Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

Search Sangha Live

Transformation Lives in the Butterfly Garden

With Drs Larry Ward and Peggy Rowe Ward recorded on March 5, 2023.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

We are living in a time of change that is evolutionary in its mystery, scope and depth. Emerging values of wellness of the self, Earth and society call us beyond the trance of colonial imprints, into the profound dimensions of embodied and expanded consciousness. It may be that the transformation that this time demands from us could only be met now.

Dr Ward also kindly answered a question that we didn’t have time to get to in the live session:

Eva asked; in Light of your story about the dog Larry rescued – Larry mentioned he had a profound moment of connection looking into Thashi’s eyes when he woke one morning as Thashi hovered over him while he slept. She wanted to know how he now holds the relationship with this dog as a spiritual being vs. being merely a pet.

Dr Ward responded: Thashi, for me, is an archetype of watchfulness, playfulness and learning. He has become a teacher and a dear friend. A profound expression of the wonders of all of creation.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Tags: liberation nonviolence peace and hope

Discussion

One thought on “Transformation Lives in the Butterfly Garden”

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Christopher Titmuss – Week of 17 February, 2025

    We’re delighted to have Christopher Titmuss guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May they support and deepen your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Deep Psychology Of Karma

    Join us as we explore the Buddha’s profound teachings on karma (kamma in Pali), a central aspect of Buddhist teaching that’s often misunderstood or overlooked. Christopher will guide us in examining karma not through abstract theory, but through our own direct experience and practice.

    Together, we’ll investigate the intimate connection between our intentions, actions, and their results – both in meditation and daily life. We’ll look deeply into what creates binding patterns of karma, both wholesome and unwholesome, and discover what actions can free us from these patterns altogether.

    Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.

    Read More

  • Pascal Auclair

    This Is What We Are: Foam, Bubbles, Mirage, Banana Tree Trunks and Magical Shows

    Recorded : January 22, 2023

    In this session, we will explore the Buddha’s wise use of images in the Phena Sutta. We will see how these are representations of the deepest teachings of Insight Meditation and how they can be relevant for us today in our quest to free the mind and heart from constriction. There will be time to practice together guided by Pascal and time for questions and beginning of answers.

    Read More

  • Dave Smith

    Genuine Happiness: An Alternative Perspective

    Recorded : July 14, 2019

    So much of what we hear and learn about within Dharma practice places an arguably unnecessary emphasis on suffering (dukkha). While the acceptance of suffering (dukkha) is an important and essential aspect of the path, it is by no means the end of the story. In one of the Buddha’s oldest descriptions of what it…

    Read More

  • Nicola Redfern

    Relational Dharma

    Recorded : October 23, 2022

    What does the Dharma have to say about how we relate: to ourselves, to each other and to the environment? How might we touch in to the energizing potential of waking up together? This session will draw from the inherently relational practices of both the Zen koan tradition and Insight Dialogue to consider ways that…

    Read More

  • Martine Batchelor

    What is this?

    Recorded : October 11, 2015

    In this session Martine leads a guided meditation on the question “What is this?”, and then explores this questioning practice as a means to encounter each moment with awareness and as a means of developing a stable and open heart.

    Read More

  • Jessica Morey

    The seven factors of awakening.

    Recorded : September 11, 2016

    Jessica discusses the seven factors of awakening (mindfulness, tranquility/relaxation, piti/joy, concentration, investigation, viriya/courageous energy, equanimity) and how to work with them in meditation practice to balance the mind and support insight through specific meditative techniques.

    Read More

  • Tuere Sala

    The Supramundane Nature of Emptiness

    Recorded : September 15, 2024

    Emptiness can be a loaded word for lay practitioners. It can bring up a sense of isolation and annihilation. The dharma of emptiness, however, is a fundamental part of practice. Even in the most mundane tasks of our ordinary lives, we can access emptiness and feel the freedom that comes with it. It’s not about…

    Read More