Tag: home retreat

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New Home Retreat: Turning Arrows Into Flowers - Starts Friday!

By Centre Team on Wed, 13 May, 2020 - 22:36

New Home Retreat: Turning Arrows Into Flowers - Starts Friday!

By Centre Team on Wed, 13 May, 2020 - 22:36

Turning Arrows Into Flowers
A Seven-Point Mind Training, May 15-22

A mythic image to sum up and symbolize the theme of this week is that of the Buddha on the cusp of his Enlightenment. He is sitting still at the point when Mara attacks him with all the weapons he can muster. But, as the story goes, even though the Buddha is attacked he does not react with anger, hatred or defensiveness. Instead he sits in complete peace and openness;...
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A Sustaining Community of Meditators: Reflections from Cambridge on Being Divine Online

By Vidyasakhi on Fri, 1 May, 2020 - 11:04

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

By Vidyasakhi 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...
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Navigating the Brahma Viharas - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 6

By Sadayasihi on Wed, 29 Apr, 2020 - 09:18
  • Meta River, marking part of the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela. Photo by USGS on Unsplash
  • Map of near and far enemies

Navigating the Brahma Viharas - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 6

By Sadayasihi on Wed, 29 Apr, 2020 - 09:18

Years ago I did a mountain navigation training over the course of two weekends. As part of that we had to bring an Ordnance Survey map of the area and, more excitingly, a fancy compass that included a magnifying glass, twirling dial and ruler. I was impatiently looking forward to using said compass - probably having visions of myself as a cross between a detective and a code breaker. To my surprise we seemed to spend much more of the time standing...
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Ever Greater Wholeheartedness - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 5

By viriyalila on Tue, 28 Apr, 2020 - 08:36

Ever Greater Wholeheartedness - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 5

By viriyalila on Tue, 28 Apr, 2020 - 08:36

Upekkha mystifies me. I’m really drawn to it as a state of being, and yet I’ve no idea how to describe it. I think it’s because I’ve lived most of my life bound by its near and far enemies of neutrality and indifference, and I want nothing more than to feel deeply with all beings. To imbibe equanimity is to be permeated by love, by compassion and by joy fully and wholeheartedly, without wavering, without shying away, without averting or hiding. 

I...
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A Day So Happy - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 4

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 27 Apr, 2020 - 08:31
  • Photo by John Duncan on Unsplash

A Day So Happy - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 4

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 27 Apr, 2020 - 08:31

A good few years ago I remember watching a film on TV with my sister. We generally don’t like the same type of films - and this one was a dance movie, not my favourite genre - so my attention was phasing in and out. But somewhere in the midst of the seeming silliness of the plot (a middle aged lawyer, played by Richard Gere, finds a dance teacher, Jennifer Lopez, and his life turns around for the better) something caught my...
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Welcome - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 1

By Sadayasihi on Fri, 24 Apr, 2020 - 11:20

Welcome - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 1

By Sadayasihi on Fri, 24 Apr, 2020 - 11:20

As the end of another week approaches, it’s always a good moment to take stock of things. It’s the end of yet another week of lockdown for many of us across the world - another week of re-adjusting to the new normal: of social distancing but increasing online connection. And it’s vital in making that transition that we bring all the Dharmic tools we can with us so that our online connections are rich and satisfying.

So for this home retreat...
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Free eBook this week is Living with Kindness

By dhammamegha on Mon, 20 Apr, 2020 - 14:25
  • Living with Kindness
  • Free the Dharma

Free eBook this week is Living with Kindness

By dhammamegha on Mon, 20 Apr, 2020 - 14:25

‘This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness, and who knows the path to peace…’

These are the opening lines of the Karaniya Metta Sutta, the discourse on loving kindness. This is the sutta that introduces the loving kindness or Metta Bhāvanā meditation practice. 

This week’s Windhorse Publications eBook giveaway is a commentary by Sangharakshita on this beautiful and practical guide to living a competent, ethical and liberating life. The book is Living with Kindness. You can download it here until...
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Only One Thing Among Many - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 7

By Sadayasihi on Thu, 9 Apr, 2020 - 12:52

Only One Thing Among Many - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 7

By Sadayasihi on Thu, 9 Apr, 2020 - 12:52

“Everything arises in dependence on conditions”. Even if you are relatively new to Buddhism you might be familiar with this concept (often summarised as ‘conditionality’) and even if you are not, it makes sense, in the way that the law of gravity makes sense. But do we live as if we believed that everything arises in dependence on conditions? Or do we secretly believe that if we can sort out the world around us, fix it somehow, nothing bad will...
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Only Possibilities - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 5

By Sadayasihi on Tue, 7 Apr, 2020 - 12:37
  • Claude Monet's Water Lilies

Only Possibilities - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 5

By Sadayasihi on Tue, 7 Apr, 2020 - 12:37

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. 

- Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne

This beautiful poem by Rumi popped into my head when I was reflecting on today’s home retreat material, which is about...
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How I'm Remembering to Remember - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 3

By Sadayasihi on Sun, 5 Apr, 2020 - 14:02
  • My daily reminder

How I'm Remembering to Remember - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 3

By Sadayasihi on Sun, 5 Apr, 2020 - 14:02

In these times, when so much is going on - when there’s a constant flow of information and the situation is seemingly changing by the hour - it can feel hard to maintain one’s practice. It can be hard to not be blown about by the worldly winds. 

I’ve been acutely aware of the extremes of my responses to even the smallest of things these past few days: joy at the sunlight streaming in the window, at exchanging smiles with a stranger...

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