The Big Three: Greed, Hatred, and Delusion as Touchstones to Practice in Troubled Times

Overview

The historical Buddha taught that greed, hatred, and delusion are the root causes of dissatisfaction and other forms of suffering in our lives. How are these temptations—known traditionally as the three poisons—showing up in your life right now? In your relationships? In the social and cultural settings in which we live? How can we work with them and enable our practice to disrupt the pain they cause? Join us in re-examining our relationship to the roots of suffering and strengthening our practices for dissolving them.

About Rhonda V. Magee, M.A., J.D.

Rhonda V. Magee, M.A., J.D., is Professor of Law (Emeritus) at the University of San Francisco, where she has taught Torts, Insurance Law, Race in American Legal History, and a course she co-created called Contemplative Lawyering. She is the author of the The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness (Penguin RandomHouse TarcherPerigee: 2019), which broke new ground on publication as the first book of its kind to integrate mindfulness principles and practices thoroughly into the conversation on addressing race and racism in diverse settings and communities, and helping us heal from the trauma that the legacies of racism causes. She accepted authorization as a spiritual guide and teacher in the Zen lineage, Hoshi Myozen Magee also draws on her training as a mindfulness teacher trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and her study and co-teaching with Bhikkhu Analayo, a Buddhist Monk in the Theravadan tradition, and renown scholar of early Buddhism. Hoshi Magee is a founding advisor of the Mindfulness in Law Society, and an internationally recognized mindfulness teacher and Keynote speaker. Her current writing and teaching explore how culturally-specific practices – including Black cultural spirituality and the quality of soulfulness — may intersect with and strengthen mindfulness, and consider the way that mindfulness may support ongoing efforts to strengthen communities across difference in these challenging times.

In January 2023, Magee received an appointment to the National Institutes of Health’s National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health, which plays a key role advising the NCCIH on forthcoming research projects and policies. In Fall 2023, and while continuing to serve as Professor of Law, Rhonda accepted an appointment as the founding Director of the Center for Contemplative Law and Ethics at the University of San Francisco. She recently retired from her role as a tenured law professor, to devote her time to expanding her work practicing, teaching and writing about mindfulness.

About Spirit Rock & Insight Meditation

Spirit Rock is a spiritual training institution in the Insight Meditation tradition grounded in the Buddha’s teachings in the Pāli discourses. Our vision and mission is to bring people to a depth of realization of the Buddha’s path of liberation through direct experience, and to provide practitioners with teachings to manifest wisdom and compassion in all aspects of their lives, for the benefit of all beings. We welcome practitioners of all backgrounds and levels of experience to join communities of learning, support, and connection in our spiritual sanctuary and refuge.

This course is part of Spirit Rock’s new Dharma Institute, which offers in-depth study of the teachings and practices of the Buddha and the Insight Meditation lineage, along with professional trainings and continuing education. 

Spirit Rock was founded in 1986 by a group of Insight Meditation teachers, including Jack Kornfield, who, along with Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, and Jacqueline Schwartz, founded Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, MA, in 1976. These centers, along with Gaia House (Devon, UK), are among the first centers teaching Insight Meditation (vipassanā) in the West. Read more about the founding of Spirit Rock and IMS in Jack Kornfield’s article “This Fantastic, Unfolding Experiment.” 

Insight Meditation is based in Theravāda (“The Way of the Elders”) Buddhism, as practiced in Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), and Thailand, though our teachers carry many different lineages within—and outside—Theravāda. Our primary practices are based in the Mahāsī lineage of Burmese vipassanā and the Thai Forest Saṅgha lineage of Ajahn Chah. Read more aboutour Buddhist Lineage and listen to talks from teachers about the roots of our practice.

Questions?

Visit Help for additional information and guidance. After visiting the Help page, if you still need support with the Online Learning Platform, email OLPsupport@spiritrock.org.