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Retreat Dharma Talks at Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Examining Reality as a Path to Freedom: Insight Meditation Retreat for Experienced Students

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one," said Einstein. This forceful statement echoes the Buddha's teachings of liberation.

Buddhist practice allows us to gain first-hand insights into the true nature of our constructed, illusive reality. As we dive into a fine-grained investigation of our experience, we begin to see how different interpretations of reality are constructed by our mind. This inquiry can break the seeming solidity, permanence and continuity of our unexamined experience. As this process unfolds, we open to unexpected perspectives, and ultimately, freedom.

Initial instructions on this silent retreat will encourage stabilizing our attention through samatha. Then instructions will be given for more refined levels of observation of phenomena through vipassana. Although traditional Buddhist concentration and insight practices will primarily be offered, the teachers will also draw on complementary disciplines to provide a broader context for our investigations. The goal, however, always remains concrete and practical: greater inner peace and liberation.

2017-05-22 (8 days) Spirit Rock Meditation Center

  
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2017-05-26 Day 4: Metta Sit with Guidance (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 7:41
Sayadaw U Jagara
2017-05-27 Day 5 Instructions: Mental Factors (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 47:05
Nikki Mirghafori
2017-05-27 Perception as Conditioned and as Conditionee (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 50:52
Sayadaw U Jagara
Sanna (pere arise together with feeling (vedana) and is a "marker" of sign and a "recognition" of the mark (sign). It can be used to protect/develop and understand mind's dynamic. What is needed for a beginner = mindfulness of the body.
2017-05-27 Day 5 Guided Metta: Radiating Metta for All, Including Oneself (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 41:39
Nikki Mirghafori
2017-05-28 Day 6 Morning Instructions: SN: "The Lump of Foam" and the 5 aggregates as bubbles, etc. (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 61:33
Sayadaw U Jagara
Includes Q&A
2017-05-28 Seeing Things as They are Through Vipassana (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 45:55
Nikki Mirghafori
When we see the nature of reality as impermanent, not inherently satisfying and impersonal, we don't take it all so personally. There can be more ease and freedom when we make peace with the way things are. Recorded at Spirit Rock at "Examining Reality as a Path to Freedom: Insight Meditation Retreat for Experienced Students"
2017-05-28 Day 6 Metta Sit: (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 26:54
Sayadaw U Jagara
Genetic-Temperature-Conditioned=Metta=Warm-up!
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