Rodney Smith's most recent Dharma talks (Dharma Seed)

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) Accessing the Fourth Foundation is as easy as abiding in wonder. A question that is interesting to you but does not immediately resolve itself into an answer holds that wonder. When you hold a question without trying to immediately find the answer, you will feel the pull of form (needing to know the answer) in conflict with the formless (the wonder within the m...

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society)

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) A quality of awareness is discernment, which can be active or passive. Passive discernment is seeing, "just this" without doing anything about it, while active discernment is uncovering what is hidden and unconscious. It uses an energetic and curious probing to broaden the expanse of awareness and welcome it beyond its egoic boundaries.

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) The Fourth Foundation of Mindfulness is the ability to discern what limits freedom and to see the value of open awareness when it is not limited. It encourages a complete examination and investigation of mind until there is existence without obstructions.

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) The personal evolves into the impersonal with time and exposure to awareness. The less "you" do about this process, the quicker it happens on its own. Simply say when a state of mind arises, "Is this about me?" In one way it is, in another way it is not. Be willing to see both tendencies and investigate each.

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) Arrogance is a remnant from the pain of the self that wants to be seen and heard as special and privileged. It is our spiritual work to watch not only the subtle grasping and aversive formations of self but its gross manifestations like arrogance as well. What is the pain behind this mental display, and what are the assumptions that move arrogance forward?

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) Boredom tries to convince you that you must wait for life to be interesting enough to live and that now is not worth paying attention to. Boredom has you bypass the present for the excitement of a future possibility. Ask yourself when boredom arises, "When is life better than now?"

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) Worry attempts to protect us from every contingency. It becomes a pattern and view of life where I am the guardian and protector of my security. Worry is actually a process of self-affirmation because we keep affirming our power over what life brings forth. If I let down my guard, life would be chaotic and out of control, and therefore I need to worry to have e...

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) Judgment is seeing the world in quantifiable terms. There a holistic way of seeing that is not partial and comparative but becomes inaccessible when we believe in judgment. Let the presence of judgment remind you that your thinking and emoting is arising from an incomplete perception. Quiet yourself to the inward narrative and allow the whole mind, undivided by...

(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center)

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) While we may have guilt over an incident or a series of mishaps, shame is the accompanying attitude about oneself and can therefore be far more disruptive. Life becomes an uphill battle against our destructive inward narrative. Its variations go from feeling lesser and smaller than to being an obstacle and ultimately better off not existing. Confronting our con...

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) Anger is often unconsciously encouraged because it clears away the doubting mind. "I know why I feel this way, and I am right," says anger. Spiritually we can only approach and understand anger from humility, the opposite direction of righteousness. Anger usually arises as a component of grief where something you cared about was blocked or diverted away from yo...

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) The mind finds endless reasons to energetically split itself in two. "Shoulds," denials, rationalizations, resentments, and countless other states are energetic divisions, where the mind is trying to have what it wants while hiding from its assumed reality. Doubt is perhaps the most common expression of this pattern. Doubt reaches for what it wants with half a...

(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) Probing some of the transitional dharma points.

(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) When the mind is no longer divided, it reveals its secrets.

(Insight Meditation Society - Retreat Center) The mind configures reality into distorted images. It is our job to sort it out.

(Seattle Insight Meditation Society) Fear divides the mind by convincing us that the present is in the crosshairs of an approaching disaster. We therefore need to harness the power of our thinking and take flight physically and mentally away from now. If presence is maintained, fear has no way to access the moment except by projecting into the future.