| When a monk asked the 10th Century Zen master Yunmen, “What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?” Yunmen replied, “An appropriate response.” What is this appropriate response and how do we know we’ve got it right? Beyond linear formulas, Dharma teachings point to a natural intelligence that guides us in a spontaneous responsiveness to life. No matter our doubt or perfectionism, we can engage our practice towards its revelation. |
Discover more from the Dharma Library
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of 8 July, 2024
This week’s topic is “Love and Letting Go: Meeting Life Spaciously and Graciously”. Join us for a series of Daily Meditations where we’ll discover how to meet life with openness and grace. Together, we will explore the profound dance between love and letting go, and cultivate a spacious presence that embraces our experiences with tenderness and wisdom.
-
Daily life practice – the cultivation of virtue in ordinary action.
Recorded :
December 11, 2016 Shaila discusses the cultivation of virtue. Her talk will considers the relationship between virtue practices, and the more popular practices of compassion, mindfulness, and wisdom.
-
2026: Where to Now? Dharma Practice in Times of Crisis
Recorded :
January 18, 2026 As we enter a year marked by global uncertainty, collective grief, and profound transition, many wonder: How do we practice now? We’ll explore how Dharma can serve as a living refuge, not as withdrawal from the world, but as a steady ground for clarity, compassion, and ethical response. And how response to suffering, our own…
-
The nature of experience. Part 2: Emptiness.
Recorded :
January 22, 2017 Today’s session is the second in a special run of three consecutive sessions with Martin, where he looks deeply at the nature of experience through Buddha’s profound descriptions of reality – Impermanence, Emptiness, Non self-existence. The classes point directly to how these themes can come alive in our practice and understanding, looking at the personal,…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Sophie Boyer – Week of Mar 11, 2024
This week’s topic is “To Be on the Road Without Leaving Home”. Zen Master Hakuin reveals an apparent tension between movement and stillness in this statement. What may the road refer to? What is called home? Sophie Boyer will lead our Daily Meditations this week, inviting us to engage with this paradoxical dynamic. We’ll discover that stability and ground can become more spacious in every situation, every experience, and every condition. How it is possible to discover, or re-discover, home … endlessly.
-
Angulimala: an ethical transformation
Recorded :
December 10, 2017 Shaila tells the life story of Angulimala and his transformation from notorious robber and murderer to a peaceful, compassionate, truthful, and awakened monk. It is an inspiring example of the power of restraint, and the potential for redemption. Habits and dispositions do not need to control our lives. We can stop unwholesome, unhealthy, and harmful…
-
Feeling the blessings of your life.
Recorded :
July 26, 2015 We are easily and often exposed to the greed, hatred and delusion that easily directs our own minds, and seems to be running the world. Yet whatever our personal circumstances, there is much we can appreciate and be grateful for. In this session, Martin explores the quality of appreciation – mudita – as a way…
-
Compassion is a Political Act
Recorded :
September 20, 2020 This session is invitation for white practitioners and others to join Vimalasara in a discussion on the theme of liberation, the central tenet of Buddhist teachings. No one is liberated until we are all liberated. What if we made explicit that Black Lives Matter was part of the Bodhisattva vow? How would that impact our…
