Tag: brahma viharas

Bristol Buddhist Centre

The Suffusion of the Divine Abidings (Brahma Viharas)

By Centre Team on Tue, 17 Mar, 2015 - 18:40Some reflection verses from the retreat to help dedicate your intention…

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Bristol Buddhist Centre

Day 3: Notes on Love - Approaching the Metta Bhavana

By Centre Team on Tue, 17 Mar, 2015 - 17:29

Some lovely, personal notes on the core practice in the Brahma Viharas sequence - the cultivation of loving kindness (metta), which is said to glow, shine and blaze forth like the sun… From Rumi and Subhuti to the Itivuttaka, we hear about how love transforms both self and world in ways extraordinary and everyday.

The short guided meditation and initial notes are by Ratnavandana. The main talk is by Jvalamalini.

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Bristol Buddhist Centre

Day 4: Karuna & Amitabha

By jvalamalini on Tue, 17 Mar, 2015 - 14:57

Day 4: Karuna & Amitabha

By jvalamalini on Tue, 17 Mar, 2015 - 14:57After days of gloom outside it’s wonderful to have spring sunshine today as we move into contemplating karuna - which Sangharakshita has described as like metta with a shadow over it.

Ratnavandana says:
It is good to reflect on our attitudes to suffering, whether it’s physical or emotional. I know for a long time I had this a sense that somehow suffering was wrong, that I shouldn’t be suffering, so there was a feeling of failure there which was...

Bristol Buddhist Centre

compassion acting on sympathetic joy

By jvalamalini on Tue, 17 Mar, 2015 - 14:36

Compassion prevents love and sympathetic joy from turning into states of self-satisfied complacency with a jealously-guarded petty happiness. Compassion stirs and urges love to widen its sphere; it stirs and urges sympathetic joy to search for fresh nourishment. Thus it helps both of them to grow into boundless states.
Nyanaponika Thera

Bristol Buddhist Centre

not mere luxuries

By jvalamalini on Tue, 17 Mar, 2015 - 14:33

Compassion and love are not mere luxuries.As the source both of inner and external peace, they are fundamental to the continued survival of our species
Dalai Lama

Bristol Buddhist Centre

only one brahma vihara

By jvalamalini on Tue, 17 Mar, 2015 - 14:31

In a way there is only one Brahma Vihara and it’s the Metta Bhavana, but when you, with your metta, happen to come into contact with pain and suffering, the metta automatically, or rather spontaneously, becomes transformed into Karuna. When it comes into contact with the joy of others, it automatically becomes transformed into sympathetic joy. And similarly when your metta is extended equally towards all there is equanimity. So YOU look after metta and the other three will look after themselves. You don’t have to think about them. They depend on circumstances.
Sangharakshita

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Day 2: Living in the Mandala (With Guided Meditation)

By Centre Team on Mon, 16 Mar, 2015 - 23:13

In her second talk of the 2015 Rainy Season Retreat, Ratnavandana embarks on a personal sharing of how her life has been transformed by deciding to go and live in the mandala of the Brahma Viharas and the Jinas themselves. Her deep love of the practices represents both an inspired and eminently practical vision of how to orientate yourself on the great map of the way…

Includes a guided meditation practice to help you find your feet wherever you...

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Bristol Buddhist Centre

what you really love

By jvalamalini on Mon, 16 Mar, 2015 - 14:04

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love
It will never lead you astray
Rumi

Bristol Buddhist Centre

live like a river flows

By jvalamalini on Mon, 16 Mar, 2015 - 14:02

I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding
John O'Donohue

Bristol Buddhist Centre

Day 3: Metta and Aksobhya day

By jvalamalini on Mon, 16 Mar, 2015 - 13:59

Day 3: Metta and Aksobhya day

By jvalamalini on Mon, 16 Mar, 2015 - 13:59A damp grey Monday morning outside and the warmth of the Sangha and colour of the mandala in our shrine room.

Today we’re exploring metta in the brahma vihara realm and allowing Aksobhya’s qualities to draw us.

We did metta exercises in pairs, looking at each other with metta, and describing ourselves as our best friend would, then Ratnavandana gave a lovely short introduction to the metta bhavana which she led. She talked about not ‘doing’ the practice...

Tag: brahma viharas

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