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

Search Sangha Live

Beyond the Self-Improvement Project

With Oren Jay Sofer recorded on April 25, 2021.

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

It’s common to come to the spiritual path seeking relief from psychological suffering or emotional pain. The modern wellness industry presents mindfulness and meditation as the ultimate antidote to stress and personal foibles. Yet the Buddhist path is about something far deeper than stress reduction or having an agreeable personality. In this session, we’ll explore the value of seeking relief from personal stress, the pitfalls of approaching meditation as a self-improvement project, and the true promise of the Buddha’s freedom.

(Poem read by Oren during the session: Free and Easy: A Spontaneous Vajra Song, by Venerable Lama Gendun Rinpoche)

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

Tags: awareness and presence impermanence self and non-self wisdom

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Patience: In Praise of an Undervalued Helper

    Recorded : December 4, 2022

    Patience can be one of those qualities which we think of as being theoretically helpful but feel little motivation to actually cultivate and strengthen. So much emphasis in our busy world of achieving goals and getting tasks done is about doing, taking action and fixing problems. We will spend this session exploring the benefits of…

    Read More

  • Ralph Steele

    Discovering Diamonds in Darkness: Racism & Cultural Diversity

    Recorded : March 19, 2023

    Racism and cultural identity have indiscriminately been seeded into human consciousness since the beginning of humanity. The health of any community begins with the Sense of Self. This Dharma assembly will focus on our sense of self as we investigate consciousness using the Noble Truths for Awakening. Millions have followed this path of practice for millennia.

    Read More

  •

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of June 13, 2022

    This week’s topic is Healing Shame and Guilt. Psychologists describe shame as soul-eating emotion. Shame and guilt prevent us from developing trusting connections with others and a healthy sense of appreciation for ourselves. The Buddha taught that systems of self-reference such as shame and guilt can cause pain and stress. To find liberation is to find freedom from these deeply harmful emotions. We will look at practical ways to find such freedom in our own lives.

    Read More

  • Christelle Bonneau

    How can I Sink when I am the Ocean?

    Recorded : June 10, 2018

    In this session we explore more precisely the different individuals we think we are through the days. We will try to recognize them better, with their own feelings, sensations, emotions, thoughts and states of mind. We’ll also try to hear more clearly all the different judgemental voices that take place in us, about the way…

    Read More

  • Nathan Glyde

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of 02 March, 2026

    This week’s theme is: Release The Pressure

    We often feel pressured to become better-pushed to chase the impossible or to be someone always just out of reach. This same strain can seep into our practice. Yet the Middle Way invites us to soften that drive, releasing unnecessary pressure here and now, and uncovering the steadfast flexibility of wise compassion.

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

    Read More

  • Willa Blythe Baker

    The Wisdom of the Body

    Recorded : November 28, 2021

    While we might think of the body as flesh and blood, there is so much more to this mortal coil. The body in fact may be our deepest teacher. In this session, we explore how to listen to the wisdom of the body and realize its potential to guide us to groundedness, self-honesty, presence and wisdom.

    Read More

  • Leslie Booker

    The Paramis of Generosity + Morality: A Movement Towards a Shared World

    Recorded : March 20, 2022

    In a world riddled with addiction, violence and loneliness, it can feel challenging to figure out how to reclaim our humanity. We can begin by remembering that we belong to each other. On this Sunday Sangha, we’ll be exploring Generosity and Morality: the first two of the Paramis, the 10 perfections or attainments which show…

    Read More