Awakening to Life means harmonizing our values and our actions. Many of us merely go through the motions, sleepwalking through the hours, without actually feeling alive. Cultivating courage and joy entails slowing down, paying close attention, and practicing being fully engaged with what each moment has to offer. Koshin Sensei will share Zen teachings and down to earth contemplative practices designed to bring freshness, vitality, and curiosity to everyday life. Whether you are familiar with Zen Buddhism or simply open-minded, you can wake up to your life.
With Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison recorded on March 23, 2025.
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Dharma, Sex, Intimacy and Covid
Recorded :
September 6, 2020 We are more physically isolated during these days of Covid. Less physical contact, less access even to each others smiles beneath the masks we wear to care for each others’ health. Contact and intimacy are deeply important to humans, and in this session Sangha Live founding and guiding teacher Martin Aylward explores different forms of…
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The nature of experience. Part 3: Non Self Existence.
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January 29, 2017 Today’s session is the third in a special run of three consecutive sessions with Martin, where he looks deeply at the nature of experience through Buddha’s profound descriptions of reality – Impermanence, Emptiness, Non self-existence. The classes point directly to how these themes can come alive in our practice and understanding, looking at the personal,…
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Why we practice: reclaiming authority, ending dissatisfaction, and engaging wholeheartedly
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February 25, 2018 So many people are asking the potent question, How can I make an impact in a time of such adversity? How can I contribute to positive change in our world? How can I stay rooted in presence and well-being during such tumultuous times? Presence itself is enough. Just to have a practice and affirm the…
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Beautiful and beloved communities in the Dharma – the practice of inclusive and diverse sanghas.
Recorded :
January 14, 2018 Worldwide Insight talk from Larry Yang: “Beautiful and Beloved Communities in the Dharma: The Practice of Inclusive and Diverse Sanghas”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.
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Blunt Suffering
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April 29, 2018 Let’s not flinch when we look at the lived experiences of illness, confusion, and relational pain. Let’s allow the texture of hurt to be known. Awareness remains brilliant, for sure. Any of us can experience this. Maybe the more we allow the blunt pain of the body-mind, the more we can sit squarely in awareness….
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The Appropriate Response
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May 8, 2022 When a monk asked the 10th Century Zen master Yunmen, “What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?” Yunmen replied, “An appropriate response.” What is this appropriate response and how do we know we’ve got it right? Beyond linear formulas, Dharma teachings point to a natural intelligence that guides us in a spontaneous responsiveness to life….
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The Dharma of Sex and Intimacy
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February 23, 2025 Do your dharma insights seem to fall apart in the face of romantic connection? Are you wondering what mindfulness means when it comes to sex and intimacy? As a monastic, the Buddha had little to teach on this topic, but as modern practitioners we can engage our practice to deepen our relationships and experience a…
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The Elephant’s Footprint
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March 21, 2021 Looking at The Four Noble Truths as the way to give us guidance in our world and how to work with racial separation in our Global Dharma sanghas. Is having teachers of Color and Dharma community racial sensitivity training the right way or wrong way and is that enough?
Discussion