Spiritual bypassing is a superficial way of glossing over problems in a way that might make us feel better in the short term, but ultimately solves nothing and just leaves the problem to linger on. This session is an opportunity to begin to understand the concept of Spiritual Bypass (as coined by John Welwood in his book “Toward a Psychology of Awakening”) and how to practice with it.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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2026: Where to Now? Dharma Practice in Times of Crisis
Recorded :
January 18, 2026 As we enter a year marked by global uncertainty, collective grief, and profound transition, many wonder: How do we practice now? We’ll explore how Dharma can serve as a living refuge, not as withdrawal from the world, but as a steady ground for clarity, compassion, and ethical response. And how response to suffering, our own…
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Daily life practice – the cultivation of virtue in ordinary action.
Recorded :
December 11, 2016 Shaila discusses the cultivation of virtue. Her talk will considers the relationship between virtue practices, and the more popular practices of compassion, mindfulness, and wisdom.
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Love for the world
Recorded :
December 17, 2017 In our last class of 2017, our guiding teacher Martin offers reflections on life, love and liberation, looking particularly at some of the challenging events and elements of worldly life, and pointing towards a skilful, loving and courageous engagement with the world and everyone in it.
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Honoring our ancestors, healing our ancestors.
Recorded :
October 30, 2016 As we prepare for Halloween and All Souls Day, we explore how we can practice the wisdom of interbeing to help us nurture the wholesome seeds our ancestors transmitted to us and transform the unwholesome habit energies we have received from them.
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Awakening Joy: Practice as a Path of Happiness
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January 13, 2019 Joy is both a Factor of Enlightenment and one of the four Divine Abodes. Today, as we are bombarded with news that heightens our fear and sadness about the world, more than ever it’s vital to understand the importance of joy as a central aspect of spiritual practice. We need to remember how to stay…
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Sajja: A Practice for Everyone
Recorded :
April 28, 2019 Vince writes: “In 2003 I took a one-month temporary ordination at Wat Thamkrabok, a unique monastery in central Thailand. My intention was to explore Buddhism and meditation, but what I got was not what I expected. I was given a ‘Sajja’ or a ‘truth’ to practice for 4-hours per day for the next 2-years. My…
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Genuine Happiness: An Alternative Perspective
Recorded :
July 14, 2019 So much of what we hear and learn about within Dharma practice places an arguably unnecessary emphasis on suffering (dukkha). While the acceptance of suffering (dukkha) is an important and essential aspect of the path, it is by no means the end of the story. In one of the Buddha’s oldest descriptions of what it…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of Dec 5 – 9, 2022
This week’s theme is “Embodied Meditation Practise & the Transformative Power of the 5 Precepts”.
Many people find themselves from time to time in a spiritual vacuum, trying to fill this emptiness with indulgence through eating, drinking, surfing the internet, shopping, pornography, doing drugs, etc.
This week we will look into the 5 precepts, which the Buddha recommended for anyone who wishes to live a peaceful life. The precepts can act as a training guideline, and can support us to stop, pause and look deeply into ourselves to understand, “What is really going on here?” as a fundamental part on our way to universal love, compassion and liberation.
Discussion