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?
Discover more from the Dharma Library
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A Practical Approach to Understanding Right Effort
Recorded :
July 22, 2018 All schools of Buddhism acknowledge that if we are to “awaken” in this lifetime, our aim is to cultivate and develop the eight-fold path. This path consists of behavioral (sila), meditative (samadhi) and philosophical (panna) dimensions. When skillfully interwoven, this system of training directs us towards a liberation-based lifestyle by embracing the limitations and the…
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Letting go of fear; finding courage in the face of uncertainty.
Recorded :
March 5, 2017 Even though we know fear does not serve us, we often allow it to stop or limit us. We might not even be aware of the ways it drives us and makes us smaller than we are. Though we might think we can control life, there is little we can actually control. If we are…
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Becoming a Bodhisattva
Recorded :
November 9, 2025 This talk will explore the archetype of the Bodhisattva— a being dedicated to waking up and cultivating wisdom and compassion for the sake of all beings. We will first see how it manifests itself in Buddhist history and teachings, and then tackle important questions: How is it relevant to the suffering in our current times?…
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Restorative Stillness Even During Turbulent Times
Recorded :
July 19, 2020 “Enter into the stillness inside your busy life. Become familiar with her ways. Grow to love her, feel [her] with all your heart and you will come to hear her silent music and become one with Love’s silent song.” ~Noel Davis You can tap into inner stillness and tranquility regularly during your days, even during…
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Not-other: knowing our solidarity with all beings.
Recorded :
April 30, 2017 Dharma teachings point at the way our experience is not-self. This also means that everyone else is not-other. In this class we explore the ways we isolate and defend ourselves, and reach for and reject others, looking towards a greater inclusion of and intimacy with others as the ground for both better relationships and true…
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Mindfulness, Samadhi, Insight and Patriarchy: Seeing and Not Seeing Things As They Actually Are
Recorded :
April 23, 2023 When the mind is both bright and still, it sees things that are usually hidden to it. And there are things it does not see. And there can be apprehensions that change everything, and those that change little. Gregory will speak about meditative insight, deep personal and cultural conditioning, and other things about which he…
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Forgiveness: The Practice of Returning to Love
Recorded :
September 14, 2025 A heart rooted in compassion longs to uplift and free all beings. Yet holding such a heart is not always easy. We stumble, we protect, we carry wounds. In our time together, we’ll explore forgiveness as an act of self-compassion-a way to meet our own suffering with kindness, and to restore the dignity that pain…
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The beauty of the spontaneous movement of life
Recorded :
July 23, 2017 Nowadays, for most of us, life is so full, so fast and dispersed in so many directions: jobs, partners, children, family, house, everyday duties, mobile phone, internet, responsibility, stress, tiredness, worries … and when we find a small space, we fill it with hobbies, friends, sports, TV and every other little thing we usually don’t…
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