The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Tempel Smith's Dharma Talks at Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Tempel Smith
Tempel Smith spent a year ordained as a monk in Burma and teaches Buddhist psychology and social activism in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is currently part of the IMS/Spirit Rock Teacher Training Program.
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2020-02-07 Steps in Developing Mindfulness of Breathing (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 67:06
The Buddha described detailed steps we can take when developing and deepening our practice of mindful breathing. This talk covers steps 1-8 out of 16 classical steps given in discourses on this meditation.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center February Monthlong
2020-02-02 Day One Morning Instructions (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 61:53
As an introduction to Insight meditation we start with physical and mental relaxation, and then finding a home base or anchor for our attention in the stream of sounds, body sensations or what sensation arise in the body as we breathe. The first step is establishing steady calm abiding in the flow of the present.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center February Monthlong
2019-08-26 Samadhi: A Whole Heart in Daily Life 61:54
While we often discover samadhi (whole heartedness) first on retreat, it's finding samadhi in every day life which can give us the greatest joy. How can live with a more whole attention? And joy from within?
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Concentration Retreat
2019-08-22 Day 4: Guided Meditation on the 5 Jhana Factors (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 61:58
Following the talk on the 5 jhana factors and the 5 hindrances from the night before... We welcome a sense of contentment in our starting conditions, take interest in our breath and remind ourselves it is all we need while meditating. From here, we aim and sustain our attention.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Concentration Retreat
2019-08-21 5 Jhana Factors and 5 Hindrances (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 64:06
With mindfulness of breathing as a concentration practice we intentionally develop the 5 jhana factors. We also will definitely experience their opposites. - the 5 hindrances. As the 5 jhana factors become stronger we experience fewer hindrances.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Concentration Retreat
2019-08-06 Cutting Through Our Stories (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 57:15
Keeping your attention directly at the sense doors lets us cut through our habit of being lost in thought. As mindfulness increases, we can eventually by mindful of thought as it arises.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center Young Adult Retreat
2019-07-18 Day 8: Metta and the Many Beautiful Qualities of Heart (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 60:25
When we develop the Brahma Viharas, we also develop many beautiful qualities of heart named the Paramis, such as Generosity, Harmlessness and Renunciation.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center July Metta Retreat
2019-07-15 Day 5 Brahma Vihara Practice: Equanimity (Retreat at Spirit Rock) - Starting the Equanimity Meditation 62:10
Taking the most wisdom to access, the Equanimity Brahma Vihara practice gets is strength from a brave willingness to intimately see all truths. If we suspend out preferences for health and happiness, and away from pain and sorrow, we can bring our loving hearts in direct contact with what we see if true. Life is an ever changing and uncontrollable mix of gain and loss, pleasure and pain, and praise and blame. When we can rest in Equanimity Brahma Vihara we can hold all truths at the same time in one space of heart.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center July Metta Retreat
2019-07-15 Day 5: Sit with Instructions (Retreat at Spirit Rock) - Loving Kindness for Unfamiliar Beings 55:13
We have never met most of the living beings on our planet (and beyond), and many we have met we don’t know all that well. As we expand our loving kindness practice to include all beings we have to consciously learn how to actively care for those we don’t know well. Rather than having the typical challenge of reactivity, this group of beings is hard to love precisely because we don’t know them well. If we have learned to care for a larger group of friends and community members, then this next larger group is more accessible.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center July Metta Retreat
2019-07-14 Day 4: Metta and Samadhi (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 62:34
How does samadhi--the unification of the heart--develop with metta practice? And how can we use the absorption factors in metta practice to help us develop deeper metta adsorptions?
Spirit Rock Meditation Center July Metta Retreat

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