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Dharma Talks
given at Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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2015-10-07
The Urgency of Now - Connecting Inner and Outer Transformation
66:23
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Donald Rothberg
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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.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2015-10-04
How to be an Earthling
30:09
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Wes Nisker
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Stories celebrating our experience as Earthlings. Earth days (and Earth Care days) are not just a call to “do something” to heal our damaged eco-systems, but more of a spiritual exercise, a time to celebrate all life, regardless of kingdom, phyla, or species: regardless of color of skin, feathers, fur, flowers, leaves or bark. This is a time to reflect on our connection to this planet, and to embrace our basic identity as "earthlings.”
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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A Day of Connection: Sustainable Practice for a Sustainable World
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2015-10-04
Sustained by Small Wise Efforts
47:47
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Kerry Nelson
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It is through taking small action steps that we are able to keep heading into the wind of the climate crisis, not trying to take on too much, but not giving up either. Kerry introduces seven Bay Area Buddhist climate action groups that share their work and stories.
Co-presenters are Helga Kauffman, Sean Munding, Betsy Griffith, Susan Orr, Ayya Santussika, Devi Peri.
Groups represented: Green Sangha, the Staff Green Group at Spirit Rock, Community Green Group at Spirit Rock, the Ecosattvas at Green Gulch, Green Sangha IMCB, Sacramento Climate Sangha, and the Buddhist Climate Action Network.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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A Day of Connection: Sustainable Practice for a Sustainable World
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2015-09-17
Four Stages in the Transformation of the Judgmental Mind
61:42
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Donald Rothberg
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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.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Transforming the Judgmental Mind
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2015-09-05
The “Thinning” of the Self: Exploring and Practicing Anattā (“Not-Self”) 1: Introduction and Overview
45:58
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Donald Rothberg
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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.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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