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.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
-
Our sensitivity is our greatest strength.
Recorded :
November 20, 2016 Being human is an inevitably vulnerable experience. The challenge lies in being taught that there is something wrong with us for feeling as sensitive and vulnerable as we do, We learn to cover up or numb out our sensitivity.Practice teaches us to turn towards, rather than away, from vulnerability, and allow it to affirm the…
-
Cabbages & Condoms
Recorded :
October 24, 2021 During this session we be explore life’s basic necessities and drives, and the critical difference between ‘getting along’ and ‘getting ahead.’ Our meditation practice will be based on the Wise-Heartedness Bhavana to help us cultivate skilful response to distractions in daily life. A transcript of this session is available here.
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Leela Sarti – Week of 08 December, 2025
This week’s theme is: Heart Ground
Can we awaken an awareness that does not contract in contact with experience? Stabilized embodied awareness, heart presence, invites us to a territory that is often underappreciated: sacred neutrality. The ground of the heart.
Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
-
Getting Real with Spiritual Bypass
Recorded :
November 14, 2021 Spiritual bypassing is a superficial way of glossing over problems in a way that might make us feel better in the short term, but ultimately solves nothing and just leaves the problem to linger on. This session is an opportunity to begin to understand the concept of Spiritual Bypass (as coined by John Welwood in his book “Toward a Psychology of Awakening”) and how to practice with it.
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of April 19, 2021
We’re fortunate that Zohar Lavie has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK. To find out more about Zohar, and to view her other contributions to Sangha Live, click here.
-
Citta and Right Speech: Cultivating the Voice of Kindness and Wisdom
Recorded :
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…
-
Wise Resolve: Finding Inner Strength
Recorded :
June 26, 2022 In an effort to counter tendencies towards striving and over-achieving, many Western approaches to meditation and spirituality emphasize relaxation. While relaxation and ease are essential ingredients on the meditative path, they must be integrated with whole-hearted effort. How do we find inner strength and make a clear resolve that is informed by wisdom and balanced…
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of Sept 25, 2023
This week’s topic is “Getting A Feel For Feeling”. As we perceive, we add a feeling (vedanā) to our experience. When we are unaware of this process and react to the projected feeling, it causes unnecessary suffering (dukkha). However, understanding this process and responding skilfully leads to one of the deepest senses of freedom available. Let’s explore this freedom through our daily meditations this week.
