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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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Christine Kupfer – Week of 30 June, 2025
We’re grateful to have Christine Kupfer guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May they support and enrich your practice.
This week’s theme is: Meditating on the Five Elements : A Journey into Interconnectedness
This week, we explore how the classical elements – earth, water, fire, air and space – invite a meeting between our inner landscape and the living world. Each session offers a meditative gesture of presence, revealing that we are never separate: we are the breath, the body, and earth becoming aware of itself.
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Being a Bodhisattva
Recorded :
October 6, 2019 What is this incredible archetype? How does it show up in Buddhist history and teachings? How is it relevant to our current times? This talk will explore the idea of beings who commit to waking up in order to respond to the suffering of the world. And might we be one? Or want to?
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The Thing You Can Count On
Recorded :
January 23, 2022 In times like these with so much uncertainty, fear and suffering, how can we keep our center in a world that sometimes seems to be spinning out of control?
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How To Thrive in Hard Times
Recorded :
October 27, 2024 When external circumstances are difficult and challenging we tend to get swept away by them. But instead, they can be a wake-up call. We turn to the dharma to help us meet the challenges from an enduring sense of freedom, a more transcendent point of view and skilful, heartful ways to act.
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The Whole of the Holy Life: Celebrating Buddhist Community on Māgha Pūjā 2567
Recorded :
February 25, 2024 This weekend is the Buddhist full moon ritual known as Māgha Pūjā, one of the three great festival days in the Theravāda Buddhist calendar, also known as “Saṅgha Day,” celebrating the spiritual community. The tradition remembers a day when the first 1,250 arahant (fully awakened) disciples all spontaneously returned from their travels and came together with the…
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Mindfulness Approaches to Working with Anxiety
Recorded :
September 16, 2018 Who is not anxious these days? Whether faced with the daily stresses of finances, jobs, responsibilities, parenting, family, or the ongoing anxiety of political events and ecological crisis, most of us are anxious. In the US, anxiety rates have risen to 18% of the population, and 25% in Europe for those struggling with depression and…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Sophie Boyer – Week of Nov 13, 2023
This week’s topic is “Entering Fall”. The autumn season can be a challenging (transitional) time of the year with darkness, rain, wind, mist, and a sense that the cycle of life is coming slowly to an end. Paradoxically, nature also offers intense scents and colors before heading into the coldness and barrenness of winter. This week is an invitation to experience autumn within us. A time to bring the mind momentarily to a stop and explore what can nurture and provide a refuge for the heart. Let’s explore the sparkling colors of autumn’s heart and mind together.
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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…
