive effort); and (5) the relationship of concentration and insight.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We bring in further practices and perspectives to help us work with "enemies" or "difficult persons" including various ethical, body, heart, and mind practices. We close by examining how we may sometimes project onto others our fragmented parts and thus use practice with enemies as opportunities to find greater wholeness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the pivotal practice of mindfulness of feeling-tone (vedana), by 1) understanding feeling-tone in the context of the teaching of dependent arising; 2) examining the nature of pleasant, unpleasant and neutral; and 3) suggesting a number of ways of practicing with feeling-tone.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to focus on perspectives and practices to help us practice skillfully with those who seem difficult or "enemies." We give attention to further practices and some of the subtleties and complexities.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature and roots of suffering, using in part the teaching of the Two Arrows to help distinguish "pain" and "suffering" linking the latter with reactivity. Being mindful of suffering and reactivity, and learning to experience pain without suffering opens us to greater freedom. We also explore further the nature of freedom and other ways that freedom may be experienced.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the meaning of developing a love or loving kindness toward all, including one's "enemies," using both Christian and Buddhist resources. Four foundational practices are outlined: 1.Ffollowing ethical guidelines 2. Mindfulness 3. Metta, and 4. Wisdom practices to help contemplate emphathically the causes and conditions of difficult interactions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The talk, given immediately following two weeks of silent practice, explores themes of remembering what is important, mystery, doing and being, and awareness "open like the sky," connecting how we practice both in retreat and daily life.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore a number of ways to deepen practice in daily life, working with challenges difficulties, grounding in the body, working with intention, and practicing with speech and interaction as well as others.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore how our practice can come alive in the flow of daily life, focusing on some of the challenges as well as three areas: (1) Various supports for daily life practice, (2) the centrality of mindfulness of the body, and (3) taking difficulties and even suffering as opportunities for practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature of fear and how metta is a powerful resource to work with and transform fear.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta practice is a training inclining toward the awakened heart. We explore several aspects of this training in terms of the development of a number of capacities, working through what blocks metta, and the integration of metta, mindfulness and wisdom.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this time of earth's stillness, it can be a wonderful time to touch our deeper aspirations, correct with our visions, and set intentions. We do this through reflections, guided meditation and ritual.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At the Winter Solstice, we explore how our practice is in pat to be with the "dark" -- the still, the unknown, the difficult, the generative and fertile -- and in part to open to light , as it emerges from the dark, as we deliberately invoke qualities of light.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) (There is a long pause at the beginning) We complete our exploration of "mature" (or "right") mindfulness, focusing on how mindfulness may be disconnected from wisdom, how it can lead to wisdom, and how "mature" mindfulness is integrated with wisdom (as well as ethics and the awakened heart)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to look at how mindfulness can be understood in the larger context of connection with ethics, wisdom, and the awakened heart. Here we explore how mindfulness and metta can be sometimes seen as separate, but how both practices point to a mature integration-loving awareness, mindful caring, the mindful and wise heart.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of the accelerating application of mindfulness in "secular" settings, we can ask questions about whether mindfulness is sometimes presented as a mere technique. We look at the nature of "nature" or "right mindfulness" (samma sati) and the importance of connecting mindfulness to the awakened heart, wisdom, and to ethics. In this talk, we focus especially on mindfulness and ethics.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We again review briefly the meaning of "getting down to direct experience" and then explore how to use concepts and views skillfully as we are somewhat away from direct experience.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After reviewing the emphasis on grounding in more direct experience, we explore how to be skillful as we move away from indirect experience with our thinking, focusing on (1) having our thinking connected with direct experience and (2) using "views" wisely. Includes Q and A.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Building on the last two sessions, we explore three inter-related aspects of ignorance or confusion: 1. How we move away from direct experience, especially because of reactivity. 2. How we develop, personally and collectively, unconscious material;and 3. How we do not fully understand impermanence, the roots of suffering and the nature of the self. We suggest ways to practice with all three forms of ignorance.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look further at the mechanisms by which we move away from direct experience. unskillfully, driven by reactivity and papanca (conceptual proliferation). We point to practices of tracking thoughts, emotions, reactivity-that help us ground in more direct experience, leading to greater freedom and responsiveness-personally interpersonally, and collectively.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The essence of our practice is to learn ever better to respond rather than react to experience. Using the model of the "Ladder of Inference," we see how we, when reactive, move away from more direct experience-personally, inter personally and socially. We then explore practices to help us "get down."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Howard Thurman, the great African American activist, mystic, and theologian, once said: “Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” In the spirit of this guidance, we continue exploring how to understand and respond some of the core issues related to the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. We are further guided by (1) understanding the inter-relationships between individual, relational, and collective domains of practice; and (2) taking wisdom, compassion, and courage (and responsiveness) as three touchstones of our practice, both more inner and more outer.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with a review of what was covered in Part I (July 10, 2011), covering the importance of speech practice, the basics of Wise (or “Right”) Speech practice, what this practice looks like in the context of small groups, and the basics of how to approach speech practice in challenging situations. We then bring in new materials, using short presentations and exercises, that expand our capacities to respond skillfully in challenging situations. We first examine how to direct mindful attention to emotions and underlying interests or values both in ourselves and in others (using some of the models from Nonviolent Communication and the Harvard Negotiation Project on "Difficult Conversations"). We also bring attention to our stories and narratives, using the model of the "Ladder of Inference" to help clarify how we often go very quickly to stories (particularly self-centered ones, often way beyond the "data") in challenging situations. We then develop further our capacities to use these tools and perspectives in situations in which we are triggered, and to respond more skillfully.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Guided by several key teachings, particularly how we might bring together wisdom, compassion, and courage, we explore some of the issues raised in reflection on the last ten years. A focus is the parallel between personal practice and responding to larger social issues.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of the material of the last weeks, we explore, partly experientially three methods of accessing extraordinary awareness: 1) dropping ordinary constructions 2) exhausting the ordinary mind 3) touching pure awareness
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We focus on how practice includes that of noting impermanence, suffering, and self/not-self, leads to deconstructing the assumptions of "ordinary mind" opening us up to "extraordinary mind".
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature of "extraordinary" mind and awareness, an our "ordinary' practice deconstructs ordinary, habitual experience and moves toward extraordinary mind.
(Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley) KALYANA MITTA (KM) GROUPS Workshop held Sun, Jul 10, 1:30 – 4:30 at the Insight Meditation Community of Berkeley for current and prospective facilitators or hosts of KM groups with Spirit Rock teacher Donald Rothberg and Dawn Neal. The focus was on Wise Speech in the context of small groups, and how to address challenging situations.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to look at the cultivation of freedom with "ordinary" mind and "extraordinary" mind, focusing on how we actually practice to cultivate both.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After honoring the intentions for freedom linked with the 4th of July, we explore how awareness creates the space of freedom-both at the levels of ordinary and extraordinary awareness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Donald Rothberg and Sylvia Boorstein give short talks and engage in dialogue about the foundations of loving kindness practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore (1) personal reflections on how to bring home the retreat; (2) grounding speech practice in personal practice; (3) continuing speech practice in daily life; and (4) bringing speech practice into our society - into our organizations, service, and participation in the larger society.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The essence of speech practice in difficult situations is to find ways to stay connected, in one's inner experience and use of speech, to our awareness, love, and wisdom. We focus on a number of supports for such practice, including grounding and centering in the body, being open to difficulties as opportunities for learning, understanding the judgmental mind, and, especially, cultivating deep listening.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Skillful practice with thoughts and emotions is explored, including (1) taking responsibility for our experience, (2) finding balance if we are reactive and out of balance, (3) using mindfulness to investigate thoughts and emotions, and (4) making connections between these approaches and our speech practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore (1) the importance of speech practice; (2) its place in the path of awakening; (3) the nature of awakening and the path to awakening; and (4) the specific teachings on speech from the Buddha, particularly on the four ethical guidelines of truthfulness, helpfulness, kindness, and appropriateness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After considering how cultivating equanimity helps us to release and find balance with our conditioned patterns, we explore the powerful principle expressed by T.S. Elliot as "Ours is in the trying, the rest is not our business."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of our first two sessions, we explore, both through an overview and through experiential exercises, bodily-based practices to help cultivate equanimity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A continued exploration of the nature of equanimity, how we cultivate it in formal practice and in action. with a particular focus in the last part of the talk on "The Eight Worldly Winds"
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore how mature equanimity is expressed through wisdom, the open heart, and the body. We examine some of the qualities of equanimity and how we develop it in the midst of action, as well as on the cushion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore through stories, teachings and poetry two basic ways of transforming judgments: 1. through mindfulness, reflection, inquiry and other tools we directly investigate judgments and their roots. 2. through developing the awakened mind, heart and body we come to rest more in our deep nature, helping in multiple ways to transform judgments.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Exploration of the major themes of a just completed retreat, including focusing on the essentials of life, practicing fully and opening to the deeper truths.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We step back to look at how we develop the three meditative path factors separately, and how, as practice deepens, the factors become interwoven, and we move forward a kind of mindful, concentrated, effortless effort.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review our previous exploration of concentration practices with further treatment of 1) wise effort, 2) how concentration deepens toward the Jhanas, and 3) the relationship of concentration and insight practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review the basics of concentration practice,and then focus on concentration practice as a path of purification, and then on wise effort in concentration practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin four weeks of attention to the three meditative factors of the Eightfold Path, starting with concentration, and including a concentrative exercise and attention to wise effort in concentraton.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) As we do on the cushion, we practice metta in daily life in widening circles. We explore sustaining individual formal metta practice, metta in our relationships, and metta in the larger world. (Followed by questions and responses.)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this second talk of the retreat, we explore further the spirit of metta, through teachings and stories, focusing as well on the themes of metta as a concentration practice, as opening a process of purification, and, as it matures, as increasingly embodied and wise.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this time of Winter Solstice we explore a number of ways that our practice is to open to the dark (as nature's stillness and silence, as the unknown, as the difficult and as fertile and generative) and to evoke the light, learning better how to hold both.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look in more depth at the path of gradual awakening and its complimentary path and practice of immediate awakening, suggesting a variety of ways to practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the complementarity of gradual and immediate (or sudden) ways of practicing, with some experiential exercises.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We examine the nature of generosity and gratitude and both how to cultivate them , and what stands in the way of their expression through stories and teachings.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore 1) The nature of intentions, 2) The importance of intentions in our practice, 3) karma and intentions, and 4) how to practice with intentions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Connecting with our deep motivation for practice is a crucial support. We explore a number of interwoven motivations for practicing.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore a number of resources, support structures, and guiding perspectives that can help our daily life practice come alive.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An exploration of metta practice and how it works-to develop the capacity to lead with the heart, develop in concentration, purify our being and touch our deeper nature.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Wisdom across many traditions is understood as a clear and deep seeing of human experience; a seeing that cuts through conditioning and delusion. We look at the relationship of wisdom to mindfulness and the caring heart, particularly at how we see more clearly suffering, its roots and impermanence.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Mindfulness plays a central role in our practice of living with wisdom and compassion. We explore a number of the qualities of mindfulness as well as the obstacles to mindfulness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) It is helpful to connect with our deeper aspirations to practice - at the beginning of a retreat as well as before practice sessions. Twelve different responses to the question of why we practice are explored.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the twin practices of studying and deconstructing the separate self, and opening to interdependence, in part through a number of practices.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A exploration, with several short exercises, of how we form a separate self, and how we open to interdependence.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We conclude our six sessions on wise speech by focusing on perspectives, practices and guidelines that help us be more skillful with difficult speech situations. The talk is followed by a guided exercise and discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We complete examination of the model of Non-Violent Communication, with a focus on applying the model to difficult situations.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of wise speech practice, we continue to explore being aware of feelings and needs and introduce skillful ways to identify "how things are" through "observations."
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore nonviolent communication as a refinement of mindfulness, focusing particularly on 'needs' (what matters) and feelings (or emotions)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of last time, of the importance of speech practice and the ethical guidelines for wise speech, we explore two ways of cultivating mindfulness in our speech, concluding with an exercise to cultivate inner and outer attention at the same time.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A discussion of the importance of speech practice and of the four ethical guidelines for wise speech, inviting initial practice of cultivating wise speech.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Our speech practice deepens when we take difficult speech situations as becoming opportunities. We explore the centrality of working skillfully with reactivity; the possibility of becoming more skilled with finding non-dual approaches to conflict and how there are always openings for practice, even when the other seems uninterested in communication.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore three increasingly subtle aspects of wisdom and the speech practices related to each of them: (1) the wisdom to know what is wholesome and unwholesome, particularly in an ethical context; (2) the wisdom to know suffering and the roots of suffering, and freedom and its roots; (3) the wisdom to know the nature of more direct experience and the nature of concepts. In all types of wisdom, the basis is the close study of experience, leading to insight and clear seeing.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Buddha spoke often of the centrality of speaking lovingly from the heart- "affectionately...with a mind of good-will". We explore the importance for speech practice of working directly with mind and heart, learning through metta practice to "lead" with our hearts. We also in the process touch more and more our radiant hearts, transforming what gets in the way of these hearts.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue exploring the nature of speech practice, following last night's introduction, focusing on five kinds of mindfulness practice that supports speech practice. Following an overview of mindfulness, we examine (1) connecting inner and outer attention in the midst of speech, (2) the importance for speech practice of mindfulness of the body, (3) mindfulness based on following the ethical speech principles, (4) NVC interpreted as a refinement of mindfulness practice,and (5) mindfulness of the thoughts and emotions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this talk, we locate speech practice in the context of the path of awakening, first explaining the meanings of awakening and path. We then suggest a map of three broad types of interrelated speech practices, focusing on the first type - using ethical principles to guide our speech. We'll explore the others in further talks.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the Tibetan based teaching of the Four Reflections (or reminders) which help us turn more fully to the Dharma, giving a brief review of 1) the preciousness and rarity of human life, and 2) impermanence and suffering, then moving to examine in more depth 3) how our actions and thoughts matter and leave imprints- or karma, and 4) the importance of knowing and turning always from our habitual tendencies leading to suffering.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the first two of the traditional Tibetan "mind-turning" reflections on the preciousness of human life , and on impermanence and death, with suggestions on how to practice these reflections and how this may quicken and deepen our practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We examine the twin tracks of transformation - (1) going into what is difficult, into our suffering and wounds; and (2) cultivating awakened states. We explore the resources of (1) wisdom, through examining the the Four Truths and the arrows; (2) mindfulness as a central tool leading to wisdom; and (3) heart practices such as lovingkindness - all with an eye to their roles in helping us to transform distress.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We build from last week's identification of four broad ways of deepening formal practice: 1) developing simplicity, focus and a sense of clear priorities in one's life; 2) developing a strong support structure in various ways; 3) cultivating, in practice, qualities like mindfulness, metta, wisdom etc.; 4) developing a wise and compassionate sense of the path. We explore what these also mean in two other domains- everyday life (work relationships, family, community, the flow of our days); and our service and action in the larger world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Through reflection on just having taught a month-long retreat and several poems, we explore a number of ways to deepen our formal meditation practice through simplicity, focus, building a strong "container", developing mindfulness and lovingkindness in relation to what happens, and increased invocation of the "wise parent" (or grandparent...aka "discipline").
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Heart practices and wisdom practices can appear to speak different languages and have different aims; for example, lovingkindness wishes well whereas equanimity says, "no matter what I wish for, things are as they are." We explore how the heart and wisdom connect through exploring (1) lovingkindness, (2) equanimity, and (3) how the two inform each other and are integrated.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore how "knowledge and vision of things as they are," supported by concentration and earlier factors, brings us insight into impermanence, suffering and the roots of suffering, and not-self. We examine some of the forces and structure that lead to delusion and a lack of clear seeing, as well as how to practice to cultivate these insights.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Delight (or joy or gladness, pamojja) is the second factor that emerges as we shift away from repetitive cycles of suffering. We explore how delight manifests as delight in practice, in our integrity, the "bliss of blamelessness," and in other ways. We also look at how to cultivate delight, how delight or joy support the deepening of our practice, and what makes delight difficult to access.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Mindfulness of the body is absolutely fundamental for our practice and was for the Buddha, both a starting point and an end point. We explore (1) why mindfulness of the body is crucial both in the Buddha's teaching and especially in our highly mental culture; (2) how we practice mindfulness of breathing and mindfulness of postures and activities; and (3) how mindfulness of the body works to transform us.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review briefly our previous practices and investigations of body practices in the last three weeks. We then focus on the body's connection with mind and heart, how we practice individually with each of them, how we explore the dynamic relationship of body, mind, heart. We end by focusing on heart practices for our bodies and those of others, and on opening to the further mysteries of bodies.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a brief review of the first two series, we focus on body practices to develop insight into 1) impermanence, 2) suffering and the roots of suffering, and 3)constructions of self. We suggest several concrete practices to develop wisdom through awareness of bodily experience.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review and expand the themes from last time- the importance of body practices for our times and lives, exploring our attitudes toward the body and developing basic body practices. Then we focus on mindfulness of the body, outlining several further practices and emphasizing especially how body practices help us practice more fully and critically in the flow of the daily life.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The body is the doorway to great transformation and mystery. Practicing with awareness of the body is central to grounding our practice in a highly mental culture. We explore 1) the importance of body-based practice, 2) our cultural and personal attitudes toward our bodies, and 3) a set of initial body practices.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Lovingkindness practice ultimately works because we are evoking our deep nature - of kindness and love, the "brightly shining" citta associated with lovingkindness. We explore how we can open to our radiant hearts through (1) learning to lead with our hearts, (2) cultivating concentration, (3) evoking love and working through what blocks love, and (4) touching more and more our depths.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The winter solstice in our culture sometimes is close to busy and even frenzied times, yet in most cultures has been a time of deepening, stillness, and silence, like the earth. We explore four ways to practice with the darkness of the time: 1) Through stopping and stilling our habituated minds; 2) Through opening to the unknown; 3) Trhough being with what is painful or difficult; 4) Through allowing the light and the creative to emerge from darkness
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The Buddha's teaching on views and beliefs is radical, pointing to how we might investigate our attachments to and grasping after views and come to hold views much more lightly. How do we practice with views? We offer a number of further perspectives, from the Buddha and Nagarjuna, and practices to work with views.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the nature of "views" (or strong beliefs or opinions) and how to practice with them by 1) grounding ourselves in some of the famous passages on views in the teachings of the Buddha, 2)identifying why and how views can be problematic and lead to suffering, and 3) offering practices this week to explore our views, whether personal, political or religious/spiritual.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We look at the nature of distraction- not attending to what is our intended focus- in three main ways, each of which we can respond to: 1) our distraction moment to moment and how we train in mindfulness, 2) our distraction in our everyday lives, and 3) how our lives become distracted in relation to our deeper intentions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a short account of emptiness and how we cultivate a deeper understanding of it in very practical ways, we explore the nature of compassion. We look at how it can be developed and what forms it can take, all the time pointing to how mature compassion invloves a deep sense of emptiness and interconnection (and vice versa).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review the teachings on emptiness in the context of the broader teachings on the centrality of developing wisdom and compassion, expanding our examination of these teachings from last time. The last part of the session involving doing several exercises, partly explaining experience as a flowing "stream" (and seeing what obstructs the flow) and partly doing a series of four exercises with "ordinary objects" designed to take us out of our ordinary way of constructing things.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Preceded by a short chant by Rebekkah La Dyne, our yoga teacher for the retreat, we explore two main modes of transformation - one going into suffering, one involving beautiful states. We then focus on the latter, as expressed in the practice of the Brahmaviharas, the cultivation of lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity - examining their near and far enemies, and how the four interpret each other in the mature heart.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We examine how mindfulness is distinguished from, yet leads to wisdom. We explore wisdom especially through the life story of the Buddha, moving from comfort and and illusion to deep wisdom and compassion, and through his first teaching of the Four Noble Truths - the most basic expression of wisdom in the tradition.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Transformation in practice, whether in mindfulness or metta practice, occurs through repetition, patience, understanding and faith, in a sometimes mysterious way. Using poems and stories, we explore the nature of lovingkindness (metta) and the kinds of transformation that occur as we practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) On this first evening of the retreat, we explore the nature of mindfulness in general and how we practice mindfulness of the body in particular. We then examine the five "difficult energies" (nivarana or "hindrances"), and how they make mindfulness difficult and how to practice when they are present.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first review basic perspectives on emptiness and compassion and then explore three basic ways to access emptiness: 1) being with inner flow of experience and seeing where self and fixation occur, 2) opening to the "flow experience" in activities and relationships and 3) cultivating a sense of interconnection
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We examine the teaching of seeing the emptiness of self and things and how this, in its mature expression, is compassionate activity. We suggest simple practices to explore this sometimes confusing teaching, and everyday examples of how emptiness and compassion come together.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the context of previous talks, we explore intention practice in three ways: 1.) understanding the importance of intention in our practice and in life 2.) cultivating intention as aspiration- being in touch with deeper intentions, and 3.) working with intentions moment to moment and in specific activities.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to look at work and service as a path, naming some key aspects of this path: 1. general intention that our work and service be practice for ourselves and others, 2.connecting inner and outer practice, 3. identifying core challenges and "obstacles", 4.developing awakened qualities and 5. establishing community support for this path.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We may understand and express our spiritual practice as helping others. What does such a path look like? What are some of the challenges and issues? We name burnout, self-righteousness, being overwhelmed, attachment to outcome, etc. and begin to explore how to work with these challenges.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore 1) being mindful when a wind is present; 2) the nature of the winds; 3) responding skilfully.
We add an emphasis on resting in what is deeper and examine several issues that arise in practicing with the winds
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An examination of how we practice with pleasure and pain, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame; with stories referring to Buddha's teaching + discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) How do we take our service as a path of practice? Most basically, we take helping others as the center (or a major part) of our lives, and we examine, in our service, what helps develop “selfless” service and the barriers to such service, especially a sense of duality between self and other. We explore how a connection between “inner” and “outer” practice structures a life of service, and how such practice can also be understood as the development of particular qualities—we focus on the development of (1) clarity of intentions, (2) generosity, (3) gratitude, and (4) compassion, and on some of the challenges that arise when cultivating such qualities, and in service generally.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) One interpretation of Jewish mindfulness connects mindfulness with the Jewish prophetic tradition. This suggests an understanding of spiritual practice as involving both "inner" transformation toward liberation and "outer" transformation toward a liberated society; actually, the two are intimately connected. We first explore, partly through music, the prophetic tradition. We then examine how both our inner and outer practice can be understood in similar ways, following the core principles, in terms of development in wisdom and mindfulness (the mind), compassion and love (the heart), and courage and skillful action (the body).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review and fill out some of the themes from part I, why it is important and yet often confusing to work with anger; and several guidelines and tools (mindfulness, reflection, heart practices) for practicing with anger individually. We add an overview of how to practice with anger in relational an social contexts with others, focusing especially on skillful speech.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) For many of us, it is hard to know how to practice with anger. We explore some of the reasons for confusion about anger, including the mixed messages we get about anger in many settings, the different connotations of what is translated as "anger" East and West, and the conditioning around anger. We then outline three ways of more "inner" work with anger, through 1) mindfulness, 2) reflections and 3) heart practices like lovingkindness, compassion and forgiveness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) How do we find depth, focus and support for an engaged path? And why do we need such a path? Aren't traditional Buddhist paths complete and adequate for our times? In this talk, we explore these issues, identifying 1) the structure of the traditional path of training in ethics, meditation, and wisdom; 2) what an engaged path adds or extends and the way that it meets the needs of our times; and 3) five core training areas for engaged paths.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first revisit the exploration of the shadow, how it forms, and how we work with it, we then look into the nature of collective shadow phenomena, how the personal and collective shadow inter-penetrate, and how we work with the collective shadow. The key, as always, is to establish a relatively safe space to develop awareness, compassion and wisdom, leading to skillful action.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The shadow as it relates to spiritual practice. That which does not fit the self image is excluded and becomes part of one's shadow. Reactivity as in indication that shadow material is in play. We explore ways in which a fixed self of is linked to shadow.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Exploring the shadow - personal, relational, and collective - is one way to work through the deep structure of ignorance. We explore the nature of the shadow, the phenomenon of projection, and several ways to practice with the shadow.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the cultivation of equanimity by focusing especially on how we keep balance and, increasingly, unshakability with the eight worldly winds of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, and praise and blame. We also focus on the qualities of understanding, joy and faith found in mature equanimity, with stories from Martin Luther Kind, Jr., Etty Hillesun and more treatment of multiple near-enemies of equnimity.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Mudita practice both opens us to joy and extends that joy beyond our usual boundaries, transforming our conditions that limit joy to a limited circle and focus on the negative. We explore some of the roots of this personal and social conditioning and end by identifying some of the qualities of mature joy.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore the practice of Mudita in the context of the other three Brahmaviharaas; seeing how it goes again both self-centered joy and tendencies to focus on problems or what is "wrong" in a situation. There is some guidance in the formal mudita practice, as well as more general cultivation of joy.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the practices to develop, examining the nature of compassion - its relationship to the other brahmaviharas, the receptive and active dimensions of compassion, the near and far enemies; how we might practice compassion in the world - interpersonally and socially; and the relationship of compassion and wisdom.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The practice of compassion can occur both as a formal practice - one of the four practices of the Brahmaviharas - and as an everyday practice in the context of our lives. Compassion practice works because it helps us to to open to our deeper being. Yet to do this, we have to learn also to open to pain - and suffering - understood as the reaction to pain.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) How do we bring our metta practice out from retreat into the world and our everyday lives. We look at (1) some guidelines and ways of practicing metta in our personal formal practice; (2) practicing metta in our relationships with others; and (3) the importance of metta for social healing and transformation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta works, partly in a clear way, partly mysteriously, to help us lead with our hearts, develop deeper concentration, unergo an often challenging process of purification and touch the depths of our being. As we practice, we work through a number of challenges - distraction, sleepiness, the restless mind and body, and the near and far enemies of metta - attached love and ill-will for enemies, particularly harsh judgment of self and others.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this time of darkness between Solstice and the New Year, it is a wonderful time for reflection, quiet and renewal - in our practice and in our lives generally. We explore a number of factors and practices that support renewal and post three questions at the end to help open us up to what renewal means for each of us
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a review of four guidelines for practicing with fear, we explore more deeply the nature of fear, including many of the more unconscious ways that we carry fear, as well as the biological basis of fear. We also examine the relationship of fear to a sense of self, and of opening into fearlessness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue to explore the nature of fear and how to practice with fear, with several stories and a deeper look at how fear appears. Fear is not the problem - our unskillful way of reacting to fear with confusion and repetitive negative stories is what we explore and transform.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The challenges and crises of our times are immense - at the current time, there are economic, political, ethical and ecological crises, among others. To face these crises as practice demands, however, the same qualities demanded by the immensity of awakening -- (1) wisdom expressed as the ability to hold together opposites, (2) a deep listening for our calling, (3) a toolbox of skillful means, (4) a heart to transform difficult emotions, such as anger, fear and sadness, and (5) continual persistence and growing confidence in liberation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Fear is a very powerful force in our lives- personally, interpersonally and socially. What is fear and how do we work with it? Here we explore the nature of fear and its complex nature as involving intelligence and an urge to action, but also commonly reactivity and delusions. We suggest several main ways of practicing, 1) coming back to balance through antidotes such as metta, beauty and refuges in our deeper values; 2) mindfulness; 3) wisdom and 4) active inquiry and engagement with our own fear.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) What resources and perspectives help us to practice wise speech when the conditions are difficult? We focus especially on developing a strong "container" (both internal and in the community), and on learning better to work with difficult thoughts and emotions, in the context of speech, giving a number of stories and examples.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In cultivating wise speech, we train in many capacities. Among them is training to listen and speak with an open, loving heart. We explore the nature of the open heart and training in lovingkindness. We then examine what it means to listen, both generally and in speech, and what it means to speak from the heart, including reflection on some typical distortions of such speech.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) For this retreat on wise speech, mindfulness, and non-violent communication, we begin with examining the place of wise (or "right") speech in the Eightfold Path, and how it is linked to training and development in wisdom, ethics, and meditation. We then reflect on the importance for this path of speech, and the four ethical guidelines for speech given by the Buddha: (1) truthfulness, (2) helpfulness, (3) warmth/kindness, and (4) appropriateness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) How do we keep our practice fresh? If we are stuck, how do we renew our practice? Reflecting on a just completed time of retreat, we explore four ways of renewing our practice: (1) finding ways to touch our deeper motivations, (2) cutting through habitual psychological patterns, (3) grounding further in the body, and (4) touching our awakened qualities.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore five aspects of bringing our practice to conflicts - inner, interpersonal, group, or social: 1. At the heart of such practice is transforming reactivity and responding skillfully. Also crucial are different ways of: 2. grounding and centering in the body, 3. resting in the heart, 4. maintaining a non-dual vision, and 5. continuing to be deeply engaged and acting without attachment to immediate outcomes, once we have acted responsively.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Why is it so difficult to bring practice into situations of conflict? We look at five reasons for these difficulties, each of which suggests an aspect of our practice in the midst of conflicts. We then explore some resources for nondual conflict transformation, particularly the middle way of the Buddha and a "both-and" vision for working with conflicts.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Transformation Beyond the Constricted Self
After a review of teachings about not-self, and an exploration of the ways that the self appears as an overlay on, or constriction of, the flow of experience, we look in this final talk at what si there when a constrictive self is absent: 1) individuality without identification, 2) awareness, 3) wmptiness of phenomena and self, and 4) compassion and responsiveness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first review the basic teachings on self and not-self, exploring the possible confusion and the paradoxes, as well as the teaching of the five skardhas. We then explore three main forms through through which the self appears.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Is there a self?? To explore these questions is to enter the territory of paradox. We investigate how to understand both conventional and conceptual approaches to self....
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Mindfulness of the body goes against the grain of our culture yet is fundamental for most of us to bring awareness, compassion and wisdom to daily life. We explore some of the transformation possible through mindfulness of the body.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) It's very challenging for our daily lives to be places of deep transformation, yet many of us want this. After looking at one of the challenges, we explore three ways to meet the challenges: 1) knowing what is important 2) taking "our bodies as our monasteries" 3) learning to "break the mirror", get unstuck, over and over again. For each of the three ways, a dharma reading and a poem are given.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta is a powerful practice that helps us lead with our hearts, develop concentration, and "purify" our bodies, hearts and minds, working through obstacles to metta and touching our deep luminosity. Yet metta sometimes seems opposed to wisdom and mindfulness practice, and particularly to equanimity. We explore the qualities of equanimity and then how mature metta requires equanimity and mature equanimity requires metta.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The earth at the winter solstice invites us to embrace the darkness - as a stopping and stilling, an entry into the unknown, a being with difficulty, a fertile and generative source - and invite the light that comes out of the dark. We connect these themes with our practice and suggest particular further ways to practice at the solstice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The earth at the winter solstice invites us to embrace the darkness -- as a stopping and stilling, an entry into the unknown, a being with difficulty, a fertile and generative source -- and invite the light that comes out of the dark. We connect these themes with our practice and suggest particular further ways to practice at the solstice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) It is helpful to identify four broad phases of transformation, whether in the context of intensive meditation practice, everyday life, or engaged practice in the world: (1) building resources (perspectives, tools, methods, the ethical “container”); (2) opening to and honoring our suffering; (3) coming to see in a new way; and (4) the integrative work of stabilizing, grounding, and expressing our insights and learning as we go forth into the world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the second session on practicing with thoughts and emotions, we complement the first session's focus on the more receptive practice of mindfulness. After a review of mindfulness, we explore three more active approaches: (1) deepening mindfulness through inquiry, (2) invoking wisdom through clear comprehension, (3) providing antidotes through invoking lovingkindness, compassion, and other beautiful states.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Mindfulness of thoughts and emotions gives us one of our great resources for applying our practice in daily life -- in the midst of work, relationships, and family. Here we explore some general qualities of mindfulness, then explore the guidelines of "RAIN" -- recognition, acceptance, inquiry and non-identification -- applying this approach to the experiencing of anger. Next week we explore skillful action with thoughts and emotions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Practicing mindfulness and metta in the United States is definitely challenging for a variety of reasons which are explored briefly. We outline a number of basic supports for practice (daily practice, community, study, etc. ) and then focus on four main ways of deepening daily life practice - (1) Finding regular ways to break habits, (2)Working with a mentor or teacher, (3) Grounding in the body, and (4) Learning to take obstacles and suffering as opportunities.
(note: There is a 15 minute gap about 11 minutes into this talk and cuts out again at 53 minutes, due to technical difficulties.)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) There are two main approaches in our practice - mindfulness and invoking beautiful and exalted states. They complement each other in important ways. After considering these two approaches, we explore the nature of each of the divine abodes, their near and far enemies, and their complementary nature - each requires the other three for its mature development.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) How do we live and act wisely, whether in our meditation practice or in the rest of our lives? The core of our practice is to come back to wisdom moment-to-moment. The main teaching on wisdom that can guide us is the Four Noble Truths. We explore this teaching as a practical guide, requiring an understanding of causes and conditions. Yet wisdom ultimately must also be connected to to two further qualities to be whole - to compassion, and to courage.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta is generally described and set in the context of the Brahmavihara - the divine abodes. A number of stories are told illustrating the quality of metta and four ways that metta transforms us are identified - (1) We learn to lead with our hearts; (2) We develop in concentration; (3) We purify our being; and (4) We connect more fully with others.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After a framing of why we practice and how this intensive practice can inform our wider lives, and a short account of the qualities of mindfulness we explore how to practice in states of mind and heart. Using the model of RAIN (Recognition, Acceptance, Inquiry, Non-identification), we examine a number of ways to work with states of mind and heart, using as case studies, working with anger, judgment (harsh reactive judgment) and others.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We sometimes feel very connected with our love, wisdom, and mindfulness. At other times, we may feel disconnected from these qualities, stuck in what the Buddha called the five "difficult energies" (or hindrances). We explore compulsive desire and aversion, sloth & torpor, restlessness, and doubt - suggesting how to respond to these when they arise, both in meditation and daily life.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this retreat, we are cultivating clear seeing especially through development of mindfulness and wisdom. In this talk, we focus on mindfulness- exploring its qualities of bare attention, directness, non-reactivity, present centered-ness, and interest. We introduce the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, with a particular focus on mindfulness of the body, and how this leads to wisdom.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue our exploration, with a review of why, in the contemporary west, it’s important to develop a fuller sense of relationship as practice, and what the prerequisites for this practice are, in terms of Buddhist resources. Then we explore how in relationship there can be a full sense of inner awareness and roundedness (the “I”), awareness of and xxx toward the other (the “you”), and a third “body” (the feid of the “we”. We use experiential exercises to explore this.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Much of our meditation practice in the west has been focused on individual practice, in silence and often solitude. While there are many traditional Buddhist resources for taking relational, communicative interactions as practice, there is also a need for developing forms to deepen such practice. We identify the Buddhist resources for this practice and offer some beginning exercises.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) As we begin a new cycle after Labor Day, it’s helpful to identify the basics of our practice, which I do with reference to a just-completed 3 weeks on retreat in the mountains. We look at 1. Foundations – ethics, intentions, creating a space away from habits. 2. Development of concentration and awareness. 3. Heart – practice and 4. Integration in our everyday lives.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review the nature of the Bodhisattva, in its archetypal expression, its manifestation in extraordinary and ordinary human exemplars, and in ourselves. We focus on the qualities of wisdom and skillful action especially and end with a short ceremony in which the participants develop their own version of the Bodhisattva, and express some of them publicly.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After an overview of the Bodhisattva path, and of the perfections of vow – intention, patience, and meditations, we look at the perfections of wisdom and skillful action. We end with an experiential exercise designed to a different situation.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this second session, we first review the path of the Bodhisattva, exploring both the Theravada and Mahayara roots and the qualities (paramis, paramites) developed. We focus on vow – intentions, patience, and meditation, looking at how to make the Bodhisattva training real in our daily lives.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The path of the Bodhisattva is both a traditional and contemporary way of connecting inner practice and helping others. After an overview of the Theravada and Mahayara roots, we explore the practice of (1) intention - vows, and (2) patience.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Thich Nhat Hanh has written of how the encounter of Dharma and democracy will bring something new and exciting to the world. We explore 1. the beauty and dream of democracy and its resonance with the Dharma, 2. what currently needs attention in our would-be democracy and 3. a vision of how the connection of Dharma and democracy mature is vital for ourselves and our world.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We explore in general the Seven Factors as a guide to our practice and as an experience of awakened being and presence. We examine each of the seven: mindfulness, investigation, effort, rapture or joy, stillness, concentration and equanimity, with suggestions of what to do to cultivate each quality.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The qualities of the summer solstice: stillness (between days with more or less light), light and clarity, openness and space, warmth, and abundant energy, parallel in many ways the factors of enlightenment in the teachings of the Buddha. We explore these qualities through teachings, poetry and suggestions of practice.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We continue exploring the nature and methods of inquiry, the freshness, openness, interest and energy it can bring to practice. We explore (1) mindfulness – based inquiry, (2) deep listening, (3) working with teachings (here particularly the Four Noble Truths and Precepts), (4) radical questions and (5) deconstructing fixed beliefs, with more time on numbers 3 – 5.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this second talk on inquiry, we review some of the material from last time, including the Kalama Sutta, inquiry as a factor of awakening, and the inquiry methods of (1) mindfulness, (2) deep listening and (3) working with teachings to help inquiry. Then we explore (4) radical questions and (5) deconstruction of fixed beliefs.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Because we live in such a mental culture, we sometimes interpret meditation as getting rid of all thinking. But inquiry and investigation, often aided by language are crucial to Buddhist practice. We look at three practical methods of inquiry, using (1) mindfulness (2) deep listening, and (3) the lens of particular teachings.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Beth Gendler, author of Notes On The Need For Beauty, reflects in dialogue with Donald Rothberg and the Sanga, on the nature of beauty, “cleansing the doors of perception, and the place of beauty in transformative practice.”
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We use Dogen’s famous passage to explore issues of self and not-self, by looking at 1. how we study the self, 2. how, in studying the self, we forget the self, and 3. how, in forgetting the self, we are most ourselves and most fully with others.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Right livelihood, one of the factors of the Eightfold Path, is primarily focused on the ethical qualities of our work. We explore this factor, as well as the related sense of vocation or calling – to have one’s life and work express one’s gifts while contributing and providing a path to universal Dharma.
(Unknown) The path of the Bodhisattva is both a traditional way of practice and an evolving contemporary way of linking awakening with helping others. We look at the history of the Bodhisattva and five qualities that the Bodhisattva develops. 1. intentions/vow 2. patience and commitment 3. meditation 4. wisdom and 5. skillful action.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this second talk on inquiry beneath the surface through working with difficulties, we look at the basic conditioned reactions to pleasant and unpleasant, and look at how to practice and inquire on a personal and interpersonal level
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) A review of the traditional four “wise efforts,” formulated also in everyday (Kayalcins) language, followed by a discussion of some of the visible hazards of ‘wise effort practice” and of “effortless effect.”
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Developing energy and effort in our practice is crucial. In its mature form, effort becomes “effortless” but on the way, we need to support our practice’s energy both generally and moment-to-moment. We look at the traditional teaching of the four “wise efforts,” adding some contemporary metaphors, especially drawn from Kayakins.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We review some of the main themes of transforming judgments – the nature of judgments and four main ways of working with judgments, using mindfulness, inquiry, and heart practices. We add some exploration of the cultural dimension of judgments and how to combine inner work on judgments with outer response and how to combine inner work on judgments with outer response.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Working with judgments is a kind of “royal road” of transformation, taking us into our deep and often unconscious views, sense of self and pain. We look at the importance of this work, and the speaker tells personal stories illustrating four ways of working with judgments: 1. mindfulness 2. seeing core patterns of mind and heart 3. metta, compassion, joy – using heart practices, and 4. deep inquiry.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We focus, in this record of two talks, on the nature of Papanca or “conceptual proliferation” its roots in compulsive craving and aversion, and a number of different ways to work skillfully with Papanca.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) At this time of King’s birthday, we use the Vietnamese Buddhist recent understanding of three core areas of the Dharma- wisdom, compassion and courage with each we examine both the teachings of the Buddha and the life and work of King, playing several of his talks.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Metta to self is traditionally a starting point for Metta practice. Yet this is challenging for many of us as we work with our pain, judgments and demons. As we develop in Metta to self, we bring Metta out into the world, which deeply needs it. This requires a lot of creativity. We end by exploring the coverage needed to bring Metta into the world, and the need for a "tough metta" -- a Metta able to respond to difficult situations, a Metta that is neither passive nor a pushover.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In our lives we often ask: "What comes next?" in my practice, in my life. We may feel stuck, or energized but not know how to manifest concretely in our lives. We explore the nature of our wold unfolding and some practical ways to tune into "what wants to come next?"
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Our practice "flies" through the two wings of the dharma - wisdom, clear seeing, and insight into the 4 truths; and compassion, the awakening of the heart. In between is the body of courage, that supports our action in the world.