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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.
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2012-04-17 Fundamentals of the Dharma: Sila 61:13
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We usually approach ethical conduct (sila) from either righteousness (morality) or idealism (I must never harm any living thing!) but not often from stability and unification of heart. From the heart we just see what is appropriate to do and do it within the context of connection and nonharm. When we transgress we learn and move on and never expect anything miraculous or perfect in any way. We simply live within the fullness of our humanity, and that is enough.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
In collection: Fundamentals of the Dharma
2012-04-03 Fundamentals of the Dharma: Staying Within Yourself 2:02
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In the West we have little preparation for dharma practice because our lives have not been tuned to staying within ourselves. We have been taught to look outside for approval and to compare ourselves to others. How can we possibly find ourselves within any comparison? All we will ever find is a sense of lacking. Leaning toward the world does not allow us to find our own stability, and yet we cannot question the sense of self without inward evenness and dependability.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
In collection: Fundamentals of the Dharma
2012-08-21 Fundamentals of the Dharma: Surrender 2:00
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Surrender is not something we decide to do. It is what is left after we have tried every way to avoid or surmount a problem. Surrendering is releasing your guard and allowing the experience into you without protection or defense, and therefore it is an activity of faith. Mostly we try to adapt our way through a difficulty, changing strategies according to the results, but surrender is not another response to a problem, it's the ending of time, distance, and separation from the problem itself.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
In collection: Fundamentals of the Dharma
2012-07-24 Fundamentals of the Dharma: Wisdom 54:20
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Wisdom is the integration of truth into your life. It is not theoretical or abstract in any sense, but a steady confidence of knowing what is true. Wisdom comes from seeing an experience in stillness, free from our normal commentary. Our narrative confines us to just what we have known and in the absence of the narrative arises a new perception. This is called wisdom.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
In collection: Fundamentals of the Dharma
2012-05-29 Fundamentals of the Dharma: Wise Intention 58:43
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Wise intention is the energy that moves all spiritual practices forward. We mistakenly think it is our willpower, but it is always and only our intention. There are two expressions of intention: the primary intention associated with the longing to be free and the secondary intention for gain and acquisition. The secondary is formed by the mind from the primary intention, and that is the reason we believe that satisfaction can come through desire. The mind tells us that. For the energy to be reinvested back into the primary we have to prove to ourselves that secondary gains will never be truly fulfilling. That is what is left for many of us to do.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
In collection: Fundamentals of the Dharma
2012-05-15 Fundamentals of the Dharma: Wise View 59:12
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Wise view is fundamental to everything we do in the dharma. Having adirection establishes a context for all dharma activities. Without it weflounder and move in the direction of our conditioning toward pleasureand ease. Simply stated, wise view is the view that our thoughts distortour perceptions away from the inherent interconnection of all things.Working in clear alignment with interconnection allows us the courageand intention to move toward the difficult, toward that which seems toseparate, and confirm the truth of oneness. All dharma activity must bein accordance with that intention, or it will further support theconditioned sense of separation.
Seattle Insight Meditation Society
In collection: Fundamentals of the Dharma
2018-12-12 Grounding Our Practice 38:38
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Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center :  Awakening : Insight Meditation Retreat for Experienced Students
2022-05-21 Guided Meditation on "descending into the heart" 23:42
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Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge :  May 2022
2022-05-10 Guided Meditation on "Form to Formless" 29:04
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Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge :  May 2022
2022-05-19 Guided meditation on "the evolution of awareness" 20:51
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Insight Meditation Society - Forest Refuge :  May 2022

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