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

Liberation Now: From the Progressive Path to Direct Experience

With Caverly Morgan recorded on December 1, 2019.

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

In a progressive path approach to practice, we sometimes fall for the idea that liberation is in the future. We are conditioned to believe that we must end thinking, master practices, meditate for years, and purify our minds. Without realizing it, our beliefs can maintain the conditioning that stands in the way of our direct realization.

Turning our attention outward to various objects in practice can be deeply helpful. And, what changes when we cultivate our effortless capacity to rest the attention in Awareness itself? What changes as we practice inquiry into the nature of consciousness? And what tends to get in the way?

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

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Don’t be realistic. Be real

    Through the cultures within family, education and work, we are constantly orientated towards ‘realistic’ expectations and visions for our lives. Dharma practice asks us to abandon the realistic in favour of the real; listening deeply to life and to how things actually are, so as to respond wisely and lovingly, fully and freely. In this…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Saddha: Unshakeable Confidence

    So many of us feel assailed by doubt, anxiety and insecurity. Unhelpful self-talk, along with the uncertainties of the world, heighten and reinforce thought tendencies. Dharma practice helps us recognize and uproot ingrained patterns, and also to establish trust, confidence and fearlessness. Our first Sunday Sangha of 2023 will inquire into what is deeply trustworthy, and point towards a confidence that is unshakeable — regardless of circumstance or preference, life or death.

    Read More

  • Wholehearted living.

    How do we transform habits of dissatisfaction and distraction, and invite real spaciousness and openness in our day-to-day lives? Becoming intimate, moment by moment, with living reality expands our life-perspective and attunes us to what really matters in life. Leela will explore the nature of love and the implications of loving whatever arises.

    Read More

  • Lisa Ernst

    Skillful Ways to Work with Difficult Thoughts in Meditation

    There’s a misconception that thoughts are a hindrance to deep meditation and tranquility. Especially during this ongoing challenging time, certain thoughts may be persistent and difficult to release. Yet, thoughts themselves are not the problem; it’s our relationship to them that determines whether or not they impede our meditation. In this session, we will explore a number of skillful ways to work with difficult or persistent thoughts in meditation to support inner well-being and clarity.

    Read More

  • Christelle Bonneau

    Body and space / matter and consciousness.

    How can we become more grounded and more intimate with ourselves while becoming more spacious and free from endless random mental chatter? Let’s explore in the ways in which the body is such a precious help for meditation practice and in mindfulness in everyday life. Let’s explore as well the central role of space, emptiness,…

    Read More

  • Nina la Rosa

    Two Wings to Fly – Cultivating Both Wisdom and Compassion

    In traditional Theravada Buddhism it’s said that for one to truly experience freedom one needs to engage in the practices of both wisdom and compassion. Like a bird that needs two wings to fly, wisdom and compassion are two necessary parts on the path to a well-rounded enlightenment. At first glance, practices that cultivate loving-kindness…

    Read More

  • Nina la Rosa

    Working with difficult emotions.

    Feelings have the power to motivate one toward wise action when facing a challenge. They can also cause intense suffering, drive and distort behavior, and lead to regret. Being able to work with emotions, both intense and subtle, is a skill that can be developed through mindfulness meditation. We explore the Unified Mindfulness technique of…

    Read More

  • Brian Dean Williams

    Wild Awake: The Wisdom of Nature

    In the story of the Buddha, he awakened in the forest, taught in the forest, died in the forest. Nature played an important role in the Buddha’s awakening. Many Buddhist practice communities have been in close connection with nature. What role might it play in our practice here in the modern world? In this session…

    Read More