
Day 5: Summoning the World to Buddhahood
On Thu, 23 March, 2023 - 09:42
Today we moved on to Chapter 8 – The Perfection of Meditative Absorption. This is the longest chapter in the Bodhicaryavatara and has two main themes:
- The importance of renunciation of craving and attachment if one is to achieve any sense of calm and stability in meditation
- The exchange of self and other as a profound meditation to overcome self-clinging and cultivate the Awakening Mind
After hearing the verses (where Santideva doesn’t disappoint in his direct, challenging, even shocking language), we heard a wonderful talk from Jnanadhara. He sensitively and beautifully unpacked and explored the main themes. He brought these quite complex verses down to earth with a lot of perspective and lightness. [Do have a look at my notes from the talk here]
It has been a real joy listening to the talks from different members of the team each day and hearing how these very experienced and deep Dharma practitioners approach the various topics. I think this has been one of the strengths of this retreat. In the team meeting tonight Saddhanandi said how she feels she is living in a great cloud of Dharma and I echo that. It’s amazing!
This retreat is part of the Adhisthana programme run by members of the Adhisthana Teaching Community. The vision is to have large teams for at least a couple of retreats a year which means we can have a real sense of shared practice, as well as building sangha and friendships with one another. All while exploring key themes and texts that were important to Sangharakshita and have played seminal roles in the unfolding of our community.
I hope we’ll be able to lead a similar retreat next year and would really encourage people to book if you can – either in person or online.
To conclude today let’s here from Santideva:
Whoever longs to rescue both themselves and others should practice the supreme mystery: exchange of self and other.
- share
view our community guidelines for promoting good conversation
Community Guidelines
Here are key excerpts from our community content guidelines, which are designed to help create a positive environment for everyone:
1. Please be courteous at all times. If you’re engaged in any kind of discussion, be as prepared to listen as you are to express yourself. Remember that there’s always a real person behind a computer/device screen, and they are likely quite different from you.
2. Think twice before posting anything that’s likely to give offence or be inflammatory. That doesn’t promote good conversation. If you’re upset at something you see here, perhaps let a little time pass before responding. Bear in mind this isn’t a space to vent our views, it’s about exploring respectfully with others what it means to be a Buddhist within our community and in the modern world generally.
3. We may remove posts or comments that are considered off-topic.
4. Everyone has off-moments, and we’ll always try to be in friendly dialogue with you if a problem arises with one of your contributions. But we reserve the right to remove posts and comments (or even suspend user accounts) when we feel these guidelines are not observed.
5. Our current editorial policy around Safeguarding is aligned with the advice given by those tasked with developing Triratna’s approach to this important area of ethical life. If anyone breaches current policy by posting in ways that mean The Buddhist Centre Online potentially break the law by hosting the material, then we will have to remove their posts or comments. We respectfully request that all users bear this in mind when posting. If in doubt, please feel free to ask first before posting. It will save time, energy, and lead to less potential polarisation in these spaces, even if there is disagreement.
Whatever you contribute we very much encourage you to think about it in the light of the Buddhist ethical precepts around 'Right Speech'. These encourage communication that is: truthful, kindly and gracious, helpful and harmonious. We look forward to all you have to bring to the site!
Moderation
We try to keep things light when it comes to moderation of posts and comments within this shared space. And we ask the community itself to lead with this. If you have seen something that concerns you, please feel free to contact us. However, we do ask that you bear in mind the following guidelines, which will help preserve a harmonious atmosphere throughout the site:
Remember there is always a person behind the post or comment you’re objecting to. They may just be having a bad day… If you’re upset, perhaps let a little time pass before responding to them or us. Try contacting the person first in a spirit of open, courteous engagement to see if hearing their perspective changes your own view of things, or if hearing yours changes theirs. Take care to make sure what you are asking us to look at is actually against the spirit of the group or the site itself, rather than simply a difference of view or of personal taste. If in doubt, ask a friend and/or the administrator of the group.
The most important things about this is the first bit: we ask the community to lead with this. That means you! Thanks for helping us promote good conversations on The Buddhist Centre Online.
Read the full set of Community Guidelines