The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Retreat Dharma Talks at Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Monday and Wednesday Talks

Regular weekly talks given at the lower Spirit Rock meditation hall

Spirit Rock Meditation Center

  
2022-02-23 Ne stressez pas! (Don't make things more complicated.) 1:27:54
Sylvia Boorstein
2022-02-28 A Peaceful Heart In A Time Of War And The Legacy Of Thich Nhat Hanh | Monday Night Talk 54:40
Jack Kornfield
Tonight I had planned to talk about Thich Nhat Hanh, the great and wise Zen master and teacher who died recently at age 95. But it seems critical to also acknowledge the grief of the war in Ukraine. As it says in the Buddhist teachings (and in other wisdom teachings), in this world, hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love alone is healed. There has to be a better game than war for human beings. We have to look at the war within ourselves as well. Thich Nhat Hanh’s instruction was to stop—stop making enemies. Make prayers. Make blessings. This is our moral task.
2022-02-28 Compassion in a Time of War Meditation | Monday Night 25:27
Jack Kornfield
May your struggles and sorrows be eased. May you hold yourself in great compassion. May you be safe and protected. May your heart be at peace. May your life be at peace.
2022-03-02 Balancing the Mind in the Middle of Sorrow 1:28:18
Sylvia Boorstein
2022-03-09 Let Love Hold Whatever Arises 64:41
Heidi Bourne
Guided Meditation & Dharma Talk
2022-03-17 The Prelude to Compassion is the Willingness to See 67:56
Sylvia Boorstein
2022-03-24 Embracing Strong Emotions, Part 1 (6 Step Vagal Nurturing Sequence) 7:24
Kaira Jewel Lingo
Credit for Polyvagal Nurturing based on Dr. Marti Glenn's work & research. Kaira Jewel also offers this video as an aid for Vagal Nurturing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ozoPNTqig
2022-03-24 Embracing Strong Emotions, Part 2 (Dharma Talk & Guided Meditation) 1:12:24
Kaira Jewel Lingo
2022-03-28 Open, Spacious Awareness Meditation | Monday Night 27:27
Jack Kornfield
Reflect on the value of a peaceful heart. What is it like to have a peaceful heart among the worldly winds of praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, fame and disrepute. These are the worldly winds that constantly change. It's important to stop, take a pause, and feel that we are part of something so much greater than the individual life that we live. Our awareness is big enough to hold all of this, because we are awareness itself.
2022-03-28 Peace is Possible | Monday Night Talk 45:38
Jack Kornfield
We are in a time of great transition. The climate crisis, the pandemic, war, injustice, racism: they're all pressing on us to live in a different way. And if you live with a peaceful heart, the point is not to let your heart get hardened. Don't turn your gaze away. But see another possibility—see with the great heart of compassion. My teacher Ajahn Chah said, "We human beings are constantly in combat, at war to escape the fact of being so limited by so many circumstances we cannot control. But instead of escaping, we continue to create suffering, waging war with evil, waging war with good, waging war with what is too small, waging war with what is too big, waging war with what is too short or too long, or right or wrong, courageously carrying on the battle. It's time to stop the war. " The sociobiologist Edward O. Wilson said, "The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology." The first response is tend the wounds, feed the hungry, and stand up for peace in whatever way you can. But there is also an inner response needed. We know where war starts—it starts in the human heart. We must make the heart a zone of peace. Set your compass to your highest intention. Something in us knows there is another way.
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