The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Dharma Talks given at Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2025-07-12 Morning Instructions - Mettā (Loving Kindness) including Dear Friends 50:54
Tempel Smith
Extending loving kindness meditation from the primary practice of ourselves and a chosen easiest being, we can open at times to include any dear friend whom also easily come to mind. At this stage of practice we are inclining out mettā practice to rest where mettā is easiest. This would be any beings for whom it is easy to see the good in them, and we easily feel warmth.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Summer Lovingkindness Retreat

2025-07-11 Energy and Patience (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 56:46
Francisco Morillo Gable
Energy and patience for metta cultivation. From initiating effort to effortless effort with patience.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Summer Lovingkindness Retreat

2025-07-11 Morning Instructions: Goodwill for Someone Easy and Yourself 50:03
Anushka Fernandopulle
Beginning the practice of metta with establishing well-wishing for yourself and someone easy to send goodwill towards.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Summer Lovingkindness Retreat

2025-07-11 Dharma & Recovery: Step Seven: Humbly Let Go 1:17:19
Walt Opie
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Dharma and Recovery

2025-07-10 1st Night - Why Come on a Loving Kindness retreat? 63:07
Tempel Smith
What is special about a 9-day Loving Kindness retreat? The form of Buddhist practice helps cultivate positive qualities of friendliness and kindness, it helps purify old habits of defensiveness and hostility, and it help cultivate samadhi (concentration).
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Summer Lovingkindness Retreat

2025-07-10 Metta as Connection 1:24:14
Grace Fisher
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Thursday Morning Women’s Group

2025-07-10 Morning Instructions: Metta for the Body (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 55:23
John Martin
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Summer Lovingkindness Retreat

2025-07-09 Honoring Joanna Macy, Part 1 1:42:28
Heidi Bourne
Includes meditation, dharama talk & select aspects of group discussion
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2025-07-07 Talk: Bringing Our Practice to the Current Difficult Times: An Eightfold Path 66:51
Donald Rothberg
For the Buddha, practice was understood as involving three trainings, in wisdom, meditation, and ethics (sila). Ethics, typically under-emphasized in much of Western Buddhism, with sometimes clear negative consequences, had as its horizon helping others. The Buddha said: “Wander forth . . . for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world.” The later emphasis on the bodhisattva develops this emphasis further. In this talk, we suggest a contemporary “Eightfold Path” for understanding and responding to the current difficult times in the society and world. It’s outlined in terms of three wisdom guidelines, two meditation guidelines, and three ethics guidelines. The talk is followed by discussion.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

2025-07-07 Guided Meditation on the Two Main Forms of Buddhist Practice, Developing Concentration and Insight (Directed by the Core Wisdom Teaching) 39:28
Donald Rothberg
We begin with brief instructions for developing samadhi (“placing together” or “concentration”), followed by basic mindfulness instructions and then guidance for working with the feeling-tone of pleasant or unpleasant, when it appears in the moderate range. We are mindful of pleasant or unpleasant and look for grasping or pushing away in some form, guided by core wisdom teachings.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

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