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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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2012-02-22
Loving One's Enemies I
60:40
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Donald Rothberg
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We explore the meaning of developing a love or loving kindness toward all, including one's "enemies," using both Christian and Buddhist resources. Four foundational practices are outlined: 1.Ffollowing ethical guidelines 2. Mindfulness 3. Metta, and 4. Wisdom practices to help contemplate emphathically the causes and conditions of difficult interactions.
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2012-03-07
Loving One's Enemies II
57:21
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Donald Rothberg
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We continue to focus on perspectives and practices to help us practice skillfully with those who seem difficult or "enemies." We give attention to further practices and some of the subtleties and complexities.
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2012-03-14
Loving One's Enemies III
65:47
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Donald Rothberg
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We bring in further practices and perspectives to help us work with "enemies" or "difficult persons" including various ethical, body, heart, and mind practices. We close by examining how we may sometimes project onto others our fragmented parts and thus use practice with enemies as opportunities to find greater wholeness.
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2012-03-19
The Path of Joy
48:24
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Mark Coleman
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How to awaken joy through mindfulness, awareness and inclining the mind to that which uplifts the heart...
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2012-03-26
The Path of Joy, Part 2
54:16
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Mark Coleman
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What is the quality of awareness that facilitates a joyful presence and attitude toward experience that allows us to know the peace beyond the changing conditions of life?
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2012-04-16
The Art of Mindfulness
48:18
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Mark Coleman
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What did the Buddha actually teach about mindfulness? How does it differ from a simple attention? This talk explores mindfulness in the context of the Buddhist Path and it leading from pain to peace.
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2012-04-18
The Journey
58:06
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Donald Rothberg
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We explore the metaphor of the "spiritual journey" to help illuminate phases of our practice, using three reference points: 1. Mary Oliver's poem, "The Journey" 2. The journey of the Buddha and 3. Our own individual journeys.
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2012-04-30
Misconceptions of Awakening
52:23
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Mark Coleman
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The mind makes many ideas, views & misconceptions about the process of waking up - this talk points to the importance of understanding that awakening is a process, not a state...
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2012-05-02
Becoming Bodhisattvas
61:39
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Donald Rothberg
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In the context of a unit to Occupy Oakland, reflections on the importance for our times of developing our lives to connect inner and outer transformation, and of the inspiration to be bodhisattvas.
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2012-05-09
Becoming Bodhisattvas II--Ethical Practice
67:58
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Donald Rothberg
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We look at one of the primary training areas of a Bodhisattva, one who connects inner practice and helping others ethical practice. We consider an expansive understanding of the five lay precepts, and the challenges of ethical practices.
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2012-06-18
Passion
51:44
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Mark Coleman
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What is the place of passion in the spiritual path in a lay life
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2012-07-11
Self and Not-Self-An Overview
61:17
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Donald Rothberg
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We explore how the topic of self and not-self can be very confusing, for a number of reasons. We then present five perspectives for exploring this theme, a general way of making some sense of self and not-self and two initial practices to study 1. the sense of self, and 2. experience beyond limited senses of self.
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2012-07-18
Self and Not-Self II-Five Varieties of Self
64:23
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Donald Rothberg
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After a review of last week's overview of exploring self and not-self, we look at five aspects of self: 1. a more neutral sense of "mere I" 2. Cultural conditions to be a particular kind of self; 3. the social self related to others 4. the wounded or stuck self; and 5. the subtle aspect of separation from other things are person. We suggest practicing to explore these five varieties.
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2012-07-25
Self and Not-Self III-Three Ways of Practicing
64:16
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Donald Rothberg
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We review briefly the last two talks and explore three ways of practicing: 1. Investigating self when it appears; 2. Opening to experiences of not-self; and 3. doing "heart practice" like lovingkindness and compassion to balance our being as we do more deeply.
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2012-08-20
Meeting Life with Kind Presence
45:23
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Mark Coleman
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This talk explores how the qualities of Mindfulness & Kindness are essential ingredients for meeting experience with wisdom, clarity & love...that allows us to hold ourselves, and difficult times with greater ease and compassion.
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2012-08-22
Self and Not Self VI--Integration and Review
59:21
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Donald Rothberg
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We explore in this integrative sessions, how a "thick" sense of self appears in various ways, and how we open to experience with progressively "thinner" senses of self. We also look at how anxiety and disorientation may arise at each stage, and how to understand what skillful uses of self are.
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2012-08-29
Self and Not-Self VII-Self and Not-Self in the context of Global Crisis.
69:46
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Donald Rothberg
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With the background of the last weeks exploration of our individual practice to see self and open increasingly to not-self, we connect that practice with our responses to global crisis, particularly global climate disruption. We see its roots in part in individualist models of self, and point to the importance of dharma practice in our responses to crisis.
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