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

Search Sangha Live

Illness, death, urgency and love.

With Gregory Kramer recorded on February 5, 2017.

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

Yes, the Buddha repeatedly recommended that each of us contemplate our own aging, illness and death. But what gap do you feel between an abstract contemplation and the actuality of this fragile and limited life? With death rolling in like a mountain, quickly and from all sides, do you feel any samvega, or sense of spiritual urgency? Finally, are you alone in all of this? Could you truly and effectively engage this path, this fragile life, alone? And if you are engaging with others—which is taking refuge in the sangha, ordained and lay—does your spiritual urgency support the blossoming of love as an integral part of wisdom?

For a powerful reflection on aging, illness and death, Greg suggests you might read the Pabbatopama Sutta: The Simile of the Mountains. It can be found at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn03/sn03.025.than.html

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

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • The ‘Self’ is Insubstantial

    Recorded : February 5, 2023

    Humans live in the spell of the self, as if it had substantial existence.
    Dharma offers a reflection/meditation/inquiry into this phenomenon.
    One who asks ‘Who Wakes Up?’ lives in the spell.
    Teaching will offer ways to a non-intellectual realisation of emptiness of self.
    Be devoted to this in daily life – until obvious as seeing colour for one with sound eyesight.
    To wake up from the dream of self is liberating.

    Read More

  • Paul Burrows

    Death and the dance of self.

    Recorded : November 8, 2015

    The Buddhadharma is bursting with ways to find helpful perspectives on our troubles. With awareness and investigation we can unpack the nub of clinging which keeps us bound to old and unhelpful ways of seeing ourselves and the world. As we learn to work with self-centred clinging, we make ourselves available to a liberated perspective…

    Read More

  • Daigan Gaither

    Living by Vow

    Recorded : November 1, 2020

    If we start with the understanding that everyone is living by vow, how can we examine what vows we are following and change to follow the ones that lead to liberation?

    Read More

  •

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Christopher Titmuss – Week of 17 November, 2025

    We’re delighted that Christopher Titmuss is guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. We hope you find them enriching for your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Going Beyond the World

    Dharma practitioners tend to spend much time giving attention to practise. This is a worthwhile endeavour but it seems to go on and on until death. We can conclude that practice means improving the quality of our life, reducing suffering in our lives and showing kindness and compassion to others. Yes, this is significant. It is a credit to dedicated practitioners committed to exploration of such experiences as a way of life. This is not the core purpose of the Dharma but an important preparation for Going Beyond the World.
    We have to understand what we mean by the world and going beyond the world.
    In these five sessions, we will explore the core purpose in diverse ways. Talks, guided meditations and Q&A form the backbone of the inquiry. Every session will offer everyday examples of the theme of the session to enable seeing the world and confirming going beyond the world.

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

    Read More

  • Shinzen Young

    How to structure your practice in life

    Recorded : March 25, 2018

    Shinzen guides you through his “See, Hear, Feel” focus technique. This technique is designed to be applicable in any life situation — driving a car, having a conversation, working out, puttering around the house…. After that he gives a dharma talk describing a systematic procedure for “monasticizing” daily life. The goal of this program is…

    Read More

  •

    Developing the Power of Heart and Mind

    Recorded : September 25, 2022

    Power matters when free from any corruption of mind, gross or subtle. We need to develop our power rather than feel powerless, indecisive or exploitive. Power emerges from unification of our whole being, focussing on a priority and sometimes engaging in a level of boldness. The Buddha referred to four areas to develop inner power…

    Read More