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Teacher: Rodney Smith
Date: 2015-01-06
Venue: Seattle Insight Meditation Center
Series
- Birthing the Heart 2014-01-07
Description
There is a kind of clamor we make when we are pushing ourselves forward trying to accomplish spiritual objectives. We keep ourselves pumped up in an excitable state and busily looking toward the results of our efforts. But the direction the heart takes is in the opposite direction. The heart moves toward nothing special, simplicity, and a full embrace of the here and now. We can rediscover the refuges we take in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha when we pair the refuges with the true direction of the heart. The Buddha is stillness, the Dharma is discovering that stillness in all things, and the Sangha is the intimacy shared when two or more people can be safely quiet together. The heart flourishes within these refuges and intimately connects with the nothing special here and now.
Homework
Silence is the shared link among the refuges. See if you can tie your practice through the refuges and into silence.
(1) Refuge in the sangha is unforced interconnection and abiding with others in the silence of your heart.
(2) Refuge in the Dharma is entering fully into what exists here and now without adding any noise.
(3) Refuge in the Buddha is believing in your intrinsic nature more than your self-doubt, and taking refuge in your natural quietude.
Which of the three is the strongest refuge during this phase of your practice? How are you working with it to strengthen your relationship with silence?
Video
Link to view on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/116371596
TalkID=240 SeriesID=50
