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
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Noble Right View
Recorded :
September 22, 2019 In this session you will gain insight into understanding what makes the Buddhist practice unique. You’ll receive guidance in relation to knowing when you are not on the path of awakening, and gain a deeper appreciation of the skills presented by the Buddha.
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You are Not Alone: Healing the Myth of Separation
Recorded :
March 17, 2019 The dharma invites us to face ourselves fully. But through fear, we sometimes distract ourselves, over-fill ourselves, and hold onto external attachments, in order to avoid.…what? The illusion that we are separate and isolated manifests in ways conscious and unconscious, but over time practice reveals to us that it is simply the ego that fears…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of May 30, 2022
This week’s theme is: Bringing the Practice to Life. The Buddha’s teachings emphasise the whole of our lives as a rich ground for exploration and growth. Through meditation, we cultivate skills and ways of relating that can be applied beyond formal meditation. This week we will explore bringing the practice to different areas and aspects of our lives. We will open to taste how this enlivens and rejuvenates our practice, and how it can nurture wellbeing for others and ourselves.
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The Four Sights
Recorded :
December 21, 2025 What truly inspires us to change our lives? Are aging, sickness, and death enough to make us turn things around? Today, we’ll explore the inspiration that drove the Prince on his journey, and ask whether it holds the same power for us. (Please note that unfortunately the guided meditation and start of the dharma talk…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of 09 June, 2025
We’re delighted to have Zohar Lavie guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and deepen your practice.
This week’s theme is: Steadiness, Clarity and Care in Challenging Times
During this week of practice, we will explore and practice the boundless qualities of compassion and equanimity. Compassion as the heart’s capacity to open and attend to suffering, and equanimity as the heart’s ability to face life in all its aspects with clarity and steadiness.
These two beautiful qualities complement and nourish each other. They support us to meet experience and act within it in beneficial ways, even in difficult times.Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
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Being Real Together
Recorded :
June 14, 2020 Let’s pause. How are you doing in this time as all is showing up for reckoning at the same moment? Take some kind breaths, and have a moment of compassion for your self, others, and for it all. In today’s session let’s pause quietly, recalibrate, and check in.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Christopher Titmuss – Week of 17 November, 2025
We’re delighted that Christopher Titmuss is guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. We hope you find them enriching for your practice.
This week’s theme is: Going Beyond the World
Dharma practitioners tend to spend much time giving attention to practise. This is a worthwhile endeavour but it seems to go on and on until death. We can conclude that practice means improving the quality of our life, reducing suffering in our lives and showing kindness and compassion to others. Yes, this is significant. It is a credit to dedicated practitioners committed to exploration of such experiences as a way of life. This is not the core purpose of the Dharma but an important preparation for Going Beyond the World.
We have to understand what we mean by the world and going beyond the world.
In these five sessions, we will explore the core purpose in diverse ways. Talks, guided meditations and Q&A form the backbone of the inquiry. Every session will offer everyday examples of the theme of the session to enable seeing the world and confirming going beyond the world.Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Martin Aylward – Week of 20 May, 2024
This week’s topic is “Wesak Week: Waking up Together”.This is the week of the May full moon, known as Wesak, when Buddha’s awakening is celebrated. So, it is our most auspicious time to practice! Come and join Martin every morning for a week of waking up together.
