A Time Devoted to Bringing the Dhamma into our Everyday Life.
And a course for those who feel their practice needs a little uplift!
You can participate in as little or as much you want.
Day Retreat: January 07 - February 04 - March 03
Follow-up Sunday am : January 14 - February 11 : March 10
You can come just for a Day Retreat.
Contact me directly: Bhante Bodhidhamma <[email protected]>
How do we bring the practice into ordinary daily life? It's a perenniel question. It is something each of us have to explore since our daily lives are quite different. If you are working in one of the medical services, your challenges are not going to be the same as someone in information technology, or someone who is unemployed.
There is also the whole area of how we should engage in society socially and politically in what is a very turbulent time for the world.
So although we can set certain determinations such as sitting in the early morning, once we are out there, what techniques are there, what strategies can we employ to bring the Dhamma into what we do and how we relate.
These are the sorts of questions this course will help you to answer and support.
If you want to join me, please email me - [email protected] - after 01 December. And I shall answer before Xmas.
You will find start dates and other information about the course are posted on the Calendar.
Please download the two ebooks on Encouragements They will serve as reference books for your practice.
There is also a page devoted to Daily Life Care You can also download this as a pdf.
Closer to the start I will email the Zoom Link and a questionaire which will help you decide how you are going to develop the Dhamma into your every day.
Each month starts with a Day Retreat (schedule) of meditational practices - sitting, walking and metta, loving-kindness,starting at 09.00 and ending at 17.00. There will be time to discuss in the late afternoon how we are to take the practice into ordinary daily life.
That evening, or the next day, retreatants email me what their commitments are. Here are some areas to consider.
What time will you put away for sitting and metta meditation?
What daily practices will you reinforce to enhance mindfulness?
What virtue will you especially develop?
What unwholesome habit will you work against?
What books or talks will you use to enhance your understanding?
You can also make private resolutions that you need not disclose!
The following Sunday, we will meet at 09.00 to sit and practice metta, loving kindness. Then there will be the opportunity to share our experiences.
More support: You can also find support for daily practice in the Online Meditation Hall where there are daily morning sittings at 06.00 and in the evening at 20.00 with chanting, metta, loving kindness and joy.
This is an opportunity to develop our practice with likeminded spiritual companions.
The Buddha: Good companionship is the whole of the spiritual life.
Venerable Ānanda approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, sat down to one side, and said: “Bhante, this is half of the spiritual life, that is, good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship.”
“Not so, Ānanda! Not so, Ānanda! This is the entire spiritual life, Ānanda, that is, good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship. When a monk has a good friend, a good companion, a good comrade, it is to be expected that he will develop and cultivate the noble eightfold path.
And how, Ānanda, does a monk with a good friend develop and cultivate the noble eightfold path? Here, a monk develops right view, which is based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release. He develops right intention… right speech… right action… right livelihood… right effort… right mindfulness… right concentration, which is based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release. It is in this way, Ānanda, that a monk with a good friend develops and cultivates the noble eightfold path.
By the following method too, Ānanda, it may be understood how the entire spiritual life is good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship: by relying upon me as a good friend, beings subject to birth are freed from birth; beings subject to old age are freed from old age; beings subject to death are freed from death; beings subject to sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair are freed from sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair. By this method too, Ānanda, it may be understood how the entire spiritual life is good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship.”
(Samyutta Nikaya 45:2, Connected Discourses of the Buddha 1524-25)