We continue exploring a number of ways to “practice with darkness.” We first review of some of the themes explored last week, including understanding practicing with the darkness in terms of (1) stopping, (2) being with the difficult or painful, (3) not knowing, and (4) how the darkness is generative and fertile. We then examine the themes of the “shadow” (both individual and collective”) and how darkness can be luminous, with reference to the experience of the “Dark Night” first spoken of by St. John of the Cross.

Inspired by the moving into the darkness of the Winter Solstice, we explore four understandings of darkness that can guide our practice at this time: (1) the importance of stopping, as seems to be the case at this time of year with the earth, disengaging for a period, and listening deeply; (2) being more skillful with what is difficult or challenging; (3) learning to be with what is unknown or unresolved; and (4) seeing how the darkness can, as is so with the earth, be generative and fertile. We apply these understandings mostly to our individual practice, but also to the difficulties and unknowns of our collective situation.

We review last week’s focus on developing gratitude, and continue with the related practice of developing generosity. We explore the importance of generosity across multiple spiritual traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and, in more depth, Buddhism, pointing to several practices of practicing generosity and some of the challenges of such practice.

Through teachings, poems, stories, and reference to the science related to cultivating gratitude, we explore the nature of gratitude and how to practice it.

We explore the core teaching of the Buddha; he says, "I teach one thing and one thing only, dukkha and the end of dukkha." We examine how we can understand and practice this teaching in terms both of individual and collective dukkha, especially understanding dukkha as reactivity.

Description:We review first why speech practice is so important and how it connects with the Noble Eightfold Path, and then two of the foundations of skillful or wise (or right) speech. We cover: (1) working with the four guidelines from the Buddha for wise speech, and how we can use the guidelines both to guide our speech and as spurs for mindfulness, when we find ourselves going against the guidelines; and (2) developing a sense of presence during speaking and listening. We then explore some general ways to strengthen our speech practice, as well as begin to bring it into challenging or difficult situations involving speech and interaction. We end with a speech exercise involving dyads, and discussion of the exercise and our practice generally.

We start with an overview of the contemporary importance of training in wise speech, and the place of wise (or "right") speech traditionally, as one of the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddha. We then examine two foundational aspects of wise speech, first a grounding in the ethical guidelines for speech given by the Buddha, and secondly the intention to be present and mindful during speaking and listening. Finally, there is a guided practice in dyads especially of the second foundational dimension of speech practice.

We look at "reactivity" as a non-literal "translation" and clarification of the nature of dukkha, and examine, through a talk and discussion, a number of ways to practice when reactivity or dukkha arises. We remember the Buddha's teaching: "I have taught one thing and one thing only, dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.”

After first reflecting on how our work with the judgmental mind connects with traditional Buddhist practice, we explore four stages in the trans-formative process connected with direct inquiry into judgments. This complements the more indirect approach of developing the heart practices and awakened qualities.

We explore the nature of the judgmental mind, its differentiation from non-reactive discernment, and some sample judgments (using "judgments" here to refer to expressions of the judgmental mind), including judgments related to social conditioning. We outline the two main modes of transformation involved in our practice, a more direct transformation of judgments, on the one hand, and the cultivation of awakened qualities (particularly through heart practices), on the other.

In this introduction to a daylong on Wise (or "Right") Speech, there is a focus on the importance of Wise Speech for our practice and on the core ethical guidelines for wise and skillful speech given by the Buddha.

Description: We first explore how concentration practice is both helpful and important for insight practice, and how the two practices are related. We then look at the nature of insight practice, and in particular examine three ways of liberating seeing in insight practice, namely practices in which we cultivate seeing anicca (impermanence), dukkha (reactivity or unreliability or suffering), and anatta (not-self).

After some general reflections on the nature of concentration (or samadhi), concentration practice, and its place and importance, we explore the nature of skillful effort. We particularly focus on the balance of "pro-active" effort and relaxation/ease, identifying a number of specific practice tips and suggestions that support development in both aspects of practice, as well as how to cultivate the balance between the two. [A clarification about terminology: There are two terms that have at times been translated as "effort”: (1) The 6th factor of the Noble Eightfold Path is “Right Effort” (same vayama); (2) Viriya is one of the Five Spiritual Faculties and one of the Seven Factors of Awakening and is often translated as “energy,” sometimes as “effort.”]

After a review of the six ways of practicing with difficulties and challenges presented last week, we explore the important teaching of the “Eight Worldly Winds” that keep us caught in reactivity—pleasure and pain, gain and loss, fame and disrepute, and praise and blame. Working with this teaching gives us another very helpful lens for working with difficulties and also with our tendencies to grasp—onto pleasure, gain, fame, and praise. We suggest several ways of practicing with this teaching, as a further way to deepen and energize our practice.

One of the glories of our practice is the capacity to respond skillfully, with wisdom and compassion, to difficult, challenging, and/or painful experiences. In this talk and discussion, we explore six ways to practice skillfully with difficulties, focusing more in 1-5 on “inner" practices: (1) Stay connected with core teachings and perspectives, particularly about working with reactivity; (2) develop mindfulness in these situations, which helps us with non-reactivity and knowing what is happening; (3) have a few ways to come back to balance and non-reactivity after one is reactive, lost, stuck, or overwhelmed; (4) take the difficult situation as an opportunity to go more deeply, potentially uprooting some of the roots of reactivity and habitual tendencies; (5) continue to cultivate awakened qualities, helping us to shift our center of gravity from reactivity to responsiveness; and (6) cultivate ways of responding more skillfully in “outer” ways, including speech and interactions.

After first naming some of the challenging bodily, emotional, and mental experiences that arise in a human life, and particularly in the context of aging and dying, we explore the different “tools” for responding skillfully to these challenges, including clarity of intention, assessing the intensity of the experience and coming back to balance after overwhelm, mindfulness, body practices, heart practices, and wisdom perspectives.

Focusing on aging, the stages of life, and dying is a major “dharma door” or gateway. We examine a number of different perspectives to orient us as we go in that door, including how such a focus helps us to clarify the centrality and urgency of spiritual practice, working through social conditioning regarding aging and dying, using the lenses of teachings and practices investigating impermanence and the nature of the self, and awakening.

After clarifying further the fundamental practices of our retreat, particularly the three ways of seeing leading to liberating insight, we examine the third way of seeing—seeing anatta (or not-self). We focus less on understanding this way of seeing conceptually, and more on identifying two main ways of practicing—(1) opening to being mindful of the flow of experience, increasingly with a “thinned out” self or lack of self, and (2) noticing and being mindful of when there is a “thick” sense of self.

After examining the nature and importance of samadhi practice, we focus on how to practice samadhi and the main challenges to developing samadhi (and how to work with these challenges).

After a brief review of the previous sessions in this series, particularly the last one, we explore a fifth way that things are not as they appear, looking at the habitual tendency to separate oneself and everything else, to experience on the basis of a core duality of subject and object, knower and known, self and other, and the problematic nature of this habitual tendency.

An overview of the nature of the judgmental mind, how it is distinguished from non-reactive discernment, and ways of transforming the judgmental mind. With Q&A.

We examine the importance of practicing skillfully with thoughts and emotions as one of the foundations of mindful communication, pointing to several ways of working with thoughts and emotions, with a guided meditation using the "RAIN" method (recognize, accept, develop interest and inquire, and "non-identify" with what is occurring).

We explore (1) the importance of speech practice, (2) the place of speech practice in traditional and contemporary paths of awakening, (3) the central resource from the teachings of the Buddha on speech practice--the four core ethical guidelines, and (4) some ways to implement these guidelines and connect them with other practices.

After a brief review of the previous talks in this series, we look at the "constructed" or "empty" nature of phenomena (trees, chairs, and other "external" objects), with perspectives from psychology, philosophy, the neurosciences, and especially, Buddhist practice.

After a review of our first three sessions, exploring three ways that “things are not as they appear,” we explore how there is typically a sense that we are given a world of solid, separate individual beings and objects . We focus here on the counter-understanding related to selves and beings, that the nature of the self is “empty,” as developed in the teaching of anattā or not-self.

After a brief review of our first two sessions on this theme, we explore the third of the five ways that things are not as they appear. We look into how we see permanence and solidity where in reality there is a lack of permanence and solidity, pointing to a number of practices that help us examine this theme.

We review some of the main themes covered in the first session on this theme, in the context of a series of talks on five ways that “things are not as they appear.” We first examine in more depth some ways that we see through the lens of the personal self. We then explore how we also see through the lens of our social conditioning, particularly focusing, on this morning when students are walking out of their schools and universities to point to the need to respond to gun violence, on ways that we don’t see, for various reasons, many of the roots of gun violence clearly.

Marisa Handler and Donald Rothberg give an overview of the nature of the "Dark Night." Marisa speaks particularly about her Dark Night experiences; Donald gives a brief account of the Dark Night in the work of St. John of the Cross (1542-1591), a Spanish Christian mystic who coined the term (“La noche oscura del alma”) in his writing, and then looks at how elements of the Dark Night appear in shaman's accounts of their initiatory experiences as well as in Buddhist tradition.

Our Practice is to "wake up" from being asleep and not seeing our lives and experience clearly, with wisdom. We explore four ways that we see in a distorted manner, and explore the first two in this session, pointing to practices to help us see more clearly in these two areas.

We review and expand several perspectives on the relationship between knowing and "not knowing" (or openness) and three core practices of not knowing: (1) in mindfulness practice; (2) in listening to others (and oneself); and (3) in challenging transitional phases of one's life, when significant concerns in one's life are not resolved or clear. In the context of the third type of practice, we explore the "Dark Night," first named by the Spanish mystic, Saint John of the Cross (1542-1591), which may be briefer or longer, in terms of some of its dynamics and some suggestions on how to work with it.

We explore the centrality of the practice of "not knowing," that helps us to move from ordinary knowing to extraordinary knowing. We examine both the obvious value of many kinds of knowing and the shadow side of knowing, including its habitual and often addictive nature. Then we look at three ways of practicing not knowing: (1) in our mindfulness practice; (2) in listening to others as a practice; and (3) in being with transitional periods in our lives, when some important aspect of our lives remains unresolved.

We look from several perspectives at the nature of metta. We then identify several ways that metta practice develops, as we deepen in samadhi (concentration); as we learn to "lead" with our awakened hearts; as we work through difficult states, emotions, and unconscious material that may block metta; as we integrate metta with our wisdom and embodiment; and as we bring our metta practice out into the world.

Framing practice broadly in terms of our individual, relational, and collective practice, we explore on New Years Day the meaning of letting go and setting intentions, being in touch with visions. We end with a short ritual of letting go and setting intentions.

Instructions on breath, body and senses, thoughts, and emotions.

Inspired by the darkness of the earth, we are guided by a sense of the darkness as suggesting: 1) stopping and stillness; 2) being with difficulties; 3) opening to unknowing and mystery; 4) generativety, creativity and fertility and 5) luminosity.

After a review of the basic qualities of equanimity and five main practices to cultivate equanimity, we focus on two ways in particular that equanimity can be confusing and/or become distorted: (1) when equanimity is not integrated with the awakened heart, and (2) when equanimity is more aloof and not responsive and active. As equanimity develops, it becomes rooted in a deep, compassionate, responsive, and unshakeable awareness.

Continuing after our exploration of the first parami, generosity, with examining the last parami, equanimity-- what it is, and some ways to cultivate great equanimity.

We look at the nature and importance of generosity, and how to practice and activate generosity.

Donald Rothberg first gives an account of the connection between the core of Buddhist practice and the nonviolent traditions of Gandhi and King. He then poses the common critique of nonviolence—that it doesn’t work with dictators, authoritarian governments, and situations of pervasive violence, that “it wouldn’t work with Hitler,” while telling some stories of actual highly effective nonviolent resistance against the Nazis. Tiffany Easthom, the Executive Director of the Nonviolent Peaceforce, an organization working to protect civilians and foster dialogue in situations of violence, then gives an extended account of the organization’s work, with a PowerPoint presentation (attached pdf file available at this site). She covers both the basic principles and strategies of the organization and a number of accounts of its work in various countries where there is violence, ranging from South Sudan to Syria to Myanmar.

After some further examination of the nature of samadhi practice, we look at the “three ways of seeing that liberate,” focusing especially on impermanence (anicca) and dukkha, with some attention to not-self (anatta)

We review the core teaching of the Two Arrows in terms of individual practice, and then understand its application in the social context as exemplified by Dr. King's nonviolence.

We explore the powerful teaching and how it might be understood and practiced, this week more in terms of individual inner practice, and next week, more in terms of interpersonal and social action.

Near the end of the retreat, offering of some integrative reflections to help us each reflect on our next steps following our three-day retreat.

A short talk on the nature of forgiveness, followed by instructions for one type of forgiveness practice, and then guidance in this practice.

First, there is a short account of the various types of meditative practice that complement more outwardly-oriented nonviolence training and that could constitute more inwardly-oriented nonviolence training. Then there is a brief introduction to metta practice, along with guidance in this practice.

We explore ten ways of responding, internally and externally, to “opponents,” particularly those with radically different views, whether a family member, co-worker, or fellow community member, on the one hand, or those in the public realm.

We explore the nature of equanimity, why equanimity is important, several ways to practice equanimity, and some of the challenges of developing equanimity.

In this second talk following Donald’s five weeks in Israel/Palestine, we focus first on how to bring our practice to difficult and sometimes stuck places generally, whether individual, interpersonal, or collective. What helps? We then, with a deep breath, examine the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the aim of bringing empathy, compassion, understanding, and other aspects of our practice to what we interpret as a conflict between two traumatized peoples (albeit an asymmetrical conflict in which one side has much more economic, social, political, and military power). How do we understand, approach, and transform such inter-generational trauma? Some initial steps are identified, again with the suggestion that the dynamics are similar to many less complex but still very difficult and stuck situations of an individual or interpersonal nature.

In the first of two talks reflecting on just returning from five weeks of teaching and traveling in Israel/Palestine, we start to explore two themes: (1) identity in the context of Buddhist teachings about anatta and Donald's experience of being with many people in Israel with very similar East European Jewish ancestry; and (2) how to understand, be with, respond to, and transform unresolved and tragic historical trauma and suffering, found both with Jewish Israelis and Palestinians both in Israel and the occupied territories. A second talk will continue this exploration.

We explore one model of how we follow the trail of judgments, studying them closely, and eventually accessing their generation by (relatively) unconscious limiting beliefs. At a later point, the transformation of these limiting beliefs and the integration of such transformation in daily life become possible.

An overview of the nature of the judgmental mind, the distinction between judgment (in the sense of being "judgmental") and discernment, how the judgmental mind is transformed, and some of the tools and perspectives important in this process of transformation.

We explore a powerful teaching found in variants in many traditions, from the Gita to Chuang Tzu to the book of Job to the teachings of the Buddha to Gandhi. This teaching could be expressed as bringing together, paradoxically, committed action and non-attachment to outcome. The Gita and Gandhi spoke of disciplined action without attachment to the fruits of the action. The Buddha pointed out the ways of getting attached through the Eight Worldly Winds. We explore the nature of the teaching and some ways to practice it, as well as what a mature expression of the teaching looks like. There is also discussion.

An overview of the importance and nature of engaged practice in our times, using the traditional Buddhist framework of training in wisdom, meditation, and ethics. We point to what such training means traditionally as well as to several aspects of each of these dimensions of engaged training.

After a brief review of the first two sessions in this series, we explore three foundational practices for deepening daily life practice, first (1) grounding in awareness of the body, and (2) taking challenges (internal and external) as practice. We then explore experientially (3) a practice of stabilizing in mindfulness and then carrying out an activity with as much awareness as possible, then returning to mindfulness, then bringing awareness to another activity.

We continue to explore a number of ways to deepen practice, here particularly focusing on having a broad view of practice, that includes formal meditation, but brings in many dimensions of practice, some traditional, some more contemporary. We explore evolutionary perspectives on the nature of contemporary practice.

We explore a number of ways to deepen daily practice, inviting each participant to choose one or two (or three) ways to deepen for the next week.

Loving-kindness is the practice of cultivating a warm, open heart towards ourselves and others. First session on first day.

At a time when there is a great need for us to have a sense of practice in all the parts of our lives—our individual consciousness, relational life, and social engagement—we explore the powerful vision of integrating Buddhist practice and traditions of nonviolence; each has its strengths and weaknesses. We do so by pointing to the shared heart of Buddhist practice and the nonviolence of Martin Luther King, Jr.—identifying four main areas: (1) the “optimistic” view of the deep goodness of human nature, (2) the understanding of reactivity and “passing on the pain” as the roots of dukkha (or suffering) and violence; (3) the grounding in an ethics of non-harming and nonviolence; and (4) the centrality of lovingkindness (metta) and love that is ultimately extended to all.

Reflections on some of the main themes of a just-completed retreat, focusing especially on several themes related to daily life, including our relationships, to information, doing, time and intention.

We continue to explore the nature of integrity in a life of practice, identifying challenges to integrity and engaging in dyadic inquiry to illuminate one's own relationship to integrity.

Integrating Inner and Outer Awareness During Speaking -- Talk, Exercise, and Discussion

Overview of Wise Speech Practice and the Buddha's Wise Speech Ethical Guidelines -- Talk, Exercise, and Discussion

We explore some of the different dimensions and meanings of integrity in our practice at this time, including looking at some of the challenges to integrity and how we work with such challenges. We continue to keep the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as one reference point in our inquiry into integrity, and include an audio excerpt from his final speech, in Memphis in 1968.

We review the deep intention of both Buddhist practice and the life and work of Dr. King to bring wisdom, love, and skillful action to all parts and all moments of our lives. We then look at how this results in a life of integrity, of wholeness, in terms of the Noble Eightfold Path, on the one hand, and the extension of the "love ethic" to the social and political dimensions of life by Dr. King, on the other. We look at the challenges of Dr. King's stance on Vietnam, and listen to an excerpt from his "Beyond Vietnam" speech at the Riverside Church in New York on April 4, 1967.

Metta practice offers a radical approach: To bring the wise, kind, and embodied heart to every moment and to every situation, even when things are difficult. Yet there are a number of challenges to such practice. These challenges are identified, and suggestions are given on how to work with these challenges.

We explore the shared heart of the approaches of Buddhist practice and of the life and work of Dr. King (playing a recording of Dr. King reading "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"), pointing to how their integration is crucial to respond to the needs of our times.

This time of greatest darkness is a time, when we may, like the earth, stop much of our outward activity, going inward for the sake of renewal and return. As we settle our minds, bodies, and hearts, we open to the generative and fertile darkness and stillness of the unknown and the difficult, and to the gifts, insights, and light that manifest through such opening.

After a talk continuing to explore the need for contemporary versions of the Bodhisattva, we engage in reflection and ritual, developing personal vows for ourselves as Bodhisattvas in training, and expressing them before the group (the latter is not in the recording).

We explore the contemporary need for a new kind of Bodhisattva, one dedicated both to awakening and to helping others. We examine the Bodhisattva's resonance with the indigenous shaman and the Jewish and Christian prophets, and identify some of the qualities and capacities in which the contemporary Bodhisattva trains.

We first explore further the "three ways of seeing that free" (examining the "three characteristics" of phenomena), with particular emphasis on a practically-based overview of anatta (not-self). We then see how samadhi practice and insight practice develop, as they progress, toward a third mode of practice--opening to "awakened awareness" or "radiant mind." We look at the nature of awakened awareness, and point to several practical methods of accessing awakened awareness.

We explore the nature and importance of samadhi (or concentration) practice in the context of the sequence of the three core practices of the retreat—samadhi practice, insight practice, and opening to “radiant mind.” We also examine a number of ways to engage skillfully in samadhi practice, including in the context of several core challenges to such practice.

The day before Thanksgiving, we explore the nature and practice of generosity and gratitude and how they are interrelated. We look at both individual and cultural dimensions of these two qualities.

A guided meditation exploring experience increasingly without a sense of self, through mindfulness of the five "aggregates" (khandhas or skandhas): form, feeling-tone, perception, thoughts and emotions (and other "mental formations), and consciousness.

An overview talk for a daylong of teachings and practices related to exploring anatta (not-self).

A talk, followed by discussion, helping us to understand this time we have entered, after the 2016 election, and pointing to our core practices and understandings as our foundations and guides.

A set of interactive practices in the manner of Joanna Macy's "Work That Reconnects," exploring our post-election experiences.

We often say, "Let no part of your experience be left out of your practice." Okay-- how about "practicing with the election"? We explore 5 ways to focus our practice in this context, through (1) practicing with views and positions; (2) developing empathy; (3) working with difficult emotions; (4) seeing the world through the lens of our practice; and (5) acting.

After a review of last week's overview about the nature of empathy and empathy practice, we explore working with some of the challenges of such practice, and what a high level of empathy looks like.

We explore the nature of empathy and its importance, the biological basis for empathy, what gets in the way of empathy, several ways to practice empathy, and what empathy looks like when highly developed.

In the context of the current election campaign as well as the context of our daily lives, we explore how to understand and practice with our views, opinions, and interpretations. We first look at the nature of views, the Buddha’s teachings on views, and three main ways to practice with views, with particular attention to being mindful of reactivity (attachment and aversion) in relation to views. We then examine the nature of empathy and how to cultivate empathy in relationship to others (and ourselves), including those with different views.

After a review of our previous practices with everyday views, we explore more subtle views, including, including the methods of the Buddha's Middle Way, Nagarjuna, and Zen.

We continue to examine the nature of views and attachment to views, exploring the Buddha's pragmatic approach and working with an exercise to go more deeply into views, attachment to views, and what helps us be less attached to views.