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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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nirmala Werner – Week of May 27 – 31, 2024
This week’s topic is “Mindfulness of the nervous system: transforming fear, struggle and separation into love and connection”. We humans are social animals and need each other to feel safe and secure, to grow and to nourish ourselves. How can we live with a sense of connection, loving-kindness, and inner family? Our meditation practice allows us to take a break between stimulus and response. When we come into contact with our loved ones, we all too easily lose the inner freedom we think we have achieved and avoid our difficulties, also called spiritual bypassing. This week we explore what supports us to react flexibly to the internal and external world, to relax and to allow closeness and real intimacy. We will look into the first foundation of mindfulness, mindfulness of the body, including harmonizing the body formations and nervous system to meet our difficulties with gentleness.
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Self and not-self: the secret of anata.
Recorded :
March 20, 2016 Worldwide Insight talk from Lila Kimhi: “Self and Not-self: the secret of Anata”. Guided meditation, Dharma talk and Q&A.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Ulla Koenig – Week of June 7, 2021
This week’s theme is: Mudita – Celebrating Aliveness. Our hearts possess infinite capacities: they can express friendship in the most surprising circumstances and turn with tenderness and care to those who suffer. But aside from kindness and compassion, there is also the potential for deep appreciation, ease, delight and joy within us. While such perspectives are always available, the access might be blocked by voices of doubt, shame or negativity. In the upcoming weekly sessions, we strengthen our capacity to find nourishing perspectives and to rejoice in the beauty within and around us with the help of guided meditations and practices for everyday life.
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The Choice is Ours: Wise Relationship to Our Experience
Recorded :
January 17, 2021 These pandemic times with isolation, suffering, social and political divisiveness and an uncertain future our lives are filled with even more challenges than usual. At the same time many hearts are opening with increased compassion, connection and possibilities on the horizon. The mind can easily get contracted by the stress or grasping at hope. But…
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Practicing for the love of it.
Recorded :
January 17, 2016 Before the session Martin wrote: “A Burmese teacher once told a friend of mine to always enjoy his practice. We love meditation in theory, and we want to grow and transform, and we certainly would like to be liberated from our suffering. And yet! We easily turn meditation into a chore, and feel discouraged by…
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Potentizing Practice
Recorded :
February 23, 2020 At various times, it can feel like meditation practice has become routine. That nothing is really moving or deepening. However, there are many ways to consciously potentize your practice. In this class at the wonderful new Sangha Live website, Martin explores various different ways of doing this. We also look beyond meditation, to three ways…
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Exploring Karma, Choice and the Mind
Recorded :
June 30, 2024 Karma is action in Buddhism, driven by intention. With practice we cultivate the ability to choose our response and our actions, internally and externally. We might think if our intentions are good our actions will follow, but our intentions are often under the influence of strong conditioning that prevents us from living our choices. But…
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Daily Meditation Recordings with Christopher Titmuss- Week of September 9, 2024
This week’s topic is “The Changeless. Knock, knock on Heaven’s Door”. Conventional human experience reveals the subject and the object. The object includes, mind/body/things/world/time/space and here and now. All of these are subject to change. The subject includes consciousness, perception, awareness, attention, mindfulness, I and my. All subject to change. We might conclude true reality reveals change. Can realisation of the changeless make easy the navigation of change?
Discussion