The Urban Retreat 2011

lokabandhu

Online Dana Bowl

Sat, 15 Oct, 2011 - 17:36

We’ve created an online ‘dana’ bowl for contributions to help support Candradasa’s team at Dharmachakra, who will be hard at work continuing to develop this exciting new space for the whole Triratna Buddhist Community. Thanks to their generous efforts, we were very happy to be able to offer the retreat for free to all who wanted to take part. If you would like to support the work they’ll be doing for us it will help them...

Kavyasiddhi

Lying down together - and body scan meditations

Sat, 15 Oct, 2011 - 08:16

Lying down together - and body scan meditations

Sat, 15 Oct, 2011 - 08:16

Why it’s really good to lie down, and do a body scan meditation together in the morning. My last video blog for this retreat, hope you’ve enjoyed them…

vajragupta

Exercises, reflections, and closing ceremony for the last day - and beyond...

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 22:59

Exercises, reflections, and closing ceremony for the last day - and beyond...

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 22:59

Well done! You’ve almost completed the urban retreat. On this last day there’s an opportunity for you to review how it went, what we learnt, and what you’d like to carry through into the future.

Hopefully you’ve discovered that although you can’t avoid the worldly winds, you can learn from them, and see them as opportunities rather than obstacles. As William Blake wrote:

Man was made for Joy & Woe;
And when this we rightly know
Thro’...

Yashosagar

Sailing the Worldly Winds in India

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 17:39

Yashosagar - The Worldly Winds, International Urban Retreat 2011 by thebuddhistcentre

Listen on iOS or get the app. A moving talk from India by Yashosagar describing his own sources of inspiration in working with the Worldly Winds, and a glimpse at how the Dharma can really change people’s whole worlds… On Soundcloud.

Download this track

For more information about using Soundcloud see our notes on experimental Dharma discussion.

Kavyasiddhi

'The Way It Is', by William Stafford

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 17:38

'The Way It Is', by William Stafford

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 17:38

Some reflections from me on ‘The Way It Is’, a poem by William Stafford: holding onto an unseen thread, and not letting go. I end with a rendering of a verse from the Dhammapada, by Thomas Byrom.

Kavyasiddhi

Expectation, experiences and reality (and smiley faces!)

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 13:04

Expectation, experiences and reality (and smiley faces!)

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 13:04

Checking whether our expectations and experiences are in line with reality – using smiley faces!

Yashosagar

Sailing the Worldly Winds - in India

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 11:17

Sailing the Worldly Winds - in India

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 11:17

Hello, I am Yashosagar from Triratna’s ordination team in Pune (Maharashtra, India). I am speaking about how practising Dhamma has helped me respond more creatively to the worldly winds. I am happy my talk is released today Friday 14th October, the anniversary of Dr Ambedkar’s famous conversion to Buddhism. There is a small fundraising appeal from us at the end. Thank you.

Kavyasiddhi

A very pertinent sailing story...

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 10:59

A very pertinent sailing story...

Fri, 14 Oct, 2011 - 10:59

A very pertinent sailing story, on the importance of finding a haven, to take refuge in when the storms come! Check back later today for another from me…

lokabandhu

Exercises and reflections for Friday: Voicethread edition

Thu, 13 Oct, 2011 - 21:30

VoiceThread is an exciting and innovative way to have fully engaged online conversations in your own time. You can view and respond to VoiceThreads embedded on our site, but you can also take part more fully in the discussion by leaving multi-media comments (webcam video, audio, text, or picture) on the material itself over on VoiceThread.com under your own account. Your comments will then show up here too!

Click the left and right arrows to view 'slides' and comments. Take a look at an instruction VoiceThread to more fully how it works.

Full screen version

For more about VoiceThread, read our notes on going deeper with online Dharma discussion: ▼

Vishvapani

Thought for the Day

Thu, 13 Oct, 2011 - 18:20

Thought for the Day

Thu, 13 Oct, 2011 - 18:20

This is my broadcast on BBC radio 4 from this morning. Listen here

As unemployment rises and living standards fall, pre-2008 abundance seems like a vanished epoch. Most of us yearn to see the GDP figures ticking upwards again, bringing back the lost jobs and services. But not long ago, when the economy was steaming ahead, many of us were asking if continuing economic growth was really desirable or sustainable. We saw people working longer and longer hours at...