The Diamond Sutra, possibly the oldest text on deep ecology, teaches that there are four notions that separate us from life that we must throw away: the concepts of self, lifespan, humans, and living beings. In this session we will learn practices that enable us to go beyond this limited perception of reality to touch how interconnected with all life we are. Touching this interbeing, we can experience deep reverence for life and the earth, accepting that whatever we do to the earth (or any living being) we are really doing to ourselves.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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What Exists Beyond Our Boundaries?
Recorded :
February 20, 2022 Spiritual practice is often a journey to discover spaciousness, openness and absorption into everything else. From form to formless. From more spaciousness in the mind to subtle and beautiful limitless states that are clearly described in the Buddhist tradition such as the four formless jhanas or realms. We will explore and practice these states and…
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Citta and Right Speech: Cultivating the Voice of Kindness and Wisdom
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July 31, 2022 Dharma practice encourages us to transform our thoughts, words and actions. The primary mechanism for how this is accomplished is vague. What often goes unnoticed is that the use of the term mind has undergone a radical psychologization from the time of the Buddha into present day. During this session we will explore the many nuances of…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of January 25, 2021
We’re fortunate that Nathan Glyde has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK. To find out more about Nathan, and to view his other contributions to Sangha Live, click here.
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A Relational Dhamma
Recorded :
October 17, 2021 If humans are intrinsically relational creatures, how do we integrate this understanding with the Buddha’s teachings on suffering and its cessation? Relational suffering and craving? Dependent origination? In this session, we explore the power and necessity of a relational understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. We discuss and practice relational aspects of the path, including the…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with James Rafael – Week of January 8, 2024
This week’s topic is “New Year Habits and Hindrances”. In this week’s sessions we’ll explore how engaging with the Buddha’s teachings on the ‘5 Hindrances’ can help establish or deepen the habit of a daily meditation practice.
If you’re new to meditation, this framework offers ways to engage with common challenges we may face; “I can’t sit still’, “My mind is just too busy”, “I’m just not sure if this is working”.
If you have a consistent, established practice, revisiting the hindrances can be a gateway to access deeper levels of concentration (samatha), and the subsequent, often profound, insight (vipassana) which follows.
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The freeing of human consciousness: from seeing the world ‘out there’, separate and alien, to directly knowing, feeling, and living the intimacy of all things
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February 18, 2018 The Shurangama Sutra, which points out the foundations of Zen practice, discusses the essential nature of mind as the “primal essence of consciousness that brings forth all conditions.” Implied is the heart-mind (citta) both profoundly intimate with all things while at the same time free and independent of all things. How is it to live…
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Endarkenment: Embracing the Medicine of Light and Dark
Recorded :
November 29, 2020 As we enter the darker months of the year, consider the profound restoration and healing that darkness offers us— both physically and symbolically. Darkness is often considered the absence of light, but it is actually a vital and regenerative essence of nature and consciousness. This session is an experiential exploration of the interplay of light…
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The voiceless voice of awareness.
Recorded :
June 26, 2016 How often does it seem that the master of your life is the conditioned mind? To what degree does this mind of limitation color your experience? When the conditioned mind reigns, it becomes difficult to hear the still, small, voice within. This voice could also be talked about as the voiceless voice of awareness itself….
