Donate  |   Contact


The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Retreat Dharma Talks

Monday and Wednesday Talks

Regular weekly talks given at the lower Spirit Rock meditation hall

Spirit Rock Meditation Center

  
2023-05-15 The Secret Ingredients of Dharma Practice 1:24:51
James Baraz
2023-05-17 Guided Meditation Exploring Presence, Mystery, and Seeing Our Moment-to-Moment Practice as Part of the Awakening Process 39:05
Donald Rothberg
After initial instructions, including inviting us to connect with our deeper intentions and as well practice with a sense of moment-to-moment mystery, we have about 10 minutes of silent practice, followed by further brief instructions inviting a moment-to-moment sense of presence and mystery, another 10 minutes of silent practice, further brief instructions on seeing our practice as connected with our awakening, and another ten minutes of silent practice.
2023-05-17 Being with Daily Life Experience As "Sacred": Some Further Ways of Practicing 61:37
Donald Rothberg
After a guided meditation exploring the theme (also on Dharma Seed), we continue for a second week to examine how to support a sense of the ordinary aspects of daily life as being part of the process of awakening, as "sacred" or "sacramental," as connected moment-by-moment with our deeper values (and finding what language about this and what practices support us). We review the session from last time, with references to Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist contemplative practitioners who have articulated this sense of daily life practice, examining what gets in the way of this way of being with daily life (especially busyness, being lost in difficult emotions, and being cut off from the kind heart), and what supports it. Through stories and poetry, we then look in more depth at cultivating a sense of presence and even mystery in daily life, at how joy can open up this sense, and how it can be very helpful to support in different ways our understanding how the transformation of our wounds and difficulties can be seen as part of a "purification" process. In the discussion, we look more deeply into many of these themes.
2023-05-22 Inner Joy on the Path 1:26:50
Mark Coleman
2023-06-05 Compassion and the Fragility of Life 1:34:06
Devin Berry
2023-06-14 Guided Meditation Related to Several Ways of Deepening Daily Life Practice 36:38
Donald Rothberg
We work with several modes of practice which can be developed in formal practice as well as in daily life (and that are discussed in the talk and discussion following this guided meditation). After a period of grounding in the body, we work with a heart practice (such as lovingkindness), a specific teaching (practicing with the sequence from contact to the feeling-tone of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, to wanting, and to grasping from the teaching of Dependent Origination is briefly given), and a "mixing" or "mingling" of formal meditation and a daily life activity.
2023-06-14 Deepening Daily Life Practice: Eight Ways 62:15
Donald Rothberg
We start with an emphasis on the importance of daily life practice, and on some of the ways that it is sometimes seen as secondary in insight meditation, when we center formal practice and retreats. We then explore eight different ways to deepen daily life practice, inviting the listener to see which one or two ways most resonate as part of one's "next steps" in deepening daily life practice. The talk is followed by a period of reflection and then by discussion.
2023-06-19 Juneteenth 2023 1:48:35
Noliwe Alexander
2023-06-21 My Heart Goes Out to You 1:30:42
Sylvia Boorstein
2023-06-26 Attuning Our Lives with the Truth 1:44:02
Tara Mulay
Creative Commons License