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Work-Place Well-Being

From Windhorse Evolution on Wed, 14 Sep, 2011 - 00:00
Here's another hour-long talk given at Uddiyana (the Windhorse;evolution HQ in Cambridge). It is the third of six talks on the theme of Right Livelihood. Saddharaja recounts a tourist trip into a copper and arsenic mine in Devon with his mother, and how appalling the working conditions would have been for the Victorian miners there. We learn the origins of the Cornish pasty. He expands on the terrible UK working conditions in Victorian times, e.g. children and pregnant women pulling coal trucks barefoot in mine shafts, men slogging in dangerous conditions for long hours and little pay. We learn about how Lord Shaftsbury, Robert Owen and others improved working conditions for the Victorian workforce.

Saddharaja relates all this to modern Right Livelihood and what our values are regarding working conditions in terms of: a) The Law. b) As human beings. c) As Buddhists. d) As a business. We take good working conditions for granted in the modern-day Western world.

He goes on to explore well-being issues for today's Buddhist workforce in the UK, along with the latest occupational health trends, e.g. stress, muscoskeletal disorders and chronic fatigue. He suggests that as individuals must take responsibility for our health. He suggests a two-fold approach of: a) growth and development, and b) Seeing Things As They Really Are. All this relates to the Wheel of Life and the Spiral Path, and may not be easy to do in our ever-changing, pressurised modern world.

He offers six ways we can each invest in our work-life well-being: Six Awarenesses: physical activity, perceived demand, lifestyle, food intake, body and purpose. He sees these as deep investments which will pay off in our spiritual lives in the long-term.

During the talk he gives interesting visual images and stories to illustrate his points. He finishes the talk with a reading from Tsong Khapa.
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  • Getting started

    Welcome to our quick guide to the International Urban Retreat 2011. On these five sections (use the arrows or dots to navigate) you’ll find instructions for taking part at a Buddhist Centre near you or for joining in online. View all participating Centres. Or get started now…

    The Urban Retreat is designed and run by the Triratna Development Team, funded by Buddhist Centres around the world. It’s completely free to take part, and it’s contents are only accessible to members of the retreat.

    This year’s theme

    Our theme for 2011 is ‘Sailing the Worldly Winds’. The ‘worldly winds’ is a Buddhist teaching about how we can all get blown about by changing circumstances in our life. When things don’t go the way we want we can get anxious, irritable, or we can just lose initiative. The urban retreat provides teachings and practices to help recognise these situations and respond to them with greater equanimity. Read more about how an urban retreat works.

     

     

  • Course materials

    We’ll offer full instruction for the retreat online, but you can also buy Vajragupta’s new book: ‘Sailing the Worldly Winds’. It’s not essential to read it to be able to take part, but it’s a great guide to the material we’ll be dealing with and will help you make the most of your retreat. You can download a sample chapter, or read it here (it’s also embedded for easy reading on the last panel here).

    Online resources:

    • You’ll be able to take part in our online practice group and post comments and questions, as well as images, quotes and videos inspired by your own experience on retreat.
    • Listen to short talks on the worldly winds. Each day of the week there will be a ten-minute inspirational talk, and each speaker will be from a different part of the world.

  • To join in the online urban retreat, this is what you’ll need to do:

    • Log-on each day, Saturday 8th to Saturday 15th, and get the ‘teaching’ for that day. This will be a short video talk, or a short text, followed by some questions and reflections, and then suggestions for how to practice that day. The reflections and suggested practices are designed so that you can keep them in mind as you go about your day – at work, home, college – wherever you are.
    • Each day you log-on you’ll be asked to review how you got on with your practice the day before, and then be given a new ‘teaching’ for the day to come.
    • You can log-in from anywhere in the world and at any time of day. The first two days there is a bit more input, during the week daily input will be simpler.
    • On or before the second day, Sunday, you’ll also need to print out six copies of the urban retreat practice diary.

  • View the Metta Wave in a larger map

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Candradasa

The International Urban Retreat 2011

From Triratna News on Tue, 13 Sep, 2011 - 16:24

The International Urban Retreat 2011

From Triratna News on Tue, 13 Sep, 2011 - 16:24From Saturday 8th to Saturday 15th October, many Triratna Buddhist Centres across five continents will be running the International Urban Retreat. It’s like a retreat, in that it’s designed to help you practice the Buddha’s teachings more deeply and fully. But it’s an urban retreat because you do it by staying in your home situation – so it’s about learning to make Buddhist practice real and effective in daily life.

See our new...
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lokabandhu

New Websites from Vishvapani and Kamalashila

From Triratna News on Fri, 9 Sep, 2011 - 05:42

New Websites from Vishvapani and Kamalashila

From Triratna News on Fri, 9 Sep, 2011 - 05:42Today we’re delighted to bring you two new websites by Vishvapani and Kamalashila, both senior members of the Triratna Buddhist Order and well-known teachers, authors, and broadcasters. We’ll be featuring content from both sites when we launch our own blogs later this year.

Vishvapani, probably best-known for his regular appearances on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Thought for the Day’, writes with news of his new website and blog, ‘Wise Attention’, where he’s brought...
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lokabandhu

Foundation Stone Laid for the New Buddhist Gate in Berlin

From Triratna News on Thu, 8 Sep, 2011 - 05:48

Foundation Stone Laid for the New Buddhist Gate in Berlin

From Triratna News on Thu, 8 Sep, 2011 - 05:48Karunabandhu writes from Triratna’s Berlin Centre, the Buddhistisches Tor Berlin, where they’re in the middle of a major project to move the Centre to new and much larger premises. He says:

“On Sunday, 31st July in the basement of House 12 of the former Urban Hospital in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Amogharatna laid the foundation stone of the new premises for the Triratna centre in Berlin, known as The Buddhist Gate or Buddhistisches Tor Berlin. Over...
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jnanarakshita

Two More Site Visits for the Sangharakshita Land Project

From Triratna News on Thu, 8 Sep, 2011 - 04:21

Two More Site Visits for the Sangharakshita Land Project

From Triratna News on Thu, 8 Sep, 2011 - 04:21

Mokshapriya writes: “Firstly I’d like to thank all those of you that have been sending me web links to possible suitable properties. It’s great to have the help particularly when you come across places being sold through local agents or not even on the market. Keep it up! We have visited two properties recently that are worth mentioning. The first was situated in it’s own secluded valley of 152 acres. The land consisted of woodland, grass paddocks and small lakes...
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lokabandhu

Taraloka Hosts Volunteer Action for Peace

From Triratna News on Wed, 7 Sep, 2011 - 10:48

Taraloka Hosts Volunteer Action for Peace

From Triratna News on Wed, 7 Sep, 2011 - 10:48Jo writes from Taraloka, Triratna’s women’s retreat centre in Shropshire UK, saying : “We thought you might like to know what we’ve been doing here at Taraloka over the summer time…

From the 12th to the 26th August 2011, the Taraloka Mitras, together with Kate German (volunteering with us for 3 months) and Kate Arrowsmith (from Sheffield), ran a two week work retreat with 12 young volunteers from around the world, recruited by Volunteer Action...
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Free Buddhist Audio

The Selfless Mind

From Cambridge Buddhist Centre on Wed, 7 Sep, 2011 - 01:00
What if all of our emotional and spiritual problems were caused by an incorrect understanding of our true nature? Vajrapriya explores the Buddha's insight that our commonsense assumptions about ourselves are the source of our suffering.

Unpicking those assumptions is the first step to the arising of a wisdom that leads to an expansive and liberating way of relating to others and the world.

Talk 2 in a series of 4 talks entitled 'Powers of the Mind' given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, April 2011.
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Free Buddhist Audio

The Liberated Mind

From Cambridge Buddhist Centre on Wed, 7 Sep, 2011 - 01:00
A pithy talk exploring the Buddha's practical suggestions to find greater freedom in one's life - genuine freedom that does not rely on external factors to give a sense of freedom.

Third in a series of four talks given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre in 2011 on the theme 'The Powers of Mind'
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Free Buddhist Audio

The Blissful Mind

From Cambridge Buddhist Centre on Wed, 7 Sep, 2011 - 00:00
Vajradevi explores bliss, happiness, joy and their relationship to the Buddhist path. What stops us feeling happy more of the time? Is there a difference between freedom of desire and freedom from desire?

Last of a series of four talks entitled 'The Powers of the Mind' given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre in April 2011.
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