One of the Buddha’s primary realisations was ‘Life is painful and then you die.’ If this is true, then how do we respond to the difficulties of life? This session will explore how we are conditioned to protect, promote and satisfy a ‘self’ which can never be satisfied because ‘we are the slaves of craving.’ There will be a guided meditation cultivating an appropriate attitude to the vicissitudes of life.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of 15 April, 2024
This week’s topic is “The Dharma and the Drama: Illuminating Heart and World”. Each day this week, Martin will offer some brief reflections as an introduction to meditating together, with the dual focus of supporting a deepening meditation practice, and integrating its themes into your daily life and activities.
-
An intimate world.
Recorded :
March 8, 2015 Worldwide Insight talk from Thanissara: “An Intimate World”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of March 29, 2021
This week’s theme is: Re-Enchanting Our Practice. As much as anything else our practice of mindfulness and meditation can become a habit, and either turn dull, or come with a sense of obligation, work, or duty. In this week together, we will explore ways to bring imagination, embodiment, and intimacy to our practice. After all, meditation is as much a craft as an artform – a chance to discover inner landscapes, hidden mysteries and fascinating insights.
As much as anything else our practice of mindfulness and meditation can become a habit and either turn dull or come with a sense of obligation, work or duty. In this week together, we will explore ways to bring imagination, embodiment, and intimacy to our practice. After all, meditation is as much a craft as an art form – a chance to discover inner landscapes, hidden mysteries and fascinating insights.
-
Warrior heart: transforming anger into strength, dynamism and creativity
Recorded :
October 8, 2017 Dharma teachings point to how dangerous and destructive anger is, and how words and actions can cause great suffering. This class looks at skilful means for meeting and exploring anger, and for understanding and transforming it. Martin leads a specially oriented meditation, and his talk explores the inner strength and confidence which can arise from…
-
Not Knowing as an Active Practice
Recorded :
April 18, 2021 We sometimes think of not knowing as something negative, but is it really? Truly not-knowing allows spaciousness, openness, and much greater intimacy. When we make not-knowing an intentional action, the barriers that hold us back from true intimacy begin to dissolve, offering much deeper connection with each other, and with the entire universe.
-
Practicing for the love of it.
Recorded :
January 17, 2016 Before the session Martin wrote: “A Burmese teacher once told a friend of mine to always enjoy his practice. We love meditation in theory, and we want to grow and transform, and we certainly would like to be liberated from our suffering. And yet! We easily turn meditation into a chore, and feel discouraged by…
-
Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind
Recorded :
April 24, 2022 Shaila will be sharing teachings from her new book, Beyond Distraction. This talk will introduce five pragmatic strategies to help you overcome distraction in meditation and develop clarity in relationships, work, and daily life. The strategies are: replacing, examining, ignoring, investigating, and resolving. You can learn to unlock the incredible capacities of your mind to think…
-
Can We Know the End of the World?
Recorded :
February 7, 2021 We find ourselves concerned with the state of the world yet we do not live in one world. Our inner world reveals significant differences from the outer world. The outer world offers a variety of impressions to people. It is not unusual to claim we live in different worlds. The one world view seems to…
