The teachings of the Buddha (Dharma) and the practices of Insight Meditation (Vipassana) and loving-kindness meditation (metta) are at the heart of all the programs we offer at Spirit Rock. Practicing Insight Meditation develops mindfulness, the capacity to pay attention to each moment of life and to see clearly the truth of our experience. Studying the Dharma provides insights into the conditions that define and limit our experience of life. And cultivating an attitude of loving-kindness allows us to stay present to what's true and what's difficult in our lives with compassion for ourselves and others. Ultimately, our relationship to life is transformed as we learn to live more wisely and kindly.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & dharma talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first review of some of the themes explored last week. We look at the appropriateness of understanding and responding to social and political concerns, in the context of non-profit organizations and then in the context of the Buddha's teachings (which involved commentary on the caste system, on the origins of wars and poverty) and later Buddhist traditions (for example, King Ashoka, a practitioner in what is now India in 250 B.C.E. eliminated the death penalty, renounced war, and set up medical facilities for non-human animals). We then identify four foundations for bringing our attention to social and political concerns, including staying connected to the vision and practice of awakening and grounding ethically. This is followed by identifying, through the lens of teachings, six contemporary systems and ideologies (strengthened in the current U.S.) that manifest greed, aversion, and delusion and violate core ethical teachings. Then we look briefly at ways of practicing and responding individually, in connection with community. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with some guidance on developing samadhi (concentration) and stability, followed by practicing developing samadhi. After about 10 minutes developing samadhi, we move to mindfulness practice. After about another 10 minutes of practice, we then inquire into some of the emotions and thoughts that have been present recently, whether difficult or joyful, related to the current state of the society and world. We first relive a recent experience and then bring mindfulness to the somatic, emotional, and mental dimensions of experience. While staying silent, we also have a sense of being in community and sharing our experience. We then work with Kristen Neff's three-step self-compassion practice (shifting to a three-step joy or mudita practice if the experiences have been more positive).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We first explore in general the relationship of core teachings and practices to the social and political dimensions of our lives. We see that Buddhist practice in the West has commonly emphasized meditation and inner practices, often neglecting or marginalizing the ethical training that traditionally is one of the three dimensions of training, even though the Buddha did often give social commentary (e.g., on the caste system) and at times social interpretations of the ethical precepts ("Let one not destroy life nor cause others to destroy life and, also, not approve of others' killing. . . . Let one not cause to steal, nor approve of others' stealing.'). We explore a vision of individual and collective awakening, inspired in part by more contemporary traditions of socially engaged Buddhism initially developed by pioneers like Thich Nhat Hanh, Sulak Sivaraksa, A.T. Ariyaratne, Dr. Ambedkar, Joanna Macy, and Robert Aitken. Then we give some attention to how to connect inner and outer practices, particularly focusing, as we did in the guided meditation, on practicing with challenging emotions and thoughts, and clarifying ways to act in the world. The talk is followed by discussion and ends with the setting of intentions.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) After about 25 minutes of lightly guided practice, to settle with concentration and/or mindfulness practice, we explore in several ways some of the emotions and thoughts that have been present related to the current state of the society and world. We first relive a recent experience and then bring mindfulness to the somatic, emotional, and mental dimensions of experience. We then work with Kristen Neff's three-step self-compassion practice, leading to developing intentions for how to practice with such experiences in the future.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Begins with a 30m meditation and is followed by a Dharma talk. (Group discussion is omitted).
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Both our oral traditions that value the interconnectedness of all relations.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Reclaim our relationship with our beloved Earth through Metta and Indigenous wisdom.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Vedena and thoughts.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Sit & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This talks focuses on one of the three areas of practice discussed a week before, on developing samadhi (or concentration), the theme of Donald's four weeks of practice in March. We begin by more generally discussing the nature of samadhi, including short account of the etymology in Pali, and the Tibetan sense of samadhi as "staying," as developing in the nine stages of the "Elephant Path." We look at the place and importance of developing samadhi in our practice and its relationship to insight practice; developing samadhi is one of the eight factors of the Noble Eightfold Path and appears in many of the Buddha's core teachings. We discuss some ways to practice developing samadhi, and then focus especially on several challenges of such practice and how to work with such challenges. The talk is followed by discussion, including further exploration of the relationship of cultivating samadhi and insight practice, the nature of skillful effort, and the joy that can arise in the development of samadhi.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This guided meditation gives more detail on developing samadhi than the guided meditation from a week ago. First, after a brief overview of the nature of samadhi (usually translated as "concentration"), instructions are given for a practice session developing samadhi, including on posture, gaze, possible objects of focus, and skillful effort. Midway through the session, some further guidance is given on "intensifying," which helps both to deepen samadhi and to cut through background thinking as well as foreground thinking.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The deepest kind of peace: what it is, what it isn't, how it relates to boundaries and action in the world, and how to find it.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this talk, we explore compassion as a liberating force—one that allows us to stay present with suffering so we can respond with wise action. Drawing on the myth of Avalokiteśvara, the science of empathy, and the felt experience of care, compassion becomes a courageous presence rooted in tenderness and connection. We also reflect on how a deep understanding of dukkha, paired with a direct knowing of freedom, strengthens our compassion and helps us see the wish for liberation as real and available—even in the most difficult places.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Sensing into a field of support and care hat can hold it all, even the enemy.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) This guided meditation is inspired by John Makransky's Field of Care meditation where we practice first receiving kindness and care from a benefactor or kind moment and then include others into that field of care.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this guided meditation with instructions, we begin with connecting with the felt sense of metta, then explore offering phrases for a benefactor, mentor, or good friend.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In this talk from the first night of a weeklong silent retreat, Oren Jay Sofer explores mettā (lovingkindness) as both refuge and strength. Framing the Buddhist path as a practice of wise relationship, he offers several ways to cultivate mettā, inviting us to consider what it means to relate to life with warmth, steadiness, and care—even in a world of change and uncertainty.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) When we hear the words "be mindful," it often makes us think we have to intensify and be vigilant. But quite the opposite is true. This guided meditation is meant to help us find a softer, more receptive and sustainable way of being present.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) In the talk, Donald reflects on having just completed, four days before the talk, four weeks of practice at Spirit Rock. He particularly focuses on three themes from the retreat, exploring each theme in terms of both its retreat context and its daily life context. The first is the theme of listening deeply to one's own "intuition" and what "calls." The second is the theme of developing samadhi (usually translated as "concentration"--the unified mind and heart and body) and in particular practicing the eight jhanas as taught by the Buddha. The third is the theme of bringing the retreat learning and explorations into daily life, and how in particular to cultivate the first two themes in the daily life context. The talk is followed by discussion.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with a brief account of the nature of samadhi (usually translated as "concentration"), and then give instructions for developing samadhi in formal meditation. (We'll come back to discuss samadhi in more depth in the talk.) There are several reminders during the meditation to return to the focus on cultivating samadhi. In the last part of the meditation, we connect the greater stability that's developed in the practice of cultivating samadhi with cultivating mindfulness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Rooted in the simile of the Lion Sutta (4.33), this talk explores how the power of the Lion's roar—Buddha-Dharma—awakens the courage to face suffering with clarity, inner steadiness, and a heart aligned with truth and presence.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Seeing impermanence leads to dispassion and letting go into deepening peace.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) The past and future are only thoughts in the present. But even the present moment is constructed, concocted, conditioned and may not exist absolutely as we believe it to be. Our experience of the senses is dependent on our sense organs thus animals have different eyes and experience the world very differently. Different human cultures experience and interpret sense experience differently as well. Plus practice tips on week 3 of a monthlong retreat.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Explores the Buddha's teachings on aging, illness, death, loss, and karma—brought to life through Dharma reflections and evocative stories, inviting us to meet impermanence with wisdom, presence, and the freedom to love fully.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) Meditation & Dharma Talk
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) An overview of the 12 links of Dependent Origination, followed by how this teaching points to emptiness.
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
(Spirit Rock Meditation Center)
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