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Dharma Talks
given at Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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2023-01-15
Day 5 Evening Talk: Metta Practice and the Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
63:28
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Donald Rothberg
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On Dr. King's birthday, 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. Included is the playing of three short recordings of Dr. King speaking.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Metta Retreat: Cultivating the Wise, Awakened, and Responsive Heart
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2023-01-11
Day 1 Evening Talk: An Overview of Metta Practice: How Practicing Metta Transforms Us
61:38
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Donald Rothberg
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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.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Metta Retreat: Cultivating the Wise, Awakened, and Responsive Heart
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2022-12-21
Talk: Practicing with Views and Beliefs 2
64:27
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Donald Rothberg
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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.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2022-12-19
Breath of the Earth Meditation | Monday Night
21:57
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Jack Kornfield
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Welcoming listeners into the gentle whisper of the breath, Jack helps us into a presence and ease beyond our anxieties, worries, and to-do lists. From this place of deep relaxation, he invites us into an easy-come, easy-go mentality with our thoughts and emotions.
"Your breath is the Earth breathing herself through you." – Jack Kornfield
For more teachings like this, please subscribe to my YouTube channel.
This meditation was originally livestreamed by Spirit Rock on 12/19/22.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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2022-12-14
Talk: Practicing with Views and Beliefs 1
67:26
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Donald Rothberg
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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.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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Attached Files:
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The Buddha on “Views: Four Texts
by Donald Rothberg
(PDF)
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2022-11-23
Talk: Taking Everything As An Opportunity for Learning 2
66:18
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Donald Rothberg
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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!
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2022-11-16
Taking All Experiences as Opportunities for Learning
63:16
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Donald Rothberg
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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!
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2022-11-14
Waves of Experience Meditation | Monday Night
19:57
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Jack Kornfield
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Inviting listeners to breathe softly and naturally amidst it all, Jack helps us flow through waves of thoughts, emotions, and sensations in order to come to rest in loving awareness, the timeless witness dwelling in each of us—who we truly are.
“When you notice that a wave has pulled your attention from the breath, receive it. Let go of the attention to the breath, and receive it with the same loving awareness, as if to bow to it gently.”
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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