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Retreat Dharma Talks
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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| Regular weekly talks given at the lower Spirit Rock meditation hall |
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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2014-10-01
Ethical Practice 1 - An Introduction
58:11
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Donald Rothberg
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We explore the meaning of ethical practice - its relationship to meditation and wisdom practice, how it is more a training than a following of external principles, how there are individual, relational, and social dimensions to our ethical practice, and how it can deepen for us. There's a brief overview of the five lay precepts and a taking of the precepts.
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2014-10-22
Ethical Practice 3 - Deepening Our Ethical Practice
60:54
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Donald Rothberg
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Starting with the observation that often our ethical practice may be taken for granted, we look for ways to deepen our practice. We look to find our own personal ethical learning and practice, whether related to the individual, relational or social aspects of our ethical practice.
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2014-11-19
Generosity
63:40
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Donald Rothberg
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We explore the important of generosity practice (including how it appears in different cultures), focusing on low it counteracts greed (especially), hatred and delusion. We suggest a number of practices for the next week.
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2014-11-26
Gratitude
59:09
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Donald Rothberg
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We explore the nature of gratitude and offer a number of forms of gratitude practice. We cover different expressions of the nature, what we're grateful for, being grateful even for difficulties, and the challenges of gratitude practice.
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2014-12-03
Practicing with Craving, Greed and Grasping
69:35
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Donald Rothberg
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In the context of the teachings of the Four Noble Truths and of generosity, gratitude and Dependent Origination, and our previous practices. We explore the nature of craving, greed and grasping and how to practice to explore and transform these qualities.
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2014-12-10
Race, Racism, and Spiritual Practice 1
69:15
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Donald Rothberg
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We examine, in the context of contemporary concerns about racism, how we relate teachings about suffering, compassion, transforming ignorance, courage, and skillful action to our responses to racism. We also look briefly at the history of race and racism, and suggest ways of responding to racism individually, relationally, and collectively.
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2015-01-07
Race, Racism, and Spiritual Practice 2
1:10:25
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Donald Rothberg
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We continue to explore race and racism and how we respond to these through our practice. We focus on (1) the challenges of responding to collective suffering, (2) exploring the ignorance related to race and social conditioning on many levels, and (3) working with the various emotions and thoughts that arise in exploring race and racism.
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2015-01-21
The Thinning of the Self
63:55
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Donald Rothberg
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Insight into "not-self" (anatta) is one of the core aspects of wisdom. After briefly reviewing some of the challenges of understanding anatta, we look at four practical ways to explore anatta, through focusing on 1) everyday and meditative experiences of "flow", 2) studying the "thick" or strong sense of self when it appears, 3) practicing in other ways to "thin" the self, and 4) opening to awareness without a sense of self or identification with the contents of experience.
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2015-02-11
Thinning of the Self 2
62:09
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Donald Rothberg
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We look in more depth at two more ways to "thin" the self, to explore anath:
1. cultivating of "flow" and
2. examining several ways that there is a "thick" sense of self
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2015-02-18
Thinning of the Self 3
67:32
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Donald Rothberg
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After a brief review of the last two talks - on the general theme of "not-self" and two ways of practicing (opening to the flow of experience, examining the "thick" self) we look at further ways of practicing including being aware of the particular constituents without adding "my" and "mine"; cultivating heart practices such as lovingkindness, compassion, forgiveness and empathy and opening to a "pure awareness" what has been called in the Thai Forest tradition, the "primal" or "radiant" mind.
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2015-04-01
Taking Everything as Learning pt 1
44:50
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Donald Rothberg
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As our practice matures, we increasingly intend, and have the capacity to take whatever arises in our lives as part of our practice. We explore what makes this intention hard to implement and what supports taking everything as part of a learning process.
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2015-04-01
Taking Everything as Learning pt2
15:12
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Donald Rothberg
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As our practice matures, we increasingly intend, and have the capacity to take whatever arises in our lives as part of our practice. We explore what makes this intention hard to implement and what supports taking everything as part of a learning process.
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2015-04-08
Taking Everything as Learning 2
60:14
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Donald Rothberg
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After a review of some of main themes related to taking everything as learning, we look especially at what qualities and practices support taking everything as learning. Including mindfulness, equanimity, confidence and faith, heart practices, setting intentions and using the imagination to stay open to possibilities.
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