Use code SUMMERPRACTICE for a 25% discount on all On Demand Courses through August 31.

The Human Face of the Buddha

With Pamela Weiss recorded on February 28, 2021.

Found our teachings useful? Help us continue our work and support your teachers with a donation. Here’s how.

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.

Listen to the audio version below, or click here to download the mp3.

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • David Cabrera

    A Return To Naturalness

    From pure emptiness the wondrous appears… In the session we will explore different somatic approaches to cultivate a sense of calm and ease. An invitation into insight meditation and letting go into a natural state of flow.

    Read More

  • Responding to a World in Crisis with a Strong Heart

    How do we keep the heart open and strong amidst so much pain and suffering in our world? What does our contemplative practice have to offer in times of upheaval and change? Join author and Dharma teacher Oren Jay Sofer for this session focused on building inner resources to heal our hearts and respond effectively…

    Read More

  • Miles Kessler

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Miles Kessler – Week of 20 October, 2025

    This week, we’re delighted to have Miles Kessler guiding our Daily Meditation sessions. May they enrich your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Meditation And The Dark Night Of The Soul

    The “Dark Night Of The Soul” is nothing less than an ego death, and rebirth process that everyone goes through from time to time in life. As it happens, the “Dark Night Of The Soul” is also beautifully “coded” into insight meditation practices through a series of advanced stages know as the “Dukkha Nanas”. The “Dark Night” stages are awaiting everyone who is walking the path of meditative insight.
    In this week of Daily Meditations with Sangha Live, you are invited to join in a teaching of “Meditation And The Dark Night Of The Soul.” Throughout this week, you will explore how the “Dark Night Of The Soul” process unfolds in the stages of insight meditation. And more importantly, how the insights of these stages inform us in our lives.

    Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.

    Read More

  • Wiebke Pausch

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Wiebke Pausch – Week of October 31, 2022

    This week’s topic is “Awaken Self-Compassion”. For many of us it is easier to be friendly and compassionate with others than with ourselves. Old conditioning, limiting beliefs of not being worthy of love and are confining our hearts. Compassion is an essential part of our true nature. We all know how to be gentle and compassionate with ourselves – this is how we survived situations of suffering and loss in our lives. This week we will be exploring how to awaken Self-Compassion, allowing our hearts to soften and open with care. With a tender heart we begin naturally to respond to the world around us with clarity and compassion.

    Read More

  • Vesak 2568: The Radical Message of Siddhattha Gotama

    On the Theravāda holiday of Vesak, 2568 years after the Buddha’s death, we honor the ancient ascetic named Siddhattha Gotama, whose insights into the nature of suffering and freedom have inspired fierce disciplines, soaring poetry, subtle psychological and philosophical investigations, and social movements for nonviolence, and social justice. We’ll meditate, learn traditional verses celebrating the…

    Read More

  • Ralph Steele

    Introduction To Buddhist Psychology

    The Four Noble Truths are a foundational practice that supports our ability to navigate the inevitable changes life presents. They offer insight and guidance. Mindfulness fosters compassion and paves the way for a deep dive into Buddhist Psychology. You will gain a better understanding, a reason for, and an application in everyday life of the…

    Read More

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Caverly Morgan – Week of July 6

    We’re very grateful to have Caverly Morgan hosting our Daily Meditation Series for North America. To find out more about Caverly, and to view her past recordings and contributions to Sangha Live, click here. Monday, July 6 Being all expression of being Wednesday, July 8 I am whole Friday, July 10 Resting in gratitude Tuesday,…

    Read More