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Donald Rothberg's Dharma Talks
Donald Rothberg
Donald Rothberg, PhD, has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976, and has also received training in Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice and the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, Kenyon College, and Saybrook Graduate School, he currently writes and teaches classes, groups and retreats on meditation, daily life practice, spirituality and psychology, and socially engaged Buddhism. An organizer, teacher, and former board member for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, Donald has helped to guide three six-month to two-year training programs in socially engaged spirituality through Buddhist Peace Fellowship (the BASE Program), Saybrook (the Socially Engaged Spirituality Program), and Spirit Rock (the Path of Engagement Program). He is the author of The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World and the co-editor of Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers.
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2019-02-27 Practices for the Seven Stages of the Spiritual Journey 1:19:05
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After a review of the seven stages of the spiritual journey presented the week before (originally with reference to Mary Oliver’s “The Journey,” the life of the Buddha, and our own journeys), we explore how for each stage, there are particular practices and intentions that are central. As we explore the practices, we get a better sense of the variety of practices that we may work with at different points in our own journeys, and which are most appropriate at which times.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monday and Wednesday Talks
2019-02-20 Seven Stages of the Spiritual Journey 1:16:50
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Partly in honor of the recently deceased poet, Mary Oliver, we use her poem, "the Journey", as a reference point for understanding the nature of the spiritual journey. Two other reference points are the life of the Buddha, and then the experiences of our own lives. After an exploration of the very nature of the journey, and how a journey may take years, or two weeks, or an hour, we explore seven stages of the spiritual journey, starting with taking life for granted, being caught up in habitual and conditioned mind and behavior, and ending with some degree of awakening and then re-entering the "ordinary" world, often bringing gifts from the journey. In between is the heart of the journey. [The talk ends at 1.06.23.]
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monday and Wednesday Talks
2019-01-30 Dharma Practice and the Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Part 3 65:47
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We first review the three themes identified as the "shared heart" of Buddhist practice and the life and work of Dr. King: (1) non-reactivity (the end of dukkha) and nonviolence; (2) love, metta, and compassion; and (3) the integrity and coherence of one's life, such that this "shared heart" appears increasingly in all parts of one's life. Then we imagine a kind of dialogue between Western Buddhists and Dr. King, identifying both the great jewels and some of the blind spots or underdeveloped areas of each. This points toward the aspiration to bring together the best of both approaches, to bring together deep inner and outer transformative practice; we make use of a number of resources, including the figure of the bodhisattva, in clarifying this aspiration.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monday and Wednesday Talks
2019-01-23 Dharma Practice and the Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Part 2 64:30
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We review and deepen the exploration of three core themes that are the shared heart of the approaches of the Buddha and Dr. King: (1) the wisdom and understanding of the nature of dukkha and the aim of ending of dukkha - understood in this context as reactivity and violence in their different forms; (2) the centrality of the wise heart- understood as love, metta, compassion, etc and the importance of acting from this wise heart; and (3) integrity - the coherence, consistency, and authenticity of one's life, especially in relationship to the first two themes. We then begin an imagined "dialogue" between the Buddha and Dr. King that might point to an integration of deep inner and outer practice based on these principles.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monday and Wednesday Talks
2019-01-20 Dukkha and the End of Dukkha 2: Is Suffering Optional? (A Talk by Heidi Bourne) 38:59
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This is a second longer talk given during the daylong of January 20, 2019, on "Dukkha and the End of Dukkha," led by Donald Rothberg and Heidi Bourne.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2019-01-20 Dukkha and the End of Dukkha 1: An Overview of the Teachings and Practices 45:28
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The Buddha famously said, “I have taught one thing and one thing only, dukkha [suffering or reactivity or a sense of unsatisfactoriness] and the cessation of dukkha.” In this daylong, we explore this core teaching as it is expressed in the Four Noble Truths and the teaching of the Two Arrows. We suggest ways to study and implement this teaching both in formal meditation and in everyday life, through practices and reflections that bring together the wisdom of seeing the roots of dukkha, the compassion and kindness that can hold our difficulties, and skillful action to transform dukkha.This talk give an orientation for the daylong.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center
2019-01-16 Dharma Practice and the Life and Work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Part 1 67:13
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On the day after Dr. King's birthday, we explore three themes that are central both to dharma practice and to the life and work of Dr. King, and that are interpreted in strikingly similar ways. The three themes are (1) the core of wisdom as an understanding of non-reactivity, the end of dukkha, nonviolence; (2) the centrality of love/metta or lovingkindness/compassion; and (3) integrity--the wholeness and coherence of one's life guided by these core principles and spiritual qualities.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Monday and Wednesday Talks
2019-01-14 Bringing Metta Practice Home and into the World (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 60:47
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We explore a number of ways to continue to deepen our metta practice, in terms of individual practice, bringing metta into relationships, and being guided by metta in our participation in the healing and transformation of the world.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  January Metta Retreat
2019-01-09 The Nature of Metta (Lovingkindness) Practice: An Overview (Retreat at Spirit Rock) 61:27
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We explore the core intention of metta practice, to bring kindness, warmth, and care to every moment and every being. We examine how metta practice develops further steadiness (samadhi), how it helps us to lead with the heart and work with what stands in the way of the open, kind heart. As we practice further, we open increasingly to the radiance of our hearts and our being. We keep training, and we bring our metta practice into the world, where it is deeply needed. We close with two stories of metta practice in the world in challenging situations.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  January Metta Retreat
2018-12-18 Practicing at the Winter Solstice: Embracing the Dark, Inviting the Light 64:07
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We use six metaphors for darkness to suggest ways to orient our practice, both in general and here at the time of the Winter Solstice. We look at darkness as stopping (like the earth), as being with the difficult and painful, as not knowing (and being with the mysterious), as opening to the shadow, as generative and fertile (like the earth), and as luminous.
Spirit Rock Meditation Center :  Insight Meditation Winter Solstice Retreat: Embracing the dark and inviting the light

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