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

  • Whole body breathing to regulate your mind and body

    Recorded : April 2, 2023

    In this session Vidyamala introduces key areas of body awareness where mindful breathing can help to bring about regulation and calm in the body/heart/mind. She calls these the 5 B’s of the breath: Buttocks, Belly, Back, Back of the throat and Brain. She introduces the physiology of these areas and then leads a guided meditation….

    Read More

  •

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of April 8, 2024

    This week’s theme is “All Life is Practice”. In this week of exploring the four noble truths together, we will take a good look at the eightfold path and relate it to our own practice. Together we explore how all of our daily life can be seen as a part of a spiritual journey and heal the dualism between “practice” and “life”. May this week provide us with an inspiring expansion of what practice means for us.

    Read More

  • Nirmala Werner

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of Nov 1, 2021

    This week’s theme is “Embodied Metta – The Body as a Pathway to Freedom”.

    The Buddha’s teachings invite us to be with things as they are. This week, we’ll learn embodiment practices to help us cultivate true love, compassion and care for ourselves and for others. We’ll practice staying intimate with our body, mind and heart in daily life, in sexuality, and with (often unwanted) thoughts, feelings and emotions.

    Read More

  • Daigan Gaither

    Precepts as Orientation

    Recorded : March 27, 2022

    The 5 precepts often given to lay practitioners are (with positive instructions in parenthesis): I vow not to kill (Love and support all beings)I vow not to steal (generosity)I vow not to misuse sexuality (contentment)I vow not to lie (compassionate truthfulness)I vow not to intoxicate self or other (staying mindful) We can think of precepts…

    Read More

  • Nicola Redfern

    Not Knowing is Most Intimate

    Recorded : November 19, 2023

    The Buddha spoke often about the danger of clinging to views and opinions. He recommended we avoid clinging, even to the dharma and to “right view.” In a world increasingly torn apart by our adherence to differing viewpoints, how do we navigate the tension between knowing and not knowing? Our exploration will draw from the…

    Read More