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Shakyapada

Every offering a treat

Fri, 27 Nov, 2015 - 10:19

Every offering a treat

Fri, 27 Nov, 2015 - 10:19

Mandy Sutter takes the biscuit

Thinking about playfulness this week has cast some of my regular activities in a new light.

For instance, when I go out of the house and leave Fable (the dog) I always give her two biscuits. She likes Winalot Shapes. There are six different ones – a star, a flower, a house, a bone, a heart and a fish, all different colours.

Over the last few months I’ve started...

Shakyapada

a million, billion, trillion thank you's

Wed, 25 Nov, 2015 - 18:21

a million, billion, trillion thank you's

Wed, 25 Nov, 2015 - 18:21

Undermining our desperate need to ‘fit-in’

At Saturday’s retreat, Uddoytani asked us to think of ways of introducing playfulness into our lives. We pinned suggestions on the walls for everyone to read and ultimately wrote them down on individual coloured paper ‘wheels of fortune’ that we’d made.

One suggestion was ‘give exaggerated thanks’.

Yesterday I enjoyed exaggeratedly thanking my partner Tim every time he made me a cup of tea. He laughed every time. This morning...

Shakyapada

Laugh Out Loud Wordplay

Tue, 24 Nov, 2015 - 23:23

Laugh Out Loud Wordplay

Tue, 24 Nov, 2015 - 23:23

Mandy Sutter is gazing at Billboards

Driving along in my van yesterday, I saw a poster advert that made me laugh out loud. It was Toyota’s ad for their new car, the Aygo. The ad has been around since last summer, but the message didn’t stand out to me until now, the week in which we’re trying to put fun on the agenda.

I love wordplay generally but think this is particularly good. Some will disagree, but I find...

Shakyapada

Pure escapism or just pure joy?

Tue, 24 Nov, 2015 - 10:42

Pure escapism or just pure joy?

Tue, 24 Nov, 2015 - 10:42

Mandy Sutter reflects on the X-Factor

I am secretly addicted to The X Factor. I say secretly because my partner, Tim, can’t stand the programme so I tend to watch it when he’s out. Usually I tell him I’ve watched it but sometimes I don’t (a woman has got to have SOME secrets). I agree there are bad things about the programme (for one thing it vaunts the celebrity culture) but I love seeing young wannabees singing,...

Shakyapada

Playfulness in the Shrine Room

Mon, 23 Nov, 2015 - 04:58

Playfulness in the Shrine Room

Mon, 23 Nov, 2015 - 04:58

Mandy Sutter reflects on yesterday’s playful Day Retreat

It was great to see everyone who made it along to the first event of our Urban Retreat yesterday.

For those who didn’t make it, we all agreed we’d take a little time out this week to be more playful. We thought it was a good way of dodging the pressure from self and others to be ‘useful’ members of society.
Samanartha read us some poems by the...

Shakyapada

Living in the Greater Mandala

Mon, 23 Nov, 2015 - 04:55

Living in the Greater Mandala

Mon, 23 Nov, 2015 - 04:55

Yesterday Uddyotani talked about the ‘playfulness’ of the Bodhisattva and referred to a chapter from Wisdom Beyond Words by Sangharakshita. If you would like to read the whole chapter for yourself, you can download it here. Don’t let the long title put you off! It is a fascinating piece, exploring how we can live our lives with more appreciation, more spaciousness and engagement, a greater eye for beauty and being less utilitarian in our attitude to the places and people around us.

Shakyapada

Parami's opening talk for the 2015 Urban Retreat

Sat, 21 Nov, 2015 - 17:04

Parami's opening talk for the 2015 Urban Retreat

Sat, 21 Nov, 2015 - 17:04

Parami gives the introductory talk for the 2015 Triratna International Urban Retreat live in Adelaide, Australia. Her theme - and the theme of the whole retreat - is ‘Living in the Greater Mandala’, and she brings this alive in the most human, poetic, and inspired of ways.

Her range is broad as she evokes the mandala itself, and the profound, playful path of the Bodhisattva. Calling forth Rumi and Hafiz, the great Buddhist Perfection of Wisdom texts, Keats, Yeats, Robert Hass, and Kenneth White, she...

Shakyapada

Notes from an Appealing Buddhist

Mon, 15 Jul, 2013 - 15:11

Notes from an Appealing Buddhist

Mon, 15 Jul, 2013 - 15:11Life on a Karuna door-knocking appeal

Looking back
Working on a Karuna door-knocking appeal is said to be the ‘classic’ transformative team experience: learning to ask something meaningful of another human being in a way that is authentic and sensitive and, in doing so, helping others who are much less fortunate than oneself. Jenny Roberts has recently returned from one such appeal and now she looks back at how it was for her.

It’s a beautiful sunny day...

Shakyapada

Notes from an Appealing Buddhist

Fri, 5 Jul, 2013 - 15:18

Notes from an Appealing Buddhist

Fri, 5 Jul, 2013 - 15:18Life on a Karuna door-knocking appeal

Previously (a week ago) on the Green Tara Appeal: Our actual target for the whole appeal is £1791 and with just 6 evenings to go we are still £739 short. So, between us, we need to find around £123 each evening in monthly donations. A big ask when we’ve averaged around £64 in the last four evenings. It’s a daunting task and the Green Tara Team really have their work cut out over...

Shakyapada

Notes from an Appealing Buddhist

Fri, 28 Jun, 2013 - 13:38

Notes from an Appealing Buddhist

Fri, 28 Jun, 2013 - 13:38Life on a Karuna door-knocking appeal

Day 34: Hitting targets, not hitting targets, or both or neither

The last day of week five and the heat is on for the Magnificent Seven of the Green Tara Appeal. The pace has picked up and the direct debits being collected are definitely on the increase.

But even though we are volunteers, these appeals still cost money to run, so our appeal target is based on a sound assessment of...