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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This Is What We Are: Foam, Bubbles, Mirage, Banana Tree Trunks and Magical Shows
Recorded :
January 22, 2023 In this session, we will explore the Buddha’s wise use of images in the Phena Sutta. We will see how these are representations of the deepest teachings of Insight Meditation and how they can be relevant for us today in our quest to free the mind and heart from constriction. There will be time to practice together guided by Pascal and time for questions and beginning of answers.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Miles Kessler – Week of 27 July, 2026
This week’s theme is: The Simple Feeling Of Being & Becoming . The Simple Feeling of Being and Becoming is the direct felt sense of pure non-dual Presence as it unfolds within an ever-changing world. During this week of daily meditations, you will explore the ever-present background of awareness that exists prior to every state, sensation, insight, or realization. Theravāda Buddhists understand this as the knowing quality of awareness before identification; in Zen, it is often called our original face before thinking arises. Through meditation, reflection, and inquiry, you will explore this ever-present ground, bringing greater clarity, freedom, and ease to your practice and your life. Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Jaya Rudgard – Week of February 8, 2021
This week’s topic is “Living Slowly”.
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Gladness of the Wholesome: The Buddha’s Teaching on Awakening Joy
Recorded :
January 15, 2023 The Buddha was known as The Happy One. Though Joy is one of the Seven Factors of Awakening, with so much emphasis on working with suffering, joy can sometimes seem frivolous or unspiritual. His teaching on attending to the ‘Gladness Connected with the Wholesome’ is a key aspect of Wise Effort and developing a loving heart. We will practice and explore together this foundation for awakening joy.
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Embracing Ambiguity: In What we Believe, How we Love and Who we Think we Are
Recorded :
July 7, 2019 “Things are not as they seem, and nor are they otherwise” – Lankavatara Sutra. We easily get seduced by certainty – thinking we really know what we want, what we believe, and who we think we are. Yet Dharma teachings invite us to hold experience lightly, without reducing our knowing to narrow certainty; retaining a…
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Light on the path: pleasure, joy, fulfilment and free-ness.
Recorded :
September 24, 2017 Our founding and guiding teacher Martin Aylward reflects on the importance of being nourished and uplifted by our practice. He looks at the nature of happiness and our sometimes difficult relationship with pleasure; explore opening up to joy, and point to ways in which dharma practice is fulfilling and freeing.
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Developing insight into power.
Recorded :
February 21, 2016 The Buddha talked about eight qualities of one who has transformed insight into a power. We examine these eight and apply introspection to assess where we are on the path to awakening and what is needed for completion.
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The Jewel of Sangha: We all need Community, Support and Love
Recorded :
September 15, 2019 Martin writes: “Sangha is about community, support and love; it is one of the 3 jewels (Buddha-Dharma-Sangha) of our practice. But in the individualistic cultures and atomised structures in which many of us live, sangha too often gets inadequate attention. This is especially true in the Vipassana / Insight meditation tradition, because while silent meditation…
Discussion