Our current situation is giving us great practice with discomfort. whether we’re experiencing small inconveniences or significant disruption. Dharma teaches us that this very discomfort is a gateway to realization. Once our efforts to soothe or transcend run dry, we gain the opportunity to develop insight, freedom, and true bodhisattva compassion. Compassion that is at ease with entering and engaging in even the most uncomfortable realms. This Sunday, Justine will take us on a tour of the ancient sutras of Vimalakirti, exploring how we can stay open and even playful with the uncertainty and discomfort of this time. And how that just may make us better bodhisattvas.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ayala Gill – Week of June 26, 2023
This week’s topic is “Living in Sacredness”. Meditation is more than a practice of being present. The way in which we are present determines whether we reinforce habits of separation, or re-weave the fabric of sacredness. During this week we will explore the sacredness of body, breath, consciousness, emotions and beliefs. Returned to the embrace of sacredness, we plant seeds of Love in a world of separation.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Yahel Avigur – Week of 12 May, 2025
In this week of practice, we will follow the Buddha’s advice to tune into the oneness of our existence and the five elements: earth, air, water, fire, and space. Practising in this way can nourish a sense of groundedness, freedom, and belonging-while opening pathways to collectedness, joy, and insight.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of July 10, 2023
This week’s theme is “The Compassionate Heart”. Karuna, usually translated as compassion, is our hearts’ ability to relate with care towards ourselves, others and experience in general. Living in a complex world with imperfect others and self, an attitude and practice of compassion can be an immense support. But when misunderstood, it can equally turn into pity, generate overwhelm, make us lose balance and create friction with the concept of responsibility. We will therefore dedicate this upcoming week to an indepth exploration into the concept of compassion.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of Sept 12, 2022
This week’s topic is (Be)Come As You Are. Our driven-ness, our ruminating thoughts, and our feelings of shame, guilt, and anxiety never allow us to simply ‘be’. They evolve around a sense of identity , a process the Buddha called selfing (bhava), a form of suffering (dukkha). We are endlessly trapped in a narrative of who we think we ought to be, were in the past and should be in the future.
We will dedicate our shared time together to build an awareness of these processes and find alternative ways to relate to the many experiences of life.
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Nothing is my own, everything is my own.
Recorded :
February 12, 2017 It’s a pretty delicate task to find the right posture inside ourself in relation to the events that occur in our everyday life. Some are really desired and welcome; some are unexpected or disappointing. We gain things, we lose things and people, and good health comes and goes. On the one hand, everything we experience…
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Dharma, Intuition, and Imagination in Times of Change
Recorded :
May 30, 2021 In this session, we explore the power of intuition and conscious use of the imaginal realm, on behalf of collective awakening. We are utilizing our imaginations all the time, by feeding conditioned thoughts, limiting assumptions, duality, and fear. What is the value of exercising our moral imagination in this time of collective change, as we…
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Precepts as Orientation
Recorded :
March 27, 2022 The 5 precepts often given to lay practitioners are (with positive instructions in parenthesis): I vow not to kill (Love and support all beings)I vow not to steal (generosity)I vow not to misuse sexuality (contentment)I vow not to lie (compassionate truthfulness)I vow not to intoxicate self or other (staying mindful) We can think of precepts…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of April 12, 2021
We’re fortunate that Martin Aylward has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week. To find out more about Martin, and view his other recordings on the platform, click here.
