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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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2009-03-02
Joy
58:43
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Mark Coleman
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The beauty of Joy. How dharma teachings and practice supports the awakening of joy. This talk also explores joy as mudita - the appreciative joy.
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2009-03-09
Equanimity
61:04
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Mark Coleman
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What is Equanimity? Why is it so difficult to be at ease in difficult circumstances. What supports this beautiful quality of the heart and how does it relate to metta (love), compassion and appreciative joy.
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2009-03-11
Practicing Compassion, I
58:28
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Donald Rothberg
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The practice of compassion can occur both as a formal practice - one of the four practices of the Brahmaviharas - and as an everyday practice in the context of our lives. Compassion practice works because it helps us to to open to our deeper being. Yet to do this, we have to learn also to open to pain - and suffering - understood as the reaction to pain.
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2009-03-16
The Wisdom of Insecurity
49:58
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Nina Wise
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In this time of economic uncertainty, how do we cultivate equanimity and well being. Guidance for transforming hard times into good times.
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2009-03-18
Practicing Compassion, pt II
56:58
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Donald Rothberg
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We continue to explore the practices to develop, examining the nature of compassion - its relationship to the other brahmaviharas, the receptive and active dimensions of compassion, the near and far enemies; how we might practice compassion in the world - interpersonally and socially; and the relationship of compassion and wisdom.
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2009-03-25
Cultivating Mudita (Appreciative Joy) pt I
49:16
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Donald Rothberg
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We explore the practice of Mudita in the context of the other three Brahmaviharaas; seeing how it goes again both self-centered joy and tendencies to focus on problems or what is "wrong" in a situation. There is some guidance in the formal mudita practice, as well as more general cultivation of joy.
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2009-03-30
Awake In Nature
58:46
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Mark Coleman
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How does our meditation practice relate to the natural world? How does nature support our awakening. This talk explores how nature supports us to be more aware & develop awe, wonder, love, appreciation, peace and connectedness.
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2009-04-15
Mudita, pt II
63:12
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Donald Rothberg
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Mudita practice both opens us to joy and extends that joy beyond our usual boundaries, transforming our conditions that limit joy to a limited circle and focus on the negative. We explore some of the roots of this personal and social conditioning and end by identifying some of the qualities of mature joy.
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2009-04-29
Cultivating Equanimity, pt II
55:01
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Donald Rothberg
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We continue to explore the cultivation of equanimity by focusing especially on how we keep balance and, increasingly, unshakability with the eight worldly winds of pleasure and pain, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, and praise and blame. We also focus on the qualities of understanding, joy and faith found in mature equanimity, with stories from Martin Luther Kind, Jr., Etty Hillesun and more treatment of multiple near-enemies of equnimity.
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2009-05-06
Practicing with the Shadow, pt 1
59:04
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Donald Rothberg
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Exploring the shadow - personal, relational, and collective - is one way to work through the deep structure of ignorance. We explore the nature of the shadow, the phenomenon of projection, and several ways to practice with the shadow.
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2009-05-11
Halfway between Heaven & Earth
53:15
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Mark Coleman
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As human beings, we move between the boundless, profound dimensions and the more mundane, worldly realms of body and mind. How do we in our practice cultivate an openness and receptivity to our boundless nature and not be so caught in our mind.
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2009-05-13
Practicing with the Shadow, pt 2
61:04
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Donald Rothberg
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The shadow as it relates to spiritual practice. That which does not fit the self image is excluded and becomes part of one's shadow. Reactivity as in indication that shadow material is in play. We explore ways in which a fixed self of is linked to shadow.
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2009-05-20
Practicing with the Shadow, pt III
The Collective Shadow and How We Work with It
65:24
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Donald Rothberg
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We first revisit the exploration of the shadow, how it forms, and how we work with it, we then look into the nature of collective shadow phenomena, how the personal and collective shadow inter-penetrate, and how we work with the collective shadow. The key, as always, is to establish a relatively safe space to develop awareness, compassion and wisdom, leading to skillful action.
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2009-06-10
Practicing with Anger, Pt I
60:12
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Donald Rothberg
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For many of us, it is hard to know how to practice with anger. We explore some of the reasons for confusion about anger, including the mixed messages we get about anger in many settings, the different connotations of what is translated as "anger" East and West, and the conditioning around anger. We then outline three ways of more "inner" work with anger, through 1) mindfulness, 2) reflections and 3) heart practices like lovingkindness, compassion and forgiveness.
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2009-06-17
Practicing with Anger, pt II
59:58
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Donald Rothberg
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We review and fill out some of the themes from part I, why it is important and yet often confusing to work with anger; and several guidelines and tools (mindfulness, reflection, heart practices) for practicing with anger individually. We add an overview of how to practice with anger in relational an social contexts with others, focusing especially on skillful speech.
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2009-07-06
Staying In Wonder
54:48
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Wes Nisker
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Rhythms, cycles, spiral dances of thought, non-thought
Evolving magic of awareness and breath... the universe being aware of its self... of self
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2009-07-15
Renunciation
47:52
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Sylvia Boorstein
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Patience and Wisdom as part of our continuing exploration of the Path of Sila, Morality, and one of the main components of the overall path to wisdom.
Next week's class will continue and the weeks following will complete the Paramita sequence.
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2009-07-29
The 8 Worldly Winds, I
59:06
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Donald Rothberg
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An examination of how we practice with pleasure and pain, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame; with stories referring to Buddha's teaching + discussion.
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2009-08-05
Practicing with the Eight Worldly Winds, pt 2
58:33
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Donald Rothberg
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We continue to explore 1) being mindful when a wind is present; 2) the nature of the winds; 3) responding skilfully.
We add an emphasis on resting in what is deeper and examine several issues that arise in practicing with the winds
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2009-08-10
Intersecting Realities
58:10
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James Baraz
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We are each the star of our own movie. Practice invites us to honor every member of the cast of characters in our life, remembering that they have their own reality. And through it all we can wake up from the dream.
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2009-09-23
Work and Service as a Path of Practice, II Aspects of the Path
56:36
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Donald Rothberg
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We continue to look at work and service as a path, naming some key aspects of this path: 1. general intention that our work and service be practice for ourselves and others, 2.connecting inner and outer practice, 3. identifying core challenges and "obstacles", 4.developing awakened qualities and 5. establishing community support for this path.
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2009-09-30
Service and Work as Practice III: The Centrality of Intention
58:16
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Donald Rothberg
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In the context of previous talks, we explore intention practice in three ways: 1.) understanding the importance of intention in our practice and in life 2.) cultivating intention as aspiration- being in touch with deeper intentions, and 3.) working with intentions moment to moment and in specific activities.
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2009-10-12
Buddha Nature
44:49
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Nina Wise
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On remembering who we are... On forgetting who we are... On knowing what we don't know we know...
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