Most of us know the Buddha as a revered spiritual sage. Less is known about the person, Siddhartha Gautama, who was also a social revolutionary. In this talk, we will explore how Gautama upended the caste system in India and examine his problematic relationship to women. We’ll see how understanding the Buddha as a human being can help us illuminate and transform ourselves and current systems of racism, misogyny and oppression.
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Joy as an Act of Resistance & Resilience
Recorded :
November 30, 2025 What brings you joy? How does joy affect you? What is your relationship to joy? Experiencing joys, small and large, helps keep us connected to what is meaningful, nourishing, and enlivening. Come explore the many aspects of dharma joy as an intentional everyday practice, and how it informs and supports not only your own well-being,…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Sophie Boyer – Week of 18 May, 2026
This week’s theme is: The Unfolding of Presence
This week, Sophie Boyer invites us back to the heart of daily meditation: just practice. It’s a practice where no effort is needed to be present, for presence is already here. Let us simply return to it.
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Of Two Minds: The Mind of the Body, the Mind of the Mind
Recorded :
May 3, 2026 Awareness opens doors to discovery – the Buddha emphasized it, and science is proving it. We have two minds that work together, yet the body knows before the mind cognizes. The Buddha’s teaching of Nāmarūpa – mind and body as two forms of consciousness – honors the body’s deep wisdom. How the mind elaborates on…
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Engaged Dharma and Systemic Change: A Dharma Inquiry into the Archetype of Spiritual Warrior
Recorded :
November 22, 2020 As engaged dharma increasingly shifts focus from palliative ministry to systemic change within our times of poly crises, what is Buddhist “Right Action?” This session explores Spiritual Warriorship as Dharma practice from within a Buddhist frame.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of July 12, 2021
This week’s theme is: Equally Close to All Things: Explorations in Equanimity.
Life includes both pleasant and unpleasant experiences, ups and down, joys and sorrows. Equanimity invites us to meet all of these with tenderness and poise and to nurture the capacity to be equally close to all things. Can we cultivate more spaciousness, intimacy and calm in the midst of life? This week we will explore finding a deeper, more stable wellbeing, a wellbeing that is not dependant on the external circumstances of our lives.
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Transforming the poisons.
Recorded :
October 4, 2015 Buddha points out the three main ways we get pulled into activity and self-contraction – Greed, Hatred and Delusion – which Martin often translates as Desire, Defense and Distraction. This class explores creative ways of meeting these forces in everyday life, and explores powerful reflections for each of the three.
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Dharma Practice as Play, or, There is no Path until you Walk It!
Recorded :
September 13, 2020 In our troubled world dharma practitioners sometimes become earnest. But beings learn and develop through play, and to play we have to be fluid in mind, heart and body. Play fertilizes the human spirit and makes us feel a sense of belonging. Welcome to a session exploring dharma practice as original play and creativity.
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Practicing the Middle Way: Navigating Between Extremes
Recorded :
May 14, 2023 The Buddha invites us to travel the Middle Path, between extremes. How do we navigate this path that leads to knowledge, understanding and liberation? We practice with mindfulness and kindness to meet our day to day experiences and our conditioning: societal, familial, cultural, and historical. Inviting in curiosity and diligence, we learn to practice to…
