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

Search Sangha Live

The Paradox of Being: Alive & Aware

With Eugene Cash recorded on February 17, 2019.

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

“The World is its Own Magic” – Suzuki Roshi

As we practice and our understanding deepens, we’re often surprised by paradox. We begin to discover what the Laṅkāvatāra Sutra pointed to: Things are not what they seem… Nor are they otherwise. We intuitively know that there is more to life/reality then the usual, the familiar and the ordinary. Part of what draws us to spirituality is an inherent understand that this ordinary reality is true and it is the ground of the extraordinary. We’ll look, examine, and see what we experience and what’s experiencing our experience as we practice together. It might be possible to see if when we’re present and aware, life is its own magic.

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

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • The Power of Relational Awareness

    Recorded : September 9, 2018

    In this session, Oren Jay Sofer shares reflections on the basics of Mindful Communication, with particular focus on the internal foundations of successful communication. The talk explores some of the ways our silent contemplative practice can support our interpersonal relationships, while the Q&A delves into more specific issues of conversation and relationships.

    Read More

  •

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of July 19, 2021

    This week’s theme is: Identifying the Many Masks of the Inner Critic

    Often we think of the inner critic as the constant nagging inner discourse which dismisses our good qualities, questions our lovability, and our potential for goodness. Being a master/mistress of disguise, the inner critic takes on many forms; it wraps our decision making process in veils of doubt, pushes us into compulsive activity, traps us in paralysis, and distorts our views on others.

    Luckily, the Dharma path offers us tools to meet this painful heart-mind dynamic. This week we will practice summoning qualities like wisdom, kindness, equanimity, concentration, appreciation, compassion and inquiry, in order to meet our inner critic in a skilful way.

    Read More

  •

    Daily Meditation Recordings, with Jaya Rudgard – Week of 21 April, 2025

    We’re delighted to have Jaya Rudgard guiding our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May these sessions support and deepen your practice.

    This week’s theme is: Still Here, Still Now: Waking Up to Life

    As we develop our ability to remain present to experience our insight into the nature of that experience deepens. We’ll continue to explore this week how mindfulness can lead not just to less stress here and now but to the kind of seeing that will eventually free the heart-mind from all its self-created suffering.

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

    Read More

  • Ralph Steele

    Embodying cultural diversity: dancing with the basket of virtue

    Recorded : July 2, 2017

    Our Sangha has been predominately white since it branched off from the Asian countries. This Dharma talk offers a path for deeper inquiry and greater insight into how we can embody cultural diversity. The Eight Noble Truths will guide us toward a healthier way of conducting ourselves in the arena of cultural diversity, taking a…

    Read More