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

Who Knows Best?: Exploring the Judging Mind

With Shaila Catherine recorded on July 14, 2024.

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

In this Sunday Sangha session, we will address the common tendencies to judge and compare. Wise discernment is useful, but excessive comparing and compulsive judging can harm relationships, obscure the clarity of perception, and thwart spiritual development. This session includes practical suggestions for calming a harsh inner critic, while encouraging critical and thoughtful inquiry.

(Please note that there were unfortunately some internet connection issues at Shaila’s end during this session which show up on the recording.)

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

Discussion

Leave a Reply

Discover more from the Dharma Library

  • Stephen Fulder

    How To Thrive in Hard Times

    When external circumstances are difficult and challenging we tend to get swept away by them. But instead, they can be a wake-up call. We turn to the dharma to help us meet the challenges from an enduring sense of freedom, a more transcendent point of view and skilful, heartful ways to act.

    Read More

  • Joy is Always Available

    On autopilot, our mind often resists opening to joy with: “But right now in my life, there is …” So we explore what stands in our way of the unexpected ordinariness of joy. We’ll discover how the awakening factor of meditative joy (piti) illuminates our capacity to open to delight and rapture, allowing our hearts…

    Read More

  • photo of Martin Aylward smiling

    Saddha: Unshakeable Confidence

    So many of us feel assailed by doubt, anxiety and insecurity. Unhelpful self-talk, along with the uncertainties of the world, heighten and reinforce thought tendencies. Dharma practice helps us recognize and uproot ingrained patterns, and also to establish trust, confidence and fearlessness. Our first Sunday Sangha of 2023 will inquire into what is deeply trustworthy, and point towards a confidence that is unshakeable — regardless of circumstance or preference, life or death.

    Read More

  • Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of June 13, 2022

    This week’s topic is Healing Shame and Guilt. Psychologists describe shame as soul-eating emotion. Shame and guilt prevent us from developing trusting connections with others and a healthy sense of appreciation for ourselves. The Buddha taught that systems of self-reference such as shame and guilt can cause pain and stress. To find liberation is to find freedom from these deeply harmful emotions. We will look at practical ways to find such freedom in our own lives.

    Read More

  • Wisdom and Heart Together

    The connection between wisdom (paññā) and the heart qualities, such as goodwill (mettā) and compassion (karunā), can be a delightful discovery in Buddhist practice. The clear, nonjudgmental awareness of wisdom can feel like warmth, inclusion, and safety when fully received. In turn, the truly open heart is free of the distortions of ill will and…

    Read More

  • Pamela Weiss

    True Refuge

    This talk will explore the Three Refuges — Buddha, Dharma and Sangha — as sources of true refuge in difficult times. The teaching of the Refuges is found within all schools of Buddhism and offers clear guidance for responding to our beautiful, aching world with skill and kindness.

    Read More