We’re fortunate that Martin Aywlard and Zohar Lavie have generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK. To find out more about Martin and Zohar, and to view their other contributions to Sangha Live, click here for Martin, and here for Zohar.
Today’s chant:
Namo tassa bhagavato Arahato Samma sambuddhasa
Recorded :
The spiritual path requires our surrender – again and again. We surrender story, striving, preoccupation, and the illusion of separate self. We surrender all that is not Love. How do we remember the power of surrender alongside resistance? How do we recognize the emergent ground of Trust while navigating the unknown? How can the liminality…
Recorded :
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…
Recorded :
What does the Dharma have to say about how we relate: to ourselves, to each other and to the environment? How might we touch in to the energizing potential of waking up together? This session will draw from the inherently relational practices of both the Zen koan tradition and Insight Dialogue to consider ways that…
Recorded :
The Buddha spoke of the three poisons of greed, hatred, and delusion. We see all three of these showing up in the realm of global events currently, and in particular, the phenomenon of ‘fake news’, intentional misinformation, and delusional thinking. How might the practice of Vipassana or ‘seeing clearly’ help us in this context? How…
Recorded :
In a progressive path approach to practice, we sometimes fall for the idea that liberation is in the future. We are conditioned to believe that we must end thinking, master practices, meditate for years, and purify our minds. Without realizing it, our beliefs can maintain the conditioning that stands in the way of our direct…
This week’s theme is “Touched by Dukkha”. Living life involves being in touch with various experiences, some of which are challenging. These challenging experiences, referred to as ‘dukkha’ by the Buddha, inevitably stir the heart-mind. Our sensitive nature is touched by dukkha, manifesting in ripple effects like impulses, emotions, and thoughts. This week, we’ll explore together what the Buddha called the second noble truth, to understand how our reactions and responses to dukkha shape our lives.
Recorded :
Shodo Harada Roshi is known as a “teacher of teachers”, with masters from various lineages coming to sit with him in Japan. If you went to Harada’s monastery, the main meditation technique you’d learn involves slowing the out breath to last one minute. This drastically slows down your physiology, which in turn settles the mind.
This week’s topic is “Speaking with Wisdom”.