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.
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.
Discover more from the Dharma Library
-
Daily Meditation Recordings, with Christine Kupfer – Week of 15 September, 2025
We’re delighted to have Christine Kupfer guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and enrich your practice.
This week’s theme is: Equanimity – A Still Heart Amid the Waves
A living balance of the heart welcomes both joy and storm. This week, from the ground of presence we open to the full tapestry of experience. Through meditation, reflection, and silence, we return to the quiet heart, where openness and steadiness meet, tasting freedom that is deeper than reactivity.
Our Dharma Library thrives through collective generosity. Your donation helps sustain this offering for our entire community.
-
Cultivating True Equanimity
Recorded :
April 26, 2026 Equanimity is often misunderstood as disengagement or neutrality, yet true equanimity is a deeply alive, responsive and steady spaciousness that allows us to stay present in the midst of complexity and pain. In this session, we’ll explore the traditional Buddhist teachings on the “near” and “far” enemies of equanimity-how the near enemies of indifference and…
-
Lucid Dreaming: Awakening While We Sleep
Recorded :
February 8, 2026 A lucid dream is a dream in which we are actively aware that we are dreaming as the dream is happening. Once we are lucid we gain access to the deepest depths of the unconscious mind which allows us to engage in psychological healing at a level often unattainable in the waking state. And beyond…
-
Exploring the sense of self.
Recorded :
May 24, 2015 Worldwide Insight talk from Christopher Titmuss: “Exploring the Sense of Self”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.
-
Trust in the Goodness of your Practice
Recorded :
January 26, 2020 Basic goodness is the fundamental ground of your own heart and mind and being. A buoyant heart allows us to face the ‘infinite ocean of suffering’ and stay open-hearted; It is the foundation for living the Bodhisattva vows, it is how we keep on waking up and showing up and growing up, for the benefit…
-
Awake in the wild – meditation in nature as a path to awakening.
Recorded :
March 29, 2015 Worldwide Insight talk from Mark Coleman: “Awake in the Wild – Meditation in Nature as a Path to Awakening”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.
-
Groundlessness: Letting Go Into the Unknown
Recorded :
January 26, 2025 Pema Chödrön writes, “It’s not impermanence per se, or knowing we’re going to die, that is the cause of our suffering. Rather, it’s our resistance to the fundamental uncertainty of our situation.” The truth of impermanence means that ultimately there is nothing we can rely on for lasting happiness. We will investigate the underlying feeling…
-
Precepts as Orientation
Recorded :
March 27, 2022 The 5 precepts often given to lay practitioners are (with positive instructions in parenthesis): I vow not to kill (Love and support all beings)I vow not to steal (generosity)I vow not to misuse sexuality (contentment)I vow not to lie (compassionate truthfulness)I vow not to intoxicate self or other (staying mindful) We can think of precepts…