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

Compassion is a Political Act

With Vimalasara Mason-John recorded on September 20, 2020.

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

This session is invitation for white practitioners and others to join Vimalasara in a discussion on the theme of liberation, the central tenet of Buddhist teachings. No one is liberated until we are all liberated. What if we made explicit that Black Lives Matter was part of the Bodhisattva vow? How would that impact our practice? This offering will begin with a meditation imbued with compassion, preceded by a compassionate dialogue. Bring your questions, your doubts, your fears and inspiration.

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

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Nina la Rosa

    Dismantling Racism in Our Minds and Hearts

    If one lives as a human on this earth one is affected by racism. Power and privilege have been unfairly awarded throughout history to certain groups of people based on race while disempowering others. These systems function on a systemic and cultural level, but also within each of us individually when we unconsciously internalize messages…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of April 13

    We’re fortunate that Martin Aywlard has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK. To find out more about Martin, and to view his other contributions to Sangha Live, click here. Monday, April 13 Thought patterns Wednesday, April 15 Self-reinforcing thought loops Friday, April 17 Welcoming inner experience and also…

    Read More

  • The Energy of Presence

    This session explores ways that qigong, a Chinese energy cultivation practice, can deepen our embodied presence. There is discussion, intention-led movement and meditation to help ground our awareness, free up blockages and discover ways to open to our natural vitality. All levels of experience and abilities welcome, and options for limited mobility and seated qigong are shared.

    Read More

  • Eugene Cash

    Not Clinging to Anything in the World

    These words, spoken by the Buddha in the Satipatthana Sutta, point us to the potential for awakening inherent in mindfulness practice. Even now, in the midst of the pandemic of Covid-19, we can explore what it means to live a life of love, commitment and authenticity as we discover the freedom of not clinging to…

    Read More

  • Brian Dean Williams

    Natural Wisdom

    In the modern world, it’s easy to forget our intimate connection with all of life. But with recent global events and movements, we’ve been both confronted and inspired by the deep impact our actions have on one another. From a Buddhist perspective, being aware is our true nature. What role might the natural world play…

    Read More

  • Dave Smith

    Citta and Right Speech: Cultivating the Voice of Kindness and Wisdom

    Dharma practice encourages us to transform our thoughts, words and actions. The primary mechanism for how this is accomplished is vague. What often goes unnoticed is that the use of the term mind has undergone a radical psychologization from the time of the Buddha into present day. During this session we will explore the many nuances of…

    Read More

  • Nirmala Werner

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of Dec 5 – 9, 2022

    This week’s theme is “Embodied Meditation Practise & the Transformative Power of the 5 Precepts”.

    Many people find themselves from time to time in a spiritual vacuum, trying to fill this emptiness with indulgence through eating, drinking, surfing the internet, shopping, pornography, doing drugs, etc. 

    This week we will look into the 5 precepts, which the Buddha recommended for anyone who wishes to live a peaceful life. The precepts can act as a training guideline, and can support us to stop, pause and look deeply into ourselves to understand, “What is really going on here?” as a fundamental part on our way to universal love, compassion and liberation.

    Read More