Episode

Teacher: Rodney Smith

Date: 2006-05-30

Venue: Seattle Insight Meditation Center

Series
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Homework Notice the compartmentalization of residing as a “who” or a “what.” As you go through the day, notice the “who” of your story, desires, fears, hopes, regrets, etc. During periods of quiet look at the “what behind the who” by seeing the impersonal, mechanical quality of the body and mental processes. Does either the mechanical view or the personal view describe the “total you?” Is there something else that is neither mechanical nor personal—something that knows all of this but has no location or point of origin? Both the “who” and the “what” coexist within this awareness, but what or who is the awareness?

TalkID=408 SeriesID=26

Teacher: Rodney Smith

Date: 2006-05-16

Venue: Seattle Insight Meditation Center

Series
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Homework Where do you assume stability and permanence where there is none? Do you assume yourself to be continuous? What creates the assumption of stability? Notice when you experience yourself directly there is no question about your changing nature. What happens when you assume something about yourself and do not experienced it firsthand? Even though you intuitively know that everything you take yourself to be is in flux, you may still live through the assumptions of a fixed sense of yourself. Try arresting the assumptions of “I, me, and mine” and living in direct relationship to life. For instance when there is anger in the mind, the “you” who is angry is an assumption. The anger is the reality and it is changing. Drop the “I, me, and mine” and see how impermanence is your birthright.

TalkID=407 SeriesID=26

Teacher: Rodney Smith

Date: 2006-05-02

Venue: Seattle Insight Meditation Center

Series
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Homework Ask where the sense of “you” is located. See if you can find the place where “you” dwell. Is it in the body, the mind, both, or neither? Is it an assumption or a definite place? Does it feel as if you are somehow outside of the mind and body, possessing it but not truly residing there? During meditation see if you can pinpoint the location, and what experience leads you to believe that. Watch yourself when you get upset and notice if “you’ are outside the mind that is reacting. How do you know that? Look carefully without a preset opinion.

TalkID=406 SeriesID=26

Teacher: Rodney Smith

Date: 2006-04-18

Venue: Seattle Insight Meditation Center

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Homework Sacredness is revealed when there are no alternatives to here and now. The moment is not a means to an end. Try to arrive at this understanding by using the phrase, “Add nothing to this moment.” In the midst of irritation or annoyance ask where your happiness lies—deciphering the difficulty (First Noble Truth) or in the future? When you are emotionally reactive or offering unsolicited advice, stop and simply say, “Add nothing to this.” Resist asserting your influence, and discover what is actually happening here and now (Third Noble Truth) without perpetuating your self-image through a desire or fear (Second Noble Truth).

TalkID=405 SeriesID=26

Teacher: Rodney Smith

Date: 2006-04-04

Venue: Seattle Insight Meditation Center

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Homework What does it mean to let go, not partially but totally? It means giving up your position with someone or something—what you wanted from it, out of it, with it, who you were in relationship to it, your stake in it. If that possibility intrigues you, practice this exercise: The next time you find yourself mentally holding onto a past, current, or future event, release it, and let it fall away. Letting go does not have to be practiced. Simply drop what you are holding. Instead of trying to understand everything or figure things out, simply let go. Let go of your desires, expectations, and fears. Let go of your worries and your remorse. Let go of your life and your death. Letting go is releasing everything to be just as it is—nothing special to be, no wounds to heal, no past or future to bind you. Let everything be without picking it up as “me or mine.”

TalkID=404 SeriesID=26