Monday, July 30, 2012

Donald Rothberg - Self and Not-Self


This is a nice series of three talks (more to come?) on self and no-self by Donald Rothberg at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. The podcasts are offered free under a Creative Commons license at Dharma Seed.

Rothberg is a leading teacher and writer on socially engaged spiritual practice. He has taught and practiced Buddhist meditation for over 30 years, and his engaged work has pioneered new ways of connecting inner and outer transformation. He is a member of the Teacher's Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and author of "The Engaged Spiritual Life."


2012-07-11 Self and Not-Self-An Overview  61:17



We explore how the topic of self and not-self can be very confusing, for a number of reasons. We then present five perspectives for exploring this theme, a general way of making some sense of self and not-self and two initial practices to study 1. the sense of self, and 2. experience beyond limited senses of self.

Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks 

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2012-07-18 Self and Not-Self II-Five Varieties of Self  64:23



After a review of last week's overview of exploring self and not-self, we look at five aspects of self: 1. a more neutral sense of "mere I" 2. Cultural conditions to be a particular kind of self; 3. the social self related to others 4. the wounded or stuck self; and 5. the subtle aspect of separation from other things are person. We suggest practicing to explore these five varieties.

Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

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2012-07-25 Self and Not-Self III-Three Ways of Practicing  64:16



We review briefly the last two talks and explore three ways of practicing: 1. Investigating self when it appears; 2. Opening to experiences of not-self; and 3. doing "heart practice" like lovingkindness and compassion to balance our being as we do more deeply.

Spirit Rock Meditation Center Monday and Wednesday Talks

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