Rodney Smith's Dharma Talks
at Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center
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.
Nature, death and spontaneous freedom continually interweave themselves into my teaching. From the forest of Thailand, where I spent several years, I bring a deep awareness of the healing quality of nature into my teachings. Relaxing into our true nature allows us to realize what it means to be a human being. It is here we find a resting point, a counterbalance to the speed and turbulence of our culture.
My work in hospice brings a sense of urgency into my teaching. Working with the theme of death and dying reveals the here and now of life to us, how important it is to open to each loss, change and transition that marks our path. Life is precious. We need to awaken without hesitation.
Many of us crave to be more calm and centered. We know that life has more to offer than this fleeting material world. For each of us, the Dharma offers an immediacy of freedom for which we do not have to strive or wait. In practice, we can learn to relax deeply into the moment and rediscover spontaneous freedom.
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Select from Rodney Smith's
97
talks
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VIEW ALL
2010-12-12
"I Teach One Thing Only"
2009-04-08
3.8 Billion Years Ago
2000-02-27
A Glimpse Of Connection
2001-03-10
Accessing The Dharma
2010-07-20
Aligned With Selflessness.
2009-04-05
Aligning the Mind With the Now of the Body
1999-01-01
Anger
1999-01-01
Anger: About Anger
1999-01-01
Anger: Control, Fairness And Non-Existence
1999-02-01
Anger: Transforming Anger
2008-04-05
Authentic Action
2016-12-13
Birthing the quiet mind
2013-12-13
Closing Talk
1998-01-01
Contemplation On Death And Dying - III
1998-01-01
Contemplation On Death And Dying - IV
2010-01-05
Courage Toward the Infinite
2011-03-20
Distortions Of Mind
2010-07-22
Effort and the End of Suffering
1998-02-02
Essential Elements Of Formless Practice
1998-02-02
Essential Elements Of Formless Practice: An Overview
1998-02-16
Essential Elements Of Formless Practice: Right Attitude
1998-02-09
Essential Elements Of Formless Practice: Right View
1998-02-23
Essential Elemetns Of Formless Practice: Finding Our Passion
2021-08-22
Exploring Meditation as a Gateway to Transcendent Awareness, Part 1
2021-08-24
Exploring Meditation as a Gateway to Transcendent Awareness, Part2
1996-04-20
Finding Our Breath
2002-04-08
Following The Pain Line
1997-03-01
Four Foundations Of Mindfulness
1997-03-04
Four Foundations Of Mindfulness: Investigating The Dharma
1997-03-03
Four Foundations Of Mindfulness: Mindfulness Of Consciousness
1997-03-02
Four Foundations Of Mindfulness: Mindfulness Of Feelings
1997-03-01
Four Foundations Of Mindfulness: Mindfulness Of The Body
2013-12-12
Fourth Foundation
2010-01-01
From Adaptation To Surrender
2012-12-09
From Form To Formless
2009-12-29
From Noise To Stillness
2018-12-12
Grounding Our Practice
2007-12-30
In Alignment With Zero
2000-12-31
Inspiring The Heart
1999-01-01
Journey Into The Mind
2007-04-01
Leanings of the Mind
1999-01-05
Leaving The Wilderness
2000-12-29
Life's Lessons
2010-07-24
Living A Blameless Life.
2012-12-11
Mirroring Meditation
2018-12-10
Perception and Recognition With Guided Meditation.
2016-12-11
Perspectives on pain.
2016-12-15
Q&A
2008-01-05
Questions And Answers
2011-03-24
Questions and Answers
2014-12-13
Questions and Answers
2018-12-13
Questions From The Retreat
2007-04-04
Radical Accountability
2006-12-29
Radical Accountabilty
2001-03-14
Receiving The World
2008-01-02
Recovering The Primary Intention
1999-12-29
Resolutions Of The Heart
2008-07-13
Restless Body, Unworried Mind
2008-03-30
Right Effort And Wise Effort
2013-12-10
Second And Third Foundation
2011-03-22
Secrets Of The Mind
1999-02-27
Self-Kindness And Self-Indulgence
2002-12-29
Sensitivity Of The Heart
2018-12-11
Shifting Identity
2015-12-08
Sophistication To Innocence
1995-07-01
Taking Responsibility
2018-12-08
Tensionless Sitting
2000-07-05
The "No" Of Love
2014-12-09
The Counter Intuitive Ground Of Spiritual Practice
2018-12-09
The Critical Role Ego Plays In Awakening
2002-03-29
The Eightfold Path 1: Wise View
1998-01-06
The Essential Elements Of Formless Practice
1998-03-28
The Evolution Of View
2013-12-08
The First foundation
2002-04-12
The Four Great Efforts
2007-01-01
The Governing Laws Of The Mind
2008-04-02
The Governing Laws Of The Mind
2002-01-03
The I Of The Storm
1996-03-16
The Natural Way
1998-08-02
The Need To Conform
2001-01-03
The Personal And The Impersonal
1998-08-17
The Room Of The Mind
2015-12-10
The Spiritual Journey - Ascent and Desent
1998-01-01
The Wanting Mind
1998-03-24
The Way Things Are
1987-01-03
This I Am Not
1995-01-01
Time
1995-01-01
Time: Death, The Ending Of Time
1995-01-01
Time: Fractured Time
1995-01-01
Time: Quieting Time
1995-01-01
Time: Time And The Ending Of Suffering
2014-12-11
Understanding States Of Mind
1996-01-01
Using Death To Understand Life
2007-04-07
Utterly Ordinary
1998-08-21
What's Love Got To Do With It
1986-12-29
Why Meditation
1996-04-18
Wise Speech
1999-02-01
Anger: Transforming Anger
38:45
Remaining in contact with our source of anger is the only way to transform it into love.
In collection
Anger
1999-01-05
Leaving The Wilderness
42:55
entering the wilderness, we leave all the old rules behind, only to return and rejoin the community
1999-01-01
Journey Into The Mind
41:58
journey into the mind sequence - a strategy far different than our worldly pursuits
1999-01-01
Anger: About Anger
38:23
An overview of what anger is, where it comes from, and how to work with it.
In collection
Anger
1999-01-01
Anger
2:23:58
An overview of anger, where it comes from and how to work with it.
1998-08-17
The Room Of The Mind
48:22
the only strategy we can employ within the room of the mind is stillness
1998-08-02
The Need To Conform
35:47
The need to be seen as "normal" often inhibits a deeper investigation.