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

  • Jill Satterfield

    The Kindness of Softness and Space

    Recorded : December 1, 2024

    Softness and spaciousness can be cultivated and called upon when needed.The sensations of softness are reflective of ease and equanimity – the feeling of spaciousness, reflective of non-clinging. Both create a natural letting go, flow and arising of love, kindness and tenderness.Embodiment offers a broad range of skillful means. We’ll invite these qualities and directly…

    Read More

  • Willa Blythe Baker

    Belonging: The Dharma as a Journey to Connectedness

    Recorded : July 10, 2022

    Behavioral scientists have long known that human beings are wired for connection. But recent studies show that in the wake of the social isolation imposed by the Covid crisis, the world is experiencing a spike in loneliness. In such times of isolation — physical or felt — how can meditation help? What do the Buddha’s…

    Read More

  • Willa Blythe Baker

    The Wisdom of the Body

    Recorded : March 8, 2020

    If you seek to deepen in your meditation practice, there is no better friend than the body. Like a venerable teacher, the body has the power to draw you into the present moment, show you how to find stillness and even—if you listen closely—wake you up.

    Read More

  • Pamela Weiss

    The Human Face of the Buddha

    Recorded : February 28, 2021

    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…

    Read More

  • Deborah Eden Tull - Senior Dharma Teacher

    Endarkenment: Embracing the Medicine of Light and Dark

    Recorded : November 29, 2020

    As we enter the darker months of the year, consider the profound restoration and healing that darkness offers us— both physically and symbolically. Darkness is often considered the absence of light, but it is actually a vital and regenerative essence of nature and consciousness. This session is an experiential exploration of the interplay of light…

    Read More

  •

    The Spectrum of Awareness Practices

    Recorded : February 2, 2020

      This session will explore different ways in which attention works and associated meditation practices: from focused awareness, to flexible awareness, to natural awareness. We’ll do a number of fun experiential practices in hopes of understanding a variety of ways to meditate and how we can refine our own practice. Diana draws from her latest…

    Read More

  • Nathan Glyde

    Daily Meditation Recordings with Nathan Glyde – Week of January 29, 2024

    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.

    Read More