The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Dharma Talks given at Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2021-09-07 The Six Realms: Action and Identity in a Conscious World 47:43
Sean Oakes
The ancient Buddhist map of existence known as the Six Realms is both a vision of the cosmos and all its inhabitants and an elegant psychological model we can use in everyday life. Working with the realms as psychological archetypes (demon, ghost, animal, human, titan, angel) reveals patterns in how we process both harm and help in our personal and collective past, which play out as trauma and privilege in the present. Differently, and maybe more radically, working with them from an Animist framework reveals a conscious universe, where nature of all kinds is interdependent, intelligent, and part of the round of rebirth in which we all participate until full awakening. Seeing in this way challenges our identity, not just as ourselves but as defined by our species.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2021-09-06 Finding True Refuge - Monday Night Dharma Talk 47:48
Pamela Weiss
Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2021-09-02 The Sound of Equanimity 23:03
Grace Fisher
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Thursday Morning Women’s Group

2021-09-01 Awakening 67:45
Donald Rothberg
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 Monday and Wednesday Talks
Attached Files:
  • Awakening Slides by Donald Rothberg (PDF)

2021-09-01 Guided Meditation: Settling, Tracking Reactivity and Awakened Qualities 36:10
Donald Rothberg
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 Monday and Wednesday Talks

2021-08-30 Understanding Identity with the Five Aggregates 53:02
JD Doyle
Spirit Rock Meditation Center

2021-08-26 The Vulnerability of Tasting Heaven 24:42
Grace Fisher
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Thursday Morning Women’s Group

2021-08-25 (Lightly) Guided Meditation: Practicing with Pleasant and Unpleasant Experiences and Tendencies toward Reactivity. 38:13
Donald Rothberg
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2021-08-25 Practicing with Challenges: Individual, Relational, and Collective 69:17
Donald Rothberg
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 Monday and Wednesday Talks

2021-08-24 Brama Vihara Meditation: Karuna (Compassion) 46:24
Sally Armstrong
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Concentration and Awareness

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