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

Embracing the First Noble Truth: Dukkha and Destructive Emotions

With Dave Smith recorded on January 24, 2021.

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

Coming to terms with the teaching and implications of the first noble truth can be challenging, confusing and ongoing. When we are unable to do the hard work of completing the task of the first truth, to embrace Dukkha, we become vulnerable to destructive emotions.

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

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of April 13

    We’re fortunate that Martin Aywlard 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. Monday, April 13 Thought patterns Wednesday, April 15 Self-reinforcing thought loops Friday, April 17 Welcoming inner experience and also…

    Read More

  • Deborah Eden Tull - Senior Dharma Teacher

    Mindful Inquiry: A Path of Freedom and Joyful Responsibility

    Mindful Inquiry is the path of asking the question that points to freedom. This practice can support even long-time practitioners to find more relief from suffering and clarity about the ever-present wholeness of True Nature. A good teacher can point the way, but it is up to each of us to take responsibility for our…

    Read More

  • A Relational Dhamma Integrates the Arahat and Bodhisattva Visions of the Buddhist Path (and why this matters to our living Dhamma path)

    Gregory writes: “The early Buddhist vision of the arahat ideal is sometimes taken to imply that individual awakening is the sole aim of the Path whereas the later Buddhist vision of the bodhisattva ideal centers on the liberation of all beings. The gap between practice aimed at solitary awakening and practice aimed at liberation of…

    Read More

  • Dave Smith

    Mindfulness and the Addiction Economy

    Our devices have become weapons of mass distraction, we have lost the attention economy and now we are living in the addiction economy. Everyone is addicted, we all know it, few will admit it, yet we all seem to accept it. Turning inward and taking an honest look at our dissatisfaction and facing what fuels…

    Read More

  • Christine Kupfer

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Christine Kupfer – Week of February 26, 2024

    This week’s topic is “Fear and Fearlessness in the Midst of Uncertainty”. We try to secure our lives by any means necessary. We do our best, we tend to our business, and boom!, a crisis occurs. Whether it’s an ecological, political, pandemic, professional, relational or spiritual crisis…  life does not leave us settled, bringing up a whole procession of fears and worries. So how can we find peace? How can we become fearless? This is the theme we will explore this week on Sangha Live.

    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