Many people have encountered the Buddha’s teachings when learning to meditate. Many more people in the world, however, have learned about the Buddha through stories imparting lessons about how to live wisely. Why is there so much emphasis on meditation? What else is there in the teachings to support wise and ethical living?
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On Meeting Conflict and the Incompatible
Recorded :
December 11, 2023 “When you can’t go forward, when you can’t go back, and when you can’t stand still – where do you go? This is your place of non-abiding. The things you love and the things you hate: these are your teachers.” – Ajahn Chah How do we perceive conflict? We often see it as disturbing, but…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Miles Kessler – Week of 19 January, 2026
This week’s theme is: The Seven Stages of Purification in Insight Meditation
The Seven Stages of Purification in Insight Meditation is a 5-day exploration of how insight naturally unfolds through practice, as described in the classical Theravāda map of purification. Each day will combine a short teaching with guided meditation, helping practitioners-whether new or experienced-recognize how challenge, insight, clarity, and release arise as part of a single, coherent developmental process. Rather than presenting the stages as goals to attain, this series offers them as an orienting framework: a way to understand what is already happening in your practice, normalize both ease and challenge, and cultivate confidence, patience, and continuity on the path of awakening.
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The Compass of Wise Intention
Recorded :
September 21, 2025 In times marked socially by uncertainty, injustice, polarization, and sometimes overwhelm, in the midst of the typical personal joys and sorrows of our day to day experiences, it can be difficult to know how to act-or even how to keep the heart steady. The Buddha’s teaching on Wise Intention (sammā saṅkappa) offers a compass, a…
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A Return To Naturalness
Recorded :
September 29, 2024 From pure emptiness the wondrous appears… In the session we will explore different somatic approaches to cultivate a sense of calm and ease. An invitation into insight meditation and letting go into a natural state of flow.
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Genuine Happiness: An Alternative Perspective
Recorded :
July 14, 2019 So much of what we hear and learn about within Dharma practice places an arguably unnecessary emphasis on suffering (dukkha). While the acceptance of suffering (dukkha) is an important and essential aspect of the path, it is by no means the end of the story. In one of the Buddha’s oldest descriptions of what it…
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Developing insight into power.
Recorded :
February 21, 2016 The Buddha talked about eight qualities of one who has transformed insight into a power. We examine these eight and apply introspection to assess where we are on the path to awakening and what is needed for completion.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Zohar Lavie – Week of February 1, 2021
We’re fortunate that Zohar Lavie has generously offered to lead our daily meditation sessions for Europe and the UK. To find out more about Zohar, and to view her other contributions to Sangha Live, click here.
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Buddha’s toolbox: a spectrum of skilful means.
Recorded :
June 28, 2015 In this class we explore the various ways to diffuse difficult emotions, see through mental patterns, re-direct our attention, and understand the nature of experience.
Discussion