Through the cultures within family, education and work, we are constantly orientated towards ‘realistic’ expectations and visions for our lives. Dharma practice asks us to abandon the realistic in favour of the real; listening deeply to life and to how things actually are, so as to respond wisely and lovingly, fully and freely. In this class Worldwide Insight founding teacher Martin Aylward contrasts the realistic and the real, inviting reflection and discussion to point us towards freedom, awakening and wise engagement with the world.
With Martin Aylward recorded on March 18, 2018.
Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
-
Mindful Intentions: From Pressure to Growth
Recorded :
July 18, 2021 What effect does it have if we practice mindfulness and meditation motivated by the fundamental assumption that there is something wrong with us? Perspectives such as ‘not being good enough’ or being ‘damaged goods’ can turn our practice into a painstaking attempt to improve ourselves. During this session we will inquire into our motivations for…
-
What Am I Doing In Here
Recorded :
April 3, 2022 The practice of Mindfulness from breath to breath is essential. If you have knowledge of the Four Noble Truths then you have the foundation; only practice is needed to gain insight into the Dharma. As we go through our daily activities, working with the masculine and feminine elements within us, it takes the Right View…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of 08 September, 2025
We’re delighted to have Nathan Glyde leading our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and deepen your practice.
This week’s theme is: Radiant Non-Reactivity
Disentangling from the web of stress and distress is like meeting life with an open palm. This liberation shines with unequalled radiance and unfolds into the profound peace that our hearts and the world deeply long for.
Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
-
The Paradox of Being: Alive & Aware
Recorded :
February 17, 2019 “The World is its Own Magic” – Suzuki Roshi As we practice and our understanding deepens, we’re often surprised by paradox. We begin to discover what the Laṅkāvatāra Sutra pointed to: Things are not what they seem… Nor are they otherwise. We intuitively know that there is more to life/reality then the usual, the familiar…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Miles Kessler – Week of 20 October, 2025
This week, we’re delighted to have Miles Kessler guiding our Daily Meditation sessions. May they enrich your practice.
This week’s theme is: Meditation And The Dark Night Of The Soul
The “Dark Night Of The Soul” is nothing less than an ego death, and rebirth process that everyone goes through from time to time in life. As it happens, the “Dark Night Of The Soul” is also beautifully “coded” into insight meditation practices through a series of advanced stages know as the “Dukkha Nanas”. The “Dark Night” stages are awaiting everyone who is walking the path of meditative insight.
In this week of Daily Meditations with Sangha Live, you are invited to join in a teaching of “Meditation And The Dark Night Of The Soul.” Throughout this week, you will explore how the “Dark Night Of The Soul” process unfolds in the stages of insight meditation. And more importantly, how the insights of these stages inform us in our lives.Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
-
The Dharma and the Drama of Sex: Everything you Wanted to know about Dharma and Sex but were too Spiritual to Ask
Recorded :
November 18, 2018 Sex is everywhere. It’s how we got born, it teases us from advertising boards on every city street, it drives some of the biggest industries, and it provokes some of the most intense stimuli in body, heart and mind. Yet dharma teachings, even in a lay context, mostly ignore sex. It is not spoken about…
-
Dharma, Sex, Intimacy and Covid
Recorded :
September 6, 2020 We are more physically isolated during these days of Covid. Less physical contact, less access even to each others smiles beneath the masks we wear to care for each others’ health. Contact and intimacy are deeply important to humans, and in this session Sangha Live founding and guiding teacher Martin Aylward explores different forms of…
-
The Inquiring Mind
Recorded :
June 21, 2026 The more we understand ourselves, the more we understand each other. In this talk, we’ll be discussing some foundational understandings that provide a framework of this inquiry. It will include such topics as training our habits of attention, suffering as…
Discussion