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

Depth of Spiritual Practice – Even in a Chaotic World

With Ronya Banks recorded on November 3, 2019.

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

“Practicing systematically, taking the time to go into deep practice and making it the number one priority, leads to a state where the mind is very still and malleable and can investigate.” – Nikki Mirghafori

As the human race’s daily living pace continues to speed up and an increasing sense of insecurity and doubt arise in response to the complexities of modern human life, many are turning to their spiritual lives for stability and support.

So, how can you get the most out of your spiritual practice when the world appears to be falling apart? By digging deeper into your practice. Typically, the more chaotic one’s life, the more dispersed their spiritual practices, when actually depth of practice is what is most needed during challenging times.

Join Buddhist teacher Ronya Banks as she provides us with the tips you can use to plumb the depths of your spiritual practice, especially during chaos.

Some of the things she will cover will include:

What is depth of practice?
What are examples of shallow practice?
Buddhist teachings on deep practice.
Employing “curiosity” and “not-knowing” as tools for deep practice;
Inquiries that will support greater depth and wisdom

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

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Jaya Rudgard – Week of Nov 22, 2021

    This week’s theme is Similes and Images from the Ancient Texts .Each morning this week we’ll dive into one of the images from the natural world and daily life that the Buddha used to explain his teachings. Let’s see how how these similes and metaphors from the Buddhist texts can support our understanding and enrich our practice. We may also discover how practising with them can enhance our appreciation of the world around us.

    Read More

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of May 8, 2023

    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.

    Read More

  • Stephen Fulder

    Equanimity: Dancing with the Unexpected

    Equanimity is a key spiritual faculty which allows us to face the known and the unknown, the ecstasies and the despairs, with steadiness and lightness. Equanimity helps us engage with life from an unlimited and interconnected perspective. The Buddhist image is of an island in the stormy seas – remembering that all islands are connected…

    Read More

  • Christelle Bonneau

    From conditioned perception to true and free seeing

    What do we call reality? How can we free ourselves from conditioned vision and taste life more fully and truly? Acknowledging that our perception of what we call reality is completely subjective, Christine explores the world of perception to find out what is conditioning our vision. Each one of us has been often surprised, deceived…

    Read More

  • Faith, Hope and Love on the Dharma Path

    “Join me and the sangha for meditation, reflections and conversation to resource, encourage and uplift the heart as we engage with the challenges of our lives. Everyone is welcome.” – Jaya

    Read More

  • The freeing of human consciousness: from seeing the world ‘out there’, separate and alien, to directly knowing, feeling, and living the intimacy of all things

    The Shurangama Sutra, which points out the foundations of Zen practice, discusses the essential nature of mind as the “primal essence of consciousness that brings forth all conditions.” Implied is the heart-mind (citta) both profoundly intimate with all things while at the same time free and independent of all things. How is it to live…

    Read More

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Jaya Rudgard – Week of 21 April, 2025

    We’re delighted to have Jaya Rudgard guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and deepen your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Still Here, Still Now: Waking Up to Life

    As we develop our ability to remain present to experience our insight into the nature of that experience deepens. We’ll continue to explore this week how mindfulness can lead not just to less stress here and now but to the kind of seeing that will eventually free the heart-mind from all its self-created suffering.

    Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.

    Read More

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Leela Sarti – Week of April 18, 2022

    This week’s theme is “Timeless Presence in Daily Life: Being Yourself, Being at Home”. This week we will be exploring the possibility of being grounded in the depth of timeless presence in the midst of daily life. How to live a full life from silence and emptiness? How can we feel at home in our own skin and in the very circumstances of our life? How can we awaken an awareness and a heart that embraces life, dukkha and beyond? The grace of presence reveals the possibility of settling in reality and living with ease.

    Read More