| 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
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Light on the path: pleasure, joy, fulfilment and free-ness.
Recorded :
September 24, 2017 Our founding and guiding teacher Martin Aylward reflects on the importance of being nourished and uplifted by our practice. He looks at the nature of happiness and our sometimes difficult relationship with pleasure; explore opening up to joy, and point to ways in which dharma practice is fulfilling and freeing.
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Depth of Spiritual Practice – Even in a Chaotic World
Recorded :
November 3, 2019 “Practicing systematically, taking the time to go into deep practice and making it the number one priority, leads to a state where the mind is very still and malleable and can investigate.” – Nikki Mirghafori As the human race’s daily living pace continues to speed up and an increasing sense of insecurity and doubt arise…
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Receptivity: Deep Listening as an Antidote to Reactivity and Violence
Recorded :
October 14, 2018 In these hyped up divisive times, there is an ever-greater need for tools to de-condition ourselves from reactivity. The practice of listening – within ourselves and with others – is much more significant than we often acknowledge. The contrast of receptivity against the backdrop of a world conditioned to impose, label, judge, and solve, is…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Antonia Sumbundu and Christopher Titmuss – Week of 27 October, 2025
We’re delighted to have Antonia Sumbundu guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and deepen your practice.
This week’s theme is: Awakening Courage: Embracing Being, Belonging, and Becoming
A week of morning meditations to awaken the heart’s quiet, natural courage. Through presence, reflection, and stillness, these sessions invite us to rest in being – gently returning to awareness itself; to open into belonging – feeling our inseparable connection with the web of life; and to trust our becoming – the unfolding of wisdom and love through all that we do.
In the rhythm of being, belonging, and becoming, we are invited to live with authenticity, tenderness, and wholehearted courage.
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The Path of Freedom, a Path of Integration.
Recorded :
January 19, 2025 In order to live a more full and integrated life, we are welcome to acknowledge our strength and our fragility. Our silenced parts, the places that scare us and our shadows, with the right attitude and right view, can serve as a catalyst to our liberation. Holding dear our humanity as well as the liberating…
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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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The reality and experience of inner spaciousness
Recorded :
November 11, 2018 A sense of spaciousness is needed for inner change but the person of history obstructs the space that is always there. As our practice deepens space starts to replace self images. The more we are embodied and present, timelessness and space become more experientially available to us. The now starts to stretch and become wide…
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The Wisdom of Equanimity
Recorded :
June 4, 2023 The dominant culture treats unpleasant feelings as problems, and pleasant feelings as if we should experience them all the time. This is neither possible nor wise. How can we fully feel the beautiful and painful aspects of our lives so that we are strengthened and enriched by the depth and breadth of this human experience?…
