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!