There will be a Day of Mindfulness on Sunday 12th September. The day will include guided meditations and an introduction to the Art of Origami. As usual, a shared vegetarian lunch. All are welcome.

Once again enjoying the evening air, the guided meditation bringing us back to our direct experience of this moment. The reading was the Five Mindfulness Trainings, signposts pointing the way to freedom.

As we shared after the reading, we all noticed how we often live our lives waiting for the next nice thing, a tea break, the weekend, a holiday. Wishing our lives away, day by day. How refreshing, how wonderful to know that we can rediscover our lives right now. That underneath our discriminating mind, is a place of calmness and acceptance, waiting for us with each breath.

The shared reading  was from Charlotte Becks Everyday Zen. The simplicity of this practice is such that many people struggle with it. Shouldn’t it be more clever, more complex? Just to sit and be with what there is, right here, right now. This extends to beyond our time on the cushion.

Is this meditation Practice another activity to add to the list, or is is an ancient door, creaking open, offering all that is? Trouble is, we are too busy meditating to notice it!

The guided meditation was a freeflowing unplanned affair. After settling into the meditation we practiced Metta, offering love and accpetance to ourselves and others. The walking meditation and silent sitting was accompanied by a rock band playing nearby, great stuff.

The reading was invoking the Bodhisattvas names. The words reminded us of all we are and can be. Stirring stuff. We meet again next week, ready to be fresh, solid and free.

We enjoyed the evening air, sitting and walking in mindfulness. The shared reading was the 5 Mindfulness Trainings. Afterwards we discussed our personal experience of these, focussing on those personal to us.

The Trainings offer a reminder of who we already are. Not to judge ourselves by, but to support us, moment by moment as we navigate through an increasingly complex world. In truth we fail in all the trainings many times a day. If we can experience this with openness and compassion, moment by moment, we can glimpse these experiences as Dharma doors. Equanimity in action, each moment we remember to return to the present moment……..like we ever left it!

A lotus to you.

Due to current commitments there is no meeting for the next two weeks.

We sat out in the courtyard, enjoying the cool breeze and soft grass. The guided meditation was taken from the the Three Refuges. After walking we sat, enjoying the evening air. The shared reading was from Zen Mind, Beginners mind, how the practice of bowing can eliminate dualistic thinking, allowing the experience of Dharma to gently soak us, like walking through a mist. Being no-one, going nowhere.

A startled crow shatters my name, each step brings me home.

John

Next meeting Sunday 27th June.

The guided meditation was from Thays book ‘Blooming of a Lotus’, each verse a reminder to relax and enjoy our bodies in the present moment. After walking and a silent sitting we discussed the upcoming National retreat with Thay, Days of Mindfulness and other retreats on offer.

The Dharma discussion was on Concentration. The reading was from The Heart of the Buddhas Teaching, the Three Concentrations: Emptiness, Signlessness and Aimlessness. We discussed how this comes up in everyday life, impacting on our relationships with people and the world around us. These teachings encourage us to look deeply and see how we can be caught in our perceptions; to be open to each moment as it is.

Fridge! Monkey! Pencil!………well, you had to be there.

After a weeks break it was lovely to return to a shared practice with the Sangha. The guided meditation was the 5 contemplations, reminding us of our impermenance.

The reading was from the Three Earth Touchings, helping us to understand how interbeing spans space and time. A line I particularly like is ‘Seventy or eighty years is not my life span. My lifespan, like a leaf or a Buddha, is limitless’. I love the juxtaposition of a leaf and Buddha. How cool is that!