Monday 30 May 2016

This week @ Beaches Sangha....

Hi all.

Sorry for the missing message last week....it seems that a couple of times a year I get too busy to remember to do it, or I remember and then forget, or I forget what day of the week it is! 

Anyhoo....this week we have a woman by the name of Diana Levy coming to Beaches Sangha for the first time, to do a dharma session with us using Haiku poetry. 



Diana is a teacher and author. She has been a student of zen for 38 years, and insight meditation more recently, in the last 13 years.  Her haiku and poems have been published in Australia, Japan, and America. In the last 15 years she’s taught the art of haiku to all ages. She founded and led the Blue Mountains Yatras from  2010 to 2014, leading mindful meditative walks. In the Blue Mountains Diana leads walks with various bushwalking groups. She is finishing a book about her walks there, in the haibun (haiku and prose) form.

I hope to see you there!
LL

Monday 16 May 2016

This week @ Beaches....



Hi all.

Well, 'Compassion Without Agenda' was such a hot topic that we didn't get through it all. I have to admit I've thought about it many times since last Thursday. Fortunately, we had a spare spot on the agenda (yes, we have one, and that's ok!) this week, so we are going to fill it with Part II of 'Compassion Without Agenda'.

I've also added a few more photos here (artsy ones courtesy of Mark) from the Beaches Sangha Retreat a few weeks ago.

I hope to see you there.
LL

Monday 9 May 2016

This week @ Beaches - Compassion without agenda



Compassion Without Agenda

Hi everyone. This week @ Beaches Sangha we have Sylvie giving a talk on one of our favourite topics - compassion. The term compassion comes from the Latin roots “cum”, which means “with”, and “passus”, which means “suffering”. So, to be compassionate, is to be able to “suffer with” and wishing all sentient beings to be free of suffering. Many times however, when we think that we are being compassionate, we aren’t. Our intention of wanting others to be “free of suffering” might be such that we are unable to actually “be with” their suffering more than a few seconds! In such times, we might eagerly take on the role of helper or expert. That becomes our agenda, whether we set it up consciously or not. We try to give advice or solve the other person’s problem. In doing so, we might feel quite good, but the other does not. In fact, they might feel diminished. Has that ever happened to you? This week, come and join Sylvie in an exploration of how we can be compassionate without agenda.

Also, this is the last call for anyone who'd like to attend this weekend's workshop: A Street Guide to Meditation & the Buddha's Teachings. There are only 3 places left, so please let me register a.s.a.p. if you'd like to come. (Mick, why isn't your name on this list? You're part of the reason I decided to run it!!)

See you Thursday.
LL

Monday 2 May 2016

This week @ Beaches

Hi all.

I'm looking forward to hearing about last week's talk! We had a lovely time on the Beaches Sangha retreat. There are a few photos here if you're interested.


This week we have Jonathan Page coming to give us a talk called 'Samvega and Pasada'. I have no idea what those words mean or what it's about, so it'll be an interesting surprise!

I hope to see you on Thursday night.
LL