Monday 26 March 2018

This week @ Beaches - walking the talk


Hi all.

I just realised this week was completely missing from our Sangha schedule. I thought about doing an extra Sutta Study, but then some of you might have planned not to read the next sutta until next week as per the schedule. So this week I thought we could use the session to reflect on the topics we've covered so far this year and what, if anything, we've actually done differently as a result of the insights we've had.

Hope to see you there.
LL

Sunday 18 March 2018

This week....talking meditation....what the??


Hi all.

This week @ Beaches Sangha we have our Wild Card session. The topic for March is 'Insight Dialogue'. 

This is a process that treats conversation as meditation. If you think about it, we spend a heck of a lot of time speaking with others, and Gotama (the Buddha) put great emphasis on the importance of speech. So in line with the idea that 'practice' is the way we live our lives, if we can bring meditative qualities to the way that we interact, that's going to be really helpful.

I hope to see you there.
LL

(Photo by Ben White on unsplash.com)

Tuesday 13 March 2018

This week @ Beaches


Hi all.

This week @ Beaches, we have our monthly Open Discussion. I'd like to start it by sharing any reflections on the last two sessions (Sutta Study and Everyday Addiction), and what, if anything, people have been noticing or doing differently to put insights into practice. 

Of course it's also our opportunity to bring to the table anything from daily life for discussion on how the dharma applies and can be helpful to us.

Hope to see you there.
LL

Monday 5 March 2018

Wrapping up last week....and this week @ Beaches...

Hi guys.

Wrapping up last week....
Thanks everyone for an excellent night of sutta study last week. The questions and discussion were terrific and I was really looking forward to posting the podcast for those who couldn't make it. Unfortunately my darling husband unwittingly put a corrupted memory card into my fancy new digital recorder, and I discovered that only the first two minutes were recorded. 


I was a bit devo'd as it was a cracker of a session! I think our virtual sangha would have found it very helpful. Disappointment arose.

Since the session ended, I've had a few more thoughts that move me to clarify a few things we discussed. Click here to read them.  

Also, we ran out of time to think about the last 2 questions on Wallis’ list. What does the insight from the text demand of me? And to what extent am I willing to do that? My sense is that it demands us to catch ourselves in the act of impulsively reaching for more, more, more when we experience pleasure, and instead be mindfully present to the current pleasant experience, letting it go when it naturally passes. Let's discuss that before we begin next month's session.

This week....
This week we have Sylvie running a session called 'Everyday Addiction', which will probably follow on quite nicely from our discussion last week I suspect. It will be interesting for sure. I hope to see you there.

LL