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Vishvapani

It Was Like This: You Were Happy

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Tue, 11 Oct, 2011 - 16:03

Jane Hirshfield

It Was Like This: You Were Happy

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Tue, 11 Oct, 2011 - 16:03

This poem by an American Buddhist poet reflects on vicissitude by looking back when life is over. What stays with you? What does it mean? The poem strips away the dramas and interpretations that embellish our experience leaving just the raw material

It Was Like This: You Were Happy
It was like this:
you were happy, then you were sad,
then happy again, then not.
It went on.
You were innocent or you were guilty.
Actions were taken, or not.
At times you spoke, at other times you were silent.
Mostly, it seems you were silent—what could you say?
Now
...

Manjupriya

Manjupriya - Pleasure and Pain

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Tue, 11 Oct, 2011 - 06:00

Manjupriya - Pleasure and Pain by thebuddhistcentre

Listen on iOS or get the app. Here’s Manjupriya in conversation with Jnanarakshita as a Soundcloud. (NB. There are passages of very poor sound quality, but it should all be listenable now.)

Download this track

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

lokabandhu

Exercises and reflections for Tuesday: Voicethread edition

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 21:00

Full screen version

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

vajragupta

Exercises and reflections for Tuesday: how’s it going? Learning to review our practice

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 17:32

Exercises and reflections for Tuesday: how’s it going? Learning to review our practice

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 17:32

The Urban Retreat is now well under way. During the weekend we learnt about the worldly winds, how we might turn them from obstacles into spiritual opportunities, and then we made our own personal practice resolutions. Yesterday we set up various “reminders” to help us keep clear about our sense of purpose even when we’re in the thick of it. Today we’ll explore the “review” section of the Urban Retreat diary.

This is the last main section of the...

Kavyasiddhi

Fantasy arguments, feeling afraid, and why to keep lines from the Sutra of Golden Light handy...

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 17:21

Fantasy arguments, feeling afraid, and why to keep lines from the Sutra of Golden Light handy...

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 17:21

Fantasy arguments, feeling afraid, and why to keep lines from the Sutra of Golden Light handy… Need I say more? You’ll just have to watch the video!

Vishvapani

The Worldly Winds and Wisdom

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 17:17

Vespasian's Triumph

The Worldly Winds and Wisdom

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 17:17

Insight, Wisdom and Enlightenment are big, impressive and rather scary words. It’s easy to think that they are far beyond the level of our daily practice and that what’s relevant right now is just simple ethics, mindfulness and trying to be kind. But digging a bit deeper into the issues we confront, and especially considering them in the light of the Buddha’s teachings, they often turn out to touch on deeper truths. The things that happen to us every day...

Vidyamala

The Buddha’s teaching of pleasure and pain (extended version)

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 16:53

The Buddha’s teaching of pleasure and pain (extended version)

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 16:53

In this extended version (twice as long) Vidyabhadri interviews me on the Buddha’s teaching of pleasure and pain (two of the worldly winds) and ways we can respond more skilfully to them. I’m in Manchester UK, a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order and co-founder of Breathworks (breathworks-mindfulness.org.uk), which offers people living with chronic pain the potential to improve and transform their quality of life.

Vidyamala

Vidyamala - Pleasure and Pain (extended version)

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 12:00

Vidyamala - Pleasure and Pain (extended version)

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 12:00

The Worldly Winds - Pleasure and Pain (Extended Version), International Urban Retreat 2011 by thebuddhistcentre

Listen on iOS or get the app. Here’s the extended version (twice as long!) of Vidyamala’s contribution to the retreat, as a Soundcloud.

Download this track

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

vajragupta

Worldly winds blowing everywhere...

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 11:07

Worldly winds blowing everywhere...

From The Urban Retreat 2011 on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 11:07

Hello Everyone, I’m taking part in the urban retreat in Cardiff, UK. There was about 30 of us on the day retreat on Saturday, and lots of excitement and enthusiasm. I’m intrigued to see how it goes - both in Cardiff and on thebuddhistcentre.com … to see how it all works and what difference it makes to people’s practice… I get the sense that the Buddha’s teaching of the worldly winds is just as relevant today as it was...

lokabandhu

Worldly Winds in the News

From Triratna News on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 10:03

Worldly Winds in the News

From Triratna News on Mon, 10 Oct, 2011 - 10:03

Triratna’s International Urban Retreat, ‘Sailing the Worldly Winds’, is now in its third day, with well over 200 people registered for the on-line version, plus over 55 Buddhist Centres around the world. Check it out at thebuddhistcentre.com/urbanretreat - it’s not too late to join in.

We’re delighted to be featuring Vishvapani as a guest ‘blogger’ on the retreat, and today he shares with the retreat his BBC Radio 4 ‘Thought for the Day’ - which happens to...

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