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

  • James Rafael

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with James Rafael – Week of April 24, 2023

    This week’s topic is “Fluidity and Flux: Gateways to a Kinder, More Inclusive World”. The Buddha’s teachings on impermanence and compassion offer us gateways to cultivate a kinder, more inclusive world for all. Impermanence connects us to a sense of fluidity and flux, where we can see through the illusion of solid binaries and fixed identities. This can inspire us toward action that includes, appreciates and holds others with kindness.

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    For the love of mindfulness!

    Mindfulness practice has burst out of its Buddhist origins and is hugely impacting the culture at large, particularly in the fields of education, healthcare and business. Some delight in the liberating possibilities of this, and some are concerned about what they see as the ‘dumbing down’ of the practice, or the exclusion of important areas…

    Read More

  • Miles Kessler

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Miles Kessler – Week of October 30, 2023

    This week’s topic is “Meditation In A Time Of Crisis”. As the world spirals into yet another all too frequent crisis, we are once again confronted with our basic human fragility. At times like these, it is not uncommon to be overcome by insecurity, anxiety, and fear with the recognition of your own human vulnerability. Now more than ever, it’s helpful to rely on your Dharma practice as a refuge. Not as a practice of liberation that gives you refuge FROM the world, but rather as one that gives you refuge IN the world. Join Miles in this week of Meditation In A Time Of Crisis and cultivate your greatest spiritual resource.

    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 Jaya Rudgard – Week of Jan 31, 2022

    Embodied and Awake: Meditations for Body, Heart and Mind.

    Mind, body and emotion form a constant feedback loop. As the traditional teachings on mindfulness make clear, all three equally deserve our interested, caring attention. When mindfulness is balanced in this way our whole being benefits. Our practice this week will include some gentle movements and mindful breathing practices as a prelude to each day’s meditation. These can be done seated or standing, or adapted for lying down, according to your ability and levels of energy.

    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

  • Jill Satterfield

    Apply as Needed; the Benefits of Skillful Means

    Becoming quiet allows for deeper listening – to the whispers of the body, heart and mind as parts of a whole and as harmonic convergence. How we tune our instruments depends on what we hear. Skillful means provide a variety of tools to self prescribe and address what is needed in the moment. We’ll practice…

    Read More

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ayala Gill – Week of 10 November, 2025

    We are delighted to have Ayala Gill guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and enrich your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Three Jewels: Love, Truth, Belonging

    We will explore the “Three Jewels” of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha through the immediate, embodied experience of love. By diving into the felt sense of this moment, we discover the precious refuge of love, truth and belonging.

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

    Read More