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BUDDHA DAY
Honouring Our Teacher and Exemplar
Saturday 27 May
Ceremony 13.30 - 15.00
Taking Refuges and Precepts
Talk and Metta, Loving Kindness Practice
Procession
Bring cold food to share by 11.30
Noon Lunch
FULL MOON OBSERVANCE
Celebration of the birth, life and Parinibbana of the Buddha
Sunday May 14 with Italian Sangha
PLEASE NOTE
We have taken away all time restrictions on when you can apply for a course.
You can apply any time, but please only when you are certain.
I've been unable to walk for about 10 weeks now because of severe sciatica, but fortunately I've had Hui with me this last month of teaching. And a very welcome assistance it has been. It has also given Hui lots of opportunity to hone her talks and more importantly to conduct interviews. She will come to assist over the two other months I'll be teaching in summer.
Noirin has been able to escape for three weeks on holiday in Ireland and returned on Tuesday very much refreshed and energised by her well deserved break.
Spring comes late for us since we are 300m above sea level. But the rabbits are doing what they do best. There are five new black kittens. The cat took one away last year. We'll see how many survive. Andy, our gardener, says it will attract a predator in time. Noirin came across a dead white stoat (ermine skin) a while back.
Needless to say we do need the rabbit community to be held in check. They are attacking the trees and Andy has had to put heavy plastic covers on the trunks.
'When rabbits, eating bark off trees, leave bare wood all the way around the tree, the damage is called girdling. The sap can't flow past the damaged area, so the top part of the tree gradually dies. There is no way to repair this type of rabbit tree damage, so it's best to remove and replace the tree.'
Let's hope nature finds a way of keeping a good balance.
Announcements
Daily Life Course 2023
led by Noirin Sheahan:
This year’s course concerns the Six Sense Spheres – the five physical senses plus the sixth sense of the heart-mind with its memories, emotions, thoughts. This teaching focuses our attention on the flow of sensory experience, undermining our deluded attempts to improve on this miraculous meeting of inner and outer worlds. Participants receive notes and suggested practices for each sense sphere and post reflections on the Satipanya forum, giving the opportunity to learn from one another. Course runs for six weeks in Spring (starting soon!) and autumn. Contact
Noirin Sheahan
for further information or to register.
Northwest area Satipanya Sangha:
Anyone living in the northwest, particularly in Chester, Manchester, Liverpool and surrounding areas who would like to explore options for practicing together please contact
Martin Ratcliffe
who hopes to form a local group.
Join us for your daily meditation - 06.00, 09.00, 14.00, 16.00 and 20.00 sits.
Info.
An informal meditation group meets on a monthly basis via Zoom for a full day of meditation. Email Magda for details at
[email protected]
This collaborative study group has evolved out of the fortnightly London and South East Satipanya Saṅgha which has been meeting via Zoom since the beginning of the Covid outbreak. We are currently
studying the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta
, as set out by Joseph Goldstein in his
46 part discussion on the Dharma Seed site
and in his book Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening. We intend to continue this group on Zoom and
warmly extend an invitation to any practitioner
who would like to join us. Currently meeting alternate Sundays 10:30am - midday. Please contact
[email protected]
for further information. (By the way, please try again if you've emailed to attend and haven't received anything back, Carl has been particularly busy lately.)
Join 20.00 to 21.00 on the Sunday closest to the Full Moon. Bhante gives a short dhamma talk, followed by a 30-min sitting, refuges and precepts and we end by reading and chanting the metta sutta.
For date of next Celebration.
Opening to the Impact of the Climate Emergency:
Following on from the Zoom with Gwen Sanderson and Bhante Bodhidhamma in September, there are two options for ongoing engagement:
-
Gwen Sanderson is facilitating monthly
Climate and Dhamma Conversations
which are held using
Zoom
. Email
Gwen
for further information or to register.
-
Noirin Sheahan has set up a Satipanya
Forum
focussing on the
Six Maxims
(ethical training to prepare for the social and environmental consequences of climate change - see tip below). Contact
Noirin
for further info or to register.
Every morning at puja we call the names of those who are sick or dying, or are having a hard time.
Every evening at puja we call the names of those who have something to rejoice.
Satipanya Courses
Coronavirus:
Requirements for visiting Satipanya.
We are asking everyone to take an antigen test before setting out in their journey to Satipanya and not to come if the test is positive.
Vipassana as taught by the Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma
The Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma, one of the most influential vipassana insight meditation teachers of the last century, developed techniques to help us maintain moment to moment mindfulness from the instant we awake to the instant we fall asleep.
This leads not only to spiritual insights into our true, unborn-undying essence, but also, equally important, to the purification of the heart. So that we not only become wiser but more caring, generous, joyous and compassionate.
Applying the techniques on this retreat we follow a robust schedule, but meditators can modulate their practice to fit their level of experience, even absolute beginners. The accent is on relaxation and curiosity, rather than striving and concentration. And regular teacher contact, daily Q&A and personal interviews ensures students are supported throughout.
The retreat ends with advice on how to bring the practice into ordinary daily life to enhance our relationships and give spiritual meaning to our work and everyday tasks.
Assistants Needed
N.B.
All the courses are serviced by assistants.
As assistant you have the opportunity to serve others. It can be a way of
expressing gratitude for the gift of Dhamma. Although the morning is mainly
taken up with breakfast preparation and cooking, the rest of day is for
practice.
You can
see
the menus here
(PDF).
As an assistant, we do not expect payment of the deposit or make a donation
because you have kindly offered your time.
However, your commitment is essential, for the course would be very difficult to
run without an assistant and may indeed have to be cancelled.
If you are interested, follow this link:
Course
Assistant
For info. about retreats and teachers see website:
www.satipanya.org.uk
See drop down menus: especially About Us, Teachings and Retreats
Would you like to come and assist on a course?
See
calendar on website
for up-to-date assistant need.
Make sure you diary the date when applications can be received
for the retreat you want to attend.
The Gift of Joy.
Bhante Bodhidhamma
The Gift of Joy - Mudita
Consider the many nouns we have for joy: pleasure, enjoyment, happiness, gladness, delight, thrill, exultation, elation, bliss, ecstasy, rapture. And it is all good!
The Buddha was asked how he felt when people did not accept his teaching. He said he was OK with that. It was all to do with the person’s karma. But if they did accept and followed his teaching, he was joyful.
Yet in terms of practice like Mettā, no teacher of mine gave us an exercise to develop joy. But whenever I would point to something beautiful, my Burmese teacher reminded me it would corrupt and die! They were afraid of the attachment. Which is that desire to want more or more of the same. That’s why the Buddha asks us to exercise restraint!
However, the fear of indulgence can undermine joy. There was a Western monk who was the picture of an ascetic, thin, serious with shallow cheeks. When we were offered the delicious Buffalo curd, he waited till we had all but finished. Then he picked up the dessert bowl and tipped it down his throat, for fear of tasting its deliciousness!
Of course, the seeds of greed are always there ready to be indulged. But whenever we have had a joyful time, if we become aware of the desire for more and just wait for it to expire, we will have undermined the greed that was activated there.
We can use joy to lift our hearts - Restorative Joy
.
Wandering around a park, meeting up with a friend, watching a good film all go to lift us out of the dumps. The monastic life can become very samey. Nothing much happens. And sometimes I found myself moving towards dullness, apathy. Only then did I realise the power of a long, mindful mug of tea.
Mudita is often translated as Appreciative or Reciprocal joy - the joy in other’s joy. This undermines envy and jealousy. And that in itself makes us happier. To find you can actually be more joyful for another than yourself can be a revelation. This is not so strange to parents when a daughter or son finds success.
Why is it we remember mostly the painful occasions of the day? Because they hurt! But in so doing, they shadow out the joys. If you sit quietly at the end of the day and count the joys, you may be surprised to find you can’t really bring any to mind. Yet there will have been lots of joys, at various levels throughout the day. We simply don’t note them.
How to increase our joy.
A resolution to daily acknowledge the joys that come our way and purposefully develop joy. Write them up daily and see how you feel at the end of the week.
Spend a week recalling all the joys of your life so far. It’s not been that bad after all.
Practice developing joy as you would Mettā, going through all the categories.
May I/you be joyful!
May I/you be ever more joyful!
(optional) May I/you attain the sublime bliss of Nibbana.
Highly recommended spiritual practice!
If you fail to receive a monthly NEWSBYTE, please look in spam, or reestablish the
email by filling in the
MAILING LIST form
at the bottom of the front page of the website.
Many thanks.
Finally
, please forward this email if you know someone who may be
interested. Thanks.
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