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Dharma Talks
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2007-10-16
The Hindrances: Doubt
41:30
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Shaila Catherine
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Doubt can be an obstacle to meditation or a form of healthy inquiry. It is helpful to ask questions, to ponder, and be willing to doubt our beliefs and opinions. Ask yourself: are my views true? We hold many unexamined beliefs—beliefs about self, about how things should be, about what other people should do. The Kalama Sutta encourages us to question what we think, and to not adopt beliefs based on hearsay or mere tradition. We can use our minds to critically inquire into how things actually are. Doubt as an obstacle, on the other hand, is a painful state that leads to confusion, fear, indecision, and uncertainty. It manifests as obsessive thinking, planning, and anxiety. The Discourse to Malunkyaputta (Middle Length Discourses, M. 63) proposes that if we indulge in speculative thinking we might miss the opportunity to free ourselves from suffering. Specific suggestions are offered for working skillfully with the hindrance of doubt.
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Insight Meditation South Bay - Silicon Valley
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Tuesday Talks
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2007-03-14
Transforming Judgment - part 1
53:55
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Donald Rothberg
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Working with judgments is a kind of “royal road” of transformation, taking us into our deep and often unconscious views, sense of self and pain. We look at the importance of this work, and the speaker tells personal stories illustrating four ways of working with judgments: 1. mindfulness 2. seeing core patterns of mind and heart 3. metta, compassion, joy – using heart practices, and 4. deep inquiry.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Monday and Wednesday Talks
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2007-01-12
Metta For Self, Metta For The World
63:07
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Donald Rothberg
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Metta to self is traditionally a starting point for Metta practice. Yet this is challenging for many of us as we work with our pain, judgments and demons. As we develop in Metta to self, we bring Metta out into the world, which deeply needs it. This requires a lot of creativity. We end by exploring the coverage needed to bring Metta into the world, and the need for a "tough metta" -- a Metta able to respond to difficult situations, a Metta that is neither passive nor a pushover.
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Spirit Rock Meditation Center
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Metta Retreat
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2004-12-07
Self-Knowledge
64:57
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Rodney Smith
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Is your meditation directed toward learning about who you are? What areas do you shy away from paying attention to yourself? Where are you self-protected? Do you feel the pain associated with those areas? Become increasingly aware of one of those areas and see what difference bare attention (caring attention) makes to that pain. Offer that area metta to ease the pain of looking. The pain will ease in direct proportion to your understanding of it, and understanding is achieved through direct observation.
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Seattle Insight Meditation Society
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