We’re fortunate that Martin Aylward 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.
Recordings are posted 24 – 36 hours after the live session runs.
This week’s theme is: The Abundant Middle-Way.
The Buddha in his last steps of awakening turned away from austerities and the practiced hardships he had endured. He did not turn back to the indulgences of his youth, but uncovered a kind and sensitive middle-way between a sense of self-importance and self-negation. The awakened one then invited others to a way of living between common extremes of views, states, and habitual actions.
This week we will walk the path of peace supporting the deep well-being and boundless heart of the middle-way.
This week’s topic is “Human nature, Buddha nature”. Each day this week we’ll begin meditation with a reflection on elements of human nature that can be welcomed, explored and transformed through a path of practice, pointing to Buddha’s central themes of awakeness, compassion and liberation.
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…
Recorded :
Trust is like pouring oil on troubled waters; it smooths the way. We don’t need to take so much trouble to build our walls. We can let go and let life sweep through us. It is one of the five powers (Bala) along with energy, mindfulness, serenity and wisdom.
This week’s topic is “Wholehearted Presence”. Meeting experience as it unfolds with presence and interest, we uncover the wellbeing and freedom available to us on the Dharma path. Through this week’s exploration we will open to what supports a wholehearted approach to practice, and understand what is nourished and cultivated when we relate to experience in this way.
Recorded :
There are many ways to practice mindfulness, from the focused and deliberate to the expansive and relaxed. In this session, Diana teaches about natural awareness, which is a wide open, spacious, effortless awareness of awareness. Learn simple shifts and “Glimpse Practices” to connect with our radiant awareness. (A version of this recording with Spanish subtitles…
Recorded :
“Things are not as they seem, and nor are they otherwise” – Lankavatara Sutra. We easily get seduced by certainty – thinking we really know what we want, what we believe, and who we think we are. Yet Dharma teachings invite us to hold experience lightly, without reducing our knowing to narrow certainty; retaining a…
This week’s theme is “Shedding Light on Darkness”. In the Buddhist tradition, we find three psycho-physical dynamics which bring together suffering, stress and dissatisfaction. Beside aggression and wanting, the root of moha, often translated as ignorance, delusion or blindness, can be tricky to understand and practice. What are we blind to? What do we need to see and understand? How can we potentially see our blind spots? How can we prepare ourselves for that which we might discover? We dedicate this week of practice to discovering the different aspects of ignorance and learn practical steps to look deeply yet with kind eyes.