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kusaladevi

Closing the Being Divine Online home retreat

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 17:01

Closing the Being Divine Online home retreat

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 17:01

We hope you have enjoyed Being Divine Online with us this week!

The retreat ended with this beautiful song by Ratnavandana, which retreatants sing together at the end of her Brahma Viharas retreats.

Thank you so much to Ratnavandana for supplying us with these fantastic resources around the Brahma Viharas, for sharing her practice and experience so fully and for her wonderful evocation and explanation of the Divine Abodes in the Q & A where 138 of us gathered together.

Look out too for a ...

Aryajaya

Bodhicitta Practice and Order Resources

From Order Connection on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 17:00

Bodhicitta Practice and Order Resources

From Order Connection on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 17:00

Sunday Order Bodhicitta Practice
…and some inspiration for the week ahead
Sunday 3rd May

‘..the cultivated emotions of the brahma viharas pass through the fires of sunnata, or emptiness - that is, non-self or non-duality - thus giving rise to the bodhicitta, the wisdom heart.’ Living with Kindness, Sangharakshita

As the first Sunday in May this would usually be a reminder of the Order metta monthly practice around the world. However, current times not being usual, we have been responding to the Covid-19 crisis through...

Read more about Bodhicitta Practice and Order Resources

akasajoti

Countdown to #buddhaday - 8 days to go...

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 13:50

Countdown to #buddhaday - 8 days to go...

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 13:50

Countdown to #buddhaday !⠀
⠀
We’re looking forward to sharing footage from the Clear Vision Trust archive, gathered for our Buddha Day celebrations, of Sangharakshita talking about the Buddha and his Enlightenment.⠀
⠀
thebuddhistcentre.com/buddha-day for the programme and to join in!⠀
⠀
🎧 …and from the Free Buddhist Audio archives, ‘Readings from the Pali Canon’ by Sangharakshita, with a beautiful booklet here.
⠀
📷 The Buddha’s...

Maitriyogini

Subhuti's Warning

From Adhisthana on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 12:51

Subhuti's Warning

From Adhisthana on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 12:51

In the last of these three short videos showing a conversation between Subhuti and James, Subhuti reflects on what not to do during lockdown, and how we can distract ourselves by using the internet as a means to avoid our present moment experience.

Vidyasakhi

A Sustaining Community of Meditators: Reflections from Cambridge on Being Divine Online

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 11:04

A Sustaining Community of Meditators: Reflections from Cambridge on Being Divine Online

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 11:04

Arthasiddhi, myself and around 40 friends, mitras and Order members from Cambridge sangha have been following the Being Divine Online Home Retreat as a community within the wider community, adding to the mix some of our own meditation sessions (every day at 8 am), three zoom plenaries (or check-ins) and WhatsApp home groups, as well as attending evening events at Cambridge Buddhist Centre online. It has been such a joy: and we’ve deeply appreciated the richness of Ratnavandana’s experience and teachings...

Sadayasihi

Song of the Brahma Viharas - Being Divine Online home retreat

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 09:06

Song of the Brahma Viharas - Being Divine Online home retreat

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 09:06

It’s always good to finish things with a song - and happily, today, here’s one! It’s Ratnavandana chanting the Brahma Viharas song that is usually learned on each ‘Living in the Mandala’ retreat that she leads.

As Ratnavandana kindly sent on some lovely nature photos she has taken, we have made this into a short video which you can enjoy, and hopefully get a feeling for the Brahma Viharas “pervading all quarters”.

The text from this song comes from...

akasajoti

Suryagupta and Subhuti in Conversation

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Thu, 30 Apr, 2020 - 23:02

Suryagupta and Subhuti in Conversation

From The Community Toolkit for Uncertain Times on Thu, 30 Apr, 2020 - 23:02

On Sunday 19th, Suryagupta hosted a conversation with Subhuti on ‘Life, Death and Dying’ for the London Buddhist Centre, themes that are very much with us right now.

It was an insightful and meaningful conversation, and Subhuti invited us to work as positively as we can with the challenges that the Coronavirus pandemic brings - so we hope the reflections in the interview give you inspiration to take your practice deeper.

Jinamitra

Update on Vajrasadhu

From Order Connection on Thu, 30 Apr, 2020 - 18:05

Update on Vajrasadhu

From Order Connection on Thu, 30 Apr, 2020 - 18:05

Dear Order members,

Padmavasini writes:

Vajrasadhu is making a little progress. The stroke is in the form of a bleed not a clot. They are still trying to regulate his blood pressure. He still cannot speak or see clearly or swallow but they can get him onto a chair and the speech therapist reads him emails and shows photos. I understand they are working from getting the muscles working again to lessen the bleed.

Contact from friends would be really good. You can...

Read more about Update on Vajrasadhu

Centre Team

Support the Nagaloka Relief Fund

From Triratna India on Thu, 30 Apr, 2020 - 17:50

Support the Nagaloka Relief Fund

From Triratna India on Thu, 30 Apr, 2020 - 17:50

Nagaloka is a Buddhist training and conference centre located in Nagpur, India. It is home to the Nagarjuna Training Institute, which provides a residential training course in Buddhism and social activism. At the moment the Nagaloka team is responding rapidly to the coronavirus outbreak by focusing on reducing human to human transmission and providing people with the basic needs - such as food, napkins, soap, masks - and supporting people in the most vulnerable communities in India.

According...

Satyakirti

A Bodhisattva's Mindfulness - Bodhicaryavatara Chapter 5

From Padmaloka Retreat Centre on Thu, 30 Apr, 2020 - 15:11

A Bodhisattva's Mindfulness - Bodhicaryavatara Chapter 5

From Padmaloka Retreat Centre on Thu, 30 Apr, 2020 - 15:11

‘One should speak confident, measured words, clear in meaning, delighting the mind, pleasing to the ear, soft and slow, and stemming from love’

In his fifth talk devoted to the Bodhicaryavatara, Padmavajra explores chapter five ‘The Guarding of Total Awareness’. In this chapter Shantideva makes vividly clear the importance of mindfulness and awareness of purpose in the Bodhisattvas life. Shantideva tells us about the centrality and power of the mind and the need for scrupulous attention to every detail of our lives.

His discussion...

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