April 16-18

Exploring the Buddha’s relationship with nature: a study practice weekend with Dhivan

The teaching of the Buddha is practical and concerned with the ending of dukkha or suffering. But the life-story of the Buddha shows him becoming Awakened at the foot of the Bodhi tree, encouraged and sheltered by the nāgas or mythical snakes, and having defeated Māra with the help of the Earth Goddess. These symbols of tree, snake and goddess tell us something on the level of myth and story about the animistic context of Awakening.

This weekend will offer an opportunity to study Buddhism with Dhivan, an Order member and Buddhist scholar who works in the area of early Buddhism as well as Buddhism and ecology. We will be looking at discourses from the Pāli canon and extracts from the traditional life-stories of the Buddha that show the Buddha in an intimate relationship with nature. By entering into this story we start to understand how an imaginative relationship with nature as a living whole is an important condition for our own Dharma lives.

Session content to be confirmed but times as below:

Friday
7.30–9pm: Introductions, talk, meditation

Saturday
7.30–8.30am: Meditation
10.30am –12pm: Talk and discussion in groups
4.30–6pm: Talk and discussion in groups
7.30–8.30pm: Meditation and ritual

Sunday
7.30–8.30am: Meditation
10.30am: Talk and discussion in groups
4.30–5.30pm: Concluding session

Find out more about this event - including link to book