Mindfulness is the engine of meditation practice, and it tends to get all the press. But is mindfulness sufficient to transform our hearts, minds and lives? In this session, we’ll explore some of the other qualities and cultivations that are essential to deep on the spiritual path.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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The Two Fundamental Roots
Recorded :
January 25, 2026 I reflect this Sunday on the profound Surangama Sutra teaching of the Two Fundamental Roots: The root of “beginningless birth and death,” and the “primal bright essence of consciousness.” The Buddha warns that not knowing these two essential principles renders one’s spiritual efforts into a doomed futility, like “cooking sand in the hope of creating…
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The Spectrum of Awareness Practices
Recorded :
February 2, 2020 This session will explore different ways in which attention works and associated meditation practices: from focused awareness, to flexible awareness, to natural awareness. We’ll do a number of fun experiential practices in hopes of understanding a variety of ways to meditate and how we can refine our own practice. Diana draws from her latest…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of Jan 23 – 27, 2023
This week’s theme is “5 Doorways to Love”. What hinders our love? Where are we blocked? Desire, anger, dullness, restlessness and doubt are the so-called 5 hindrances: qualities in the mind which obstruct mindfulness and love. At the same time, when we approach them wisely, they can serve as a beautiful guide towards liberation. During this week we will explore the treasures of these qualities for our meditation and our daily life.
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When did you stop breathing?
Recorded :
June 4, 2017 We could say that the Buddha was teaching us to breath again. It’s said that the prince Siddhartha was sitting under a Bodhi tree, practicing the anapanasati (the mindfulness of breathing) when he gained enlightenment and became awake, a Buddha. He was aware of the whole experience of breathing. Through breathing he trained the mind…
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Being Real Together
Recorded :
June 14, 2020 Let’s pause. How are you doing in this time as all is showing up for reckoning at the same moment? Take some kind breaths, and have a moment of compassion for your self, others, and for it all. In today’s session let’s pause quietly, recalibrate, and check in.
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Let’s Talk about Meditation
Recorded :
November 22, 2019 This class is an opportunity to explore our meditation practice, on and off the cushions. Meditation can be everything we do. It’s up to us whether we have a life of meditation or a life of daydreaming. Meditation will lead to freedom of your mind and daydreaming will lead to the enslavement of the mind….
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Getting Free: The Infinite Middle of the MiddleWay
Recorded :
September 26, 2021 Dharma teachings are sublime, subtle, and onward leading: they are always going deeper and wider than we may first presume. Yet, they also meet us where we are, in the midst of our life. In this session we’ll explore two expressions of the middle-way we can cultivate and develop in our practice and in our…
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The nature and practice of right view.
Recorded :
January 3, 2016 If there is one practice that defines the quality of the Buddha’s teachings, it is right view. This is a wisdom path. Right view is the beginning and ending of the path. Right view comes first among the eight path factors because it is needed for the entire path. Right view can be described as…
