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The greatest gift is the
gift of the teachings
 
Rodney Smith's Dharma Talks
Rodney Smith
More and more, the teaching practice takes me into the community where I engage directly with students. My focus right now is on bringing the continuity of the Dharma into the market place. Although retreating is an important form for self-knowledge, I find myself less interested in the immediate results of a retreat and more interested in helping students investigate their relationship to the ups and downs of their everyday life.
2002-12-23 The Sangha 45:41
Sangha is an essential element in the unfolding of ones Path.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
2002-12-07 Self-Kindness and Self-Indulgence 42:31
Study a few of your behaviors this week such as sleeping, eating, or recreational enjoyment such as listening to music or watching videos. How much of these activities arise from self-indulgence and how much from self-kindness? Are all forms of entertainment self-indulgent? Since almost any action can be either indulgent or kind, what determines which way you label it? When you consider yourself equally deserving (self-love) then the quality of your action is as important as the result. Do you believe this is a true statement? What does self-love have to do with the way you do things? Isn't it good enough that the results benefit others? Explore this question this week and watch whether you consider yourself equally deserving in your actions.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
2002-12-06 Sangha: A Path of Relationship 45:21
Questions for personal inquiry: Do you experience most interpersonal relationships as growth opportunities or troubling? Do you make space in your life for others? Do you frequently feel isolated and lonely? How much of the isolation comes from assumptions about self and other? Do you make the effort to attend gatherings of like-minded people? Reflection: What was your life like before you knew the existence of "a Path"? What is different now? How does the sangha support that Path and your growth on it? Would the Path be the same without the sangha? What efforts do you make to build cohesion in the sangha? Exercise: Become active in your support of like-minded people. Befriend someone from the sangha, volunteer for a community activity, join a like-minded group or become socially engaged in meaningful action. The sangha like the dharma takes each one of us to make it complete.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
2002-11-05 The Judging Mind 42:26
Judgement is a defense against feeling inadequate. The belief in inadequacy is a defense against the fear of being nothing. The fear of being nothing is a defense against silence, in which our nothingness is confirmed.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2002-11-01 Referencing The Moment 37:58
Thought continually moves out to reference something uniquely now.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
2002-06-29 Responsibility 45:04
What prevents me from being responsible here and now? Be aware of superficial explanations about your circumstances or busyness. Continue to ask the question through the range of excuses. Whenever the mind stops and says, "This is the reason," pause, and ask yourself if this is true. Is your ability to hold responsibility strengthened through living this question?
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
2002-04-12 The Four Great Efforts 46:15
Balancing between cultivating wholesome qualities and not pursuing them as ends in themselves is the art of Buddhism.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center
2002-04-08 Following The Pain Line 42:09
The first step of spiritual maturity is to move into pain. Holding the pain without explanation or justification allows it to open into emptiness.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center
2002-03-29 The Eightfold Path 1: Wise View 41:35
Wise view is the essential first step, which frames the entire path of practice.
Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center
2002-01-07 Receiving the World 43:52
Owning or exposing our prejudice as a way of opening to and receiving the world.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society

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