Well folks, we're drawing to a close here on the online space for this year's Urban Retreat. It's been a wonderful week and on the team we've loved being in touch with all those who took part here -
as Vajragupta said, thanks so much for all of your efforts and engagement and the generally beautiful spirit in which this online retreat has been conducted.
We wanted to finish with a few posts that we hope will support you in keeping a focus on loving kindness in your life as the new week comes in and the busyness of life impinges even more on your days without the structure of a formal retreat to help. Firstly, we have five recommended next steps for you! Any one of these ways will help you keep the warmth of metta -- and the still coolness of mindfulness -- as part of your daily awareness and personal practice:
1. Stay connected with other Buddhist-friendly people! : There are Triratna Buddhist Centres -- and other kinds of Buddhist groups -- all over the world. If you aren't already, taking part in a community and exploring practice with others is a really great way to keep up the momentum you've built during the Urban Retreat.
Here is a list of all our Buddhist Centres and Projects around the world.You can also stay connected with the worldwide community within Triratna by following our
new Community Spaces on The Buddhist Centre Online.
+ follow: News: thebuddhistcentre.com/news Great, thoughtful reporting from our team on what's happening around the Triratna Buddhist Community internationally.
Community Highlights: thebuddhistcentre.com/highlights The best of what people in our community around the world post to the web about their own situations and Buddhist practice.
Features: thebuddhistcentre.com/features Headline stories and original Buddhist media content, including live, in-depth web coverage of major Triratna events.
2. Meditate online! If you can't get to a Buddhist Centre, we'll be having regular meditations via Skype/Google Hangout, twice a week starting this week. Meditations will be
Tuesdays at 2.30pm EST/ 7.30pm UK and Thursdays at 11am EST / 4pm UK. You can find
more details here.
+ follow our
Online Meditators space!3. Take the Dharma into your workplace! We spend most of our waking lives at work, so we can't afford to wait to retire before we can practice the dharma life there. The group
dharma@work is a new forum to discuss how we can integrate these two aspects of our lives, exploring different aspects of how to take our dharma practice to work more wholeheartedly.
+follow dharma@work now!
4. 21 Day Meditation For Recovery! This brilliant new meditation venture
is underway today! A series of 15-minute meditations to support you in your abstinence from addictions, compulsive behaviours, and to promote sobriety of mind. From the great people at the
Eight Step Recovery Project.
+ follow 21 Day Meditation here!
5. Support others to practice the Dharma! A sure-fire way to strengthen your own engagement with Buddhist meditation and practice is to connect with others and support them too. One of the most inspiring contexts for this is the
India Dhamma Trust. They work to support millions of Buddhist men and women in India who have little knowledge of what Buddhism is or how to practice it. Who are desperate to find genuine and effective Dhamma teachers and practice communities, hungry for the Dharma, and its potential for spiritual transformation and social uplift.
+ follow and support India Dhamma Trust today!
After this we'll be posting various 'complete sets' of the retreat teaching and talks for easy access anytime. We will close off comments and posts in a few days and then archive the space. As a participant you'll still be able to see the whole retreat space anytime: posts, comments, etc. (only the teaching will be available to the wider public to view).
May we all be well!
