The encounter with sensory experiences can lead to insight and calm, or reactivity and suffering. How do you guard your mind in the midst of a daily barrage of sensory input? How do you protect your mind so that tranquility and wisdom will be well established? The Buddha encouraged restraint of the senses, but this restraint does not require avoidance of sensory contacts or control of the external environment. In this talk, Shaila Catherine will describe how mindfulness allows us to meet the experiences of sensory contact – of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, and thinking with a mind free of reactivity. Mindfulness protects the mind so that it does not come under the sway of defilements. Mindfulness is a special quality of attention that is balanced in the moment of observing experience. Before looking, before reaching, before speaking, before any activity, we can establish the intention of mindfully meeting the experience without giving rise to anger, irritation, lust, fear, or any defilement. The practice of sensory restraint leads to a life of happiness and joy, and lays the foundation for experiences of deep concentration and awakening.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Jaya Rudgard – Week of October 3, 2022
This week’s theme is “The Practice of Courage in Everyday Life”
Courage is an essential quality in life and on the spiritual path and it comes in many guises. Anything that challenges our unhelpful habits requires a capacity for determination and the stretching of our comfort zones. This week’s morning meetings will reflect on some of the ways we can cultivate courage in meditation and daily life and resource ourselves to meet the challenges of living in these times.
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How Family and Work Shape Our Character and so Influence Our Path
Recorded :
May 24, 2020 Gregory writes: “Obviously our Dhamma practices infuse our lives (if not, something is amiss). We don’t usually talk about how this flows the other direction: the qualities we develop in our personal and professional lives strongly impact our Buddhist path. That’s what I’ll be speaking about, drawing examples from my own life in music, inventing,…
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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…
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Mindfulness and the Addiction Economy
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June 1, 2025 Our devices have become weapons of mass distraction, we have lost the attention economy and now we are living in the addiction economy. Everyone is addicted, we all know it, few will admit it, yet we all seem to accept it. Turning inward and taking an honest look at our dissatisfaction and facing what fuels…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of 16 December, 2024
We’re delighted to have Martin Aylward guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May they bring peace and depth to your practice.
This week’s theme is: Peace and Love!
Our last week of daily meditation for 2024, led by Martin and exploring nuances of the spiritual heart, in our own lives and as we navigate the complexities of the world.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of January 11, 2021
We’re fortunate that Martin Aylward has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK this week. To find out more about Martin, and view his other recordings on the platform, click here.
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The Dharma of Homecoming in Times of Fear
Recorded :
July 26, 2020 Maya Angelou once wrote: “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” James Baldwin reflected: “Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.” In The Wiz, Stephanie Mills sang: “When I think of home I think of…
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Living the Bodhisattva Vow
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February 1, 2026 In Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is one who, having realized deep insight into the nature of self and reality, dedicates their life to alleviating suffering and guiding others toward awakening. Through examining the foundational principles of the vow of the Bodhisattva, we will consider what it means to be “Bodhisattvas in training” and how this intention…
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