Tag: homeretreat

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Personal Reflections from the Week - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat

By kusaladevi on Fri, 10 Apr, 2020 - 19:21

Personal Reflections from the Week - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat

By kusaladevi on Fri, 10 Apr, 2020 - 19:21

It’s been quite a busy week for me - I started two new jobs in the last three weeks and have had various deadlines this week. But despite that, I have still enjoyed and benefited greatly from the Home Retreat. Thinking about Vajragupta’s reflections has given me a very particular focus to my Dharma practice this week, and helped me...
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Post-Retreat Resources - Sailing the Worldly Winds

By Centre Team on Fri, 10 Apr, 2020 - 17:29

Post-Retreat Resources - Sailing the Worldly Winds

By Centre Team on Fri, 10 Apr, 2020 - 17:29

We hope you have enjoyed Sailing the Worldly Winds with us this week! Whether you have had the time and space to engage in a full retreat, or you have just dipped in and appreciated a few lines of Dharma here and there, we hope the material has been inspiring and helpful while you are spending more time at home.

One of the highlights of the week was the...
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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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Letting Go - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 6

By kusaladevi on Wed, 8 Apr, 2020 - 18:22

Letting Go - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 6

By kusaladevi on Wed, 8 Apr, 2020 - 18:22

In today’s reflection Vajragupta encourages us to identify negative thoughts and emotions in meditation and let them go. “Ah yes”, I thought to myself as I read this reflection, “let them go”… but then I realised this phrase has quite a particular meaning for me. I often use this phrase, to myself or when speaking to others - let go - what does it really mean and how can we actually practice it? Vajragupta does explain this when...
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Buddhism and Inequality: An Opportunity to Respond to Need in India

By kusaladevi on Wed, 8 Apr, 2020 - 11:30

For the home retreat, we have been reflecting on material from Vajragupta around Sailing the Worldly Winds. As Vajragupta said in one of his introductory talks, the worldly winds can blow both individually, within us, but also within society and the world. 

We have an opportunity when ‘Sailing the Worldly Winds’ to remember that they are not personal - they don’t only blow through us, but they blow all over the world and in some places and some cases they...
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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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A Buddhist Way Through the Ups and Downs of Life: Live Q & A (The Dharma Toolkit Daily, Episode 11)

By Centre Team on Tue, 7 Apr, 2020 - 00:41

As part of our week-long Home Retreat on ‘Sailing the Worldly Winds - A Buddhist Way Through the Ups and Downs of Life’, we are delighted to host here for a live online Q & A, Vajragupta the author and Dharma teacher behind the retreat itself.

A great, wide-ranging and practical discussion about what this classic Buddhist teaching has to say to us about caring for ourselves and each other during the current coronavirus / Covid-19 pandemic. And what...
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Changing Practice in Times of Crisis - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 4

By kusaladevi on Mon, 6 Apr, 2020 - 12:36

Changing Practice in Times of Crisis - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat Day 4

By kusaladevi on Mon, 6 Apr, 2020 - 12:36

In today’s reflection, Vajragupta suggests we review our practice so far and how we are getting on with Sailing the Worldly Winds. In times of adversity, I am often more able to honestly review my practice - how am I coping with the uncertainty? Based on my response to a crisis, I can often see more clearly which areas of my practice require attention and where I have set up positive conditions and responses within my mind. I...
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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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Truthfulness As a Teacher - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat, Day Two

By kusaladevi on Sat, 4 Apr, 2020 - 14:00

Truthfulness As a Teacher - Sailing the Worldly Winds Home Retreat, Day Two

By kusaladevi on Sat, 4 Apr, 2020 - 14:00

Truthfulness has always been very important to me. It’s something which I valued long before I came across the Dharma. So I was quite struck when Vajragupta suggested the opportunity to practice truthfulness when the winds of Praise and Blame are blowing. Praise and Blame are the Worldly winds I notice most in my experience, or perhaps the ones I am blown about by most strongly.

So I started to reflect on this - how might truthfulness help me when...

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