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

Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ayala Gill – Week of 04 November, 2024

Ayala Gill

We’re delighted to have Ayala Gill guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and enrich your practice.

This week’s theme is: Love’s Fullness

 

Mindfulness is a practice of remaining present, open and loving to the deepest truth of this moment as it arises and dissolves. It invites us into an intimate, warm and embodied relationship with life, where each moment is sensed, felt and known with love. The four foundations of mindfulness return us to love’s fullness.

"Lovefulness" of the Body

November 4, 2024

Feeding the Worms ~ Danusha Lemeris

Ever since I found out that earthworms have taste buds all over the delicate pink strings of their bodies, I pause dropping apple peels into the compost bin, imagine the dark, writhing ecstasy, the sweetness of apples permeating their pores. I offer beets and parsley, avocado, and melon, the feathery tops of carrots.

I’d always thought theirs a menial life, eyeless and hidden, almost vulgar—though now, it seems, they bear a pleasure so sublime, so decadent, I want to contribute however I can, forgetting, a moment, my place on the menu.

"Lovefulness" of Feeling Tone

November 5, 2024

“Yes, We Can Talk” by Mark Nepo.
Or here:
Yes We Can Talk
Having loved enough and lost enough,
I am no longer searching,
just opening.

No longer trying to make sense of pain,
but trying to be a soft and sturdy home
in which real things can land.

These are the irritations that rub into a pearl

So we can talk awhile
but then we must listen,
the way rocks listen to the sea

And we can churn at all that goes wrong
but then we must lay all distractions down,
and water every living seed.

And yes, on nights like tonight
I too feel alone. but seldom do I
face it squarely enough
to see that it is a door
into the endless breath
that has no breather
into the surf that human shells
call god.

~ Mark Nepo

"Lovefulness" of Emotions and Mindstates

November 6, 2024

"Lovefulness" in Relationship

November 7, 2024

Love's Power

November 8, 2024

A few lines from Lord of the Rings:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time”, said Frodo.
“So do I”, said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
And a few lines from the song “We Shall be Known” by MaMuse:

It is time now, and what a time to be alive
In this Great Turning we shall learn to lead in love
In this Great Turning we shall learn to lead in love

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Mark Coleman Profile Photo

    Nature as Dharma, Nature as Refuge

    In this session we will explore how the natural world is not only a place to develop resilience in stressful times but also a profound source of wisdom, joy and equanimity, which are essential qualities that can nourish us when the world around us is in upheaval. We will draw on qualities of the earth…

    Read More

  • Brian Dean Williams

    Wild Awake: The Wisdom of Nature

    In the story of the Buddha, he awakened in the forest, taught in the forest, died in the forest. Nature played an important role in the Buddha’s awakening. Many Buddhist practice communities have been in close connection with nature. What role might it play in our practice here in the modern world? In this session…

    Read More

  • Justine Dawson

    The Appropriate Response

    When a monk asked the 10th Century Zen master Yunmen, “What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?” Yunmen replied, “An appropriate response.”  What is this appropriate response and how do we know we’ve got it right? Beyond linear formulas, Dharma teachings point to a natural intelligence that guides us in a spontaneous responsiveness to life….

    Read More

  • George Haas

    Meditation and Attachment Theory

    We will discuss Attachment Theory in the context of Buddhist Theravada Practice, exploring the traditional Buddhist path to liberation using descriptions of Attachment conditioning as a way to understand obstacles to practice. We will learn skillful ways of assembling an inner circle of close people to support your path to enlightenment.

    Read More

  • George Haas

    Attachment Inquiry and Classical Enlightenment

    Energizing your householder’s meditation practice often requires some immediate benefit be available to you, even if the long goal is enlightenment. Developing a dynamic social network to support your practice is vital to keep on practicing. Finding a meaningful way to be in the world helps create the time, energy and resources necessary to devote…

    Read More