Day Retreats with teachings specifically designed for the Triratna Buddhist Order, happening soon at the West London Buddhist Centre in Bayswater. YASHOBODHI, TEJANANDA and ABHAYA are each offering events.
Part of the aim of the new centre is to serve seasoned dharma practitioners. I.e. you.
We are creating a regular space for all Order members to interact and share experience of dharma.
The events are open to all Order members from all centres. WLBC is near Paddington and accessible from Bristol, Brighton, Cambridge, Birmingham and elsewhere. It’s a great venue, worth coming down for the day.
West London Buddhist Centre, 45a Porchester Road W2 5DP
Events begin at ten and continue until five on the middle Sundays in every month (i.e. not first or last).
NEW! Please note we will try to let latecomers in… but our old ‘turn up when you like’ policy seems inappropriate on a weekend event. So please arrive on time!
E V E N T S
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Feb 15 YASHOBODHI: The Fifth Mind Training
Currently there is a lot of discussion in the order about insight.
Some profess to have gone through the gateless gate, whilst others call for caution and point to the seemingly well-trodden path of regular steps.
Why would we walk any path if we didn’t expect to make progress? What does progress on the path actually look like?
The fifth point of the seven point mind training offers some benchmarks to look at signs of proficiency in mind training, which is the business we’re all in. During this order practice day we shall reflect on these benchmarks and discuss.
Mar 8 TEJANANDA: ‘Exploring the Three Bodies’
In this day workshop we’ll be exploring the real nature of the body & embodiment. Usually we think ‘we’ are walking around in a body of flesh and that the world is ‘out there’. But is this how things actually are? By looking at our actual experience in a directed, inquisitive and playful way, we can begin to discover what’s really going on: right here we have access to the ‘pure relative truth’ of the body which reflects the Three Bodies of the Buddha - the Trikaya. These three dimensions of experience are the apparent body, the sensations we take to be our ‘ordinary body’, the subtle ‘energy’ body and the body of ‘space’ and ‘awareness’. These are ways of talking about our actual experience right now, once we notice what is really going on in direct experience.
The day is intended to challenge our preconceptions about ‘what we are’ and will centre around ‘spiritual death’ and ‘spiritual rebirth’ practice: death of the deluded view of what we are, rebirth to our actual nature as pure relative truth.
Mar 15 ABHAYA: Beauty
“Beauty is Important” —Sangharakshita, in a recent conversation.
With the one of the 6 Distinctive Emphases, (slightly expanded), of the spiritual value of beauty, we will be spending most of the day contemplating beauty. There will be two short presentations by Abhaya, each followed by an activity encouraging us to contemplate and appreciate what we find beautiful.
Those who come are asked to bring something which they find beautiful, either an object, a flower for example, a precious or semi precious stone, or a short text.
The meditation in the morning will be the Kasina practice.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Part of the aim of the new centre is to serve seasoned dharma practitioners. I.e. you.
We are creating a regular space for all Order members to interact and share experience of dharma.
The events are open to all Order members from all centres. WLBC is near Paddington and accessible from Bristol, Brighton, Cambridge, Birmingham and elsewhere. It’s a great venue, worth coming down for the day.
West London Buddhist Centre, 45a Porchester Road W2 5DP
Events begin at ten and continue until five on the middle Sundays in every month (i.e. not first or last).
NEW! Please note we will try to let latecomers in… but our old ‘turn up when you like’ policy seems inappropriate on a weekend event. So please arrive on time!
E V E N T S
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
Feb 15 YASHOBODHI: The Fifth Mind Training
Currently there is a lot of discussion in the order about insight.
Some profess to have gone through the gateless gate, whilst others call for caution and point to the seemingly well-trodden path of regular steps.
Why would we walk any path if we didn’t expect to make progress? What does progress on the path actually look like?
The fifth point of the seven point mind training offers some benchmarks to look at signs of proficiency in mind training, which is the business we’re all in. During this order practice day we shall reflect on these benchmarks and discuss.
Mar 8 TEJANANDA: ‘Exploring the Three Bodies’
In this day workshop we’ll be exploring the real nature of the body & embodiment. Usually we think ‘we’ are walking around in a body of flesh and that the world is ‘out there’. But is this how things actually are? By looking at our actual experience in a directed, inquisitive and playful way, we can begin to discover what’s really going on: right here we have access to the ‘pure relative truth’ of the body which reflects the Three Bodies of the Buddha - the Trikaya. These three dimensions of experience are the apparent body, the sensations we take to be our ‘ordinary body’, the subtle ‘energy’ body and the body of ‘space’ and ‘awareness’. These are ways of talking about our actual experience right now, once we notice what is really going on in direct experience.
The day is intended to challenge our preconceptions about ‘what we are’ and will centre around ‘spiritual death’ and ‘spiritual rebirth’ practice: death of the deluded view of what we are, rebirth to our actual nature as pure relative truth.
Mar 15 ABHAYA: Beauty
“Beauty is Important” —Sangharakshita, in a recent conversation.
With the one of the 6 Distinctive Emphases, (slightly expanded), of the spiritual value of beauty, we will be spending most of the day contemplating beauty. There will be two short presentations by Abhaya, each followed by an activity encouraging us to contemplate and appreciate what we find beautiful.
Those who come are asked to bring something which they find beautiful, either an object, a flower for example, a precious or semi precious stone, or a short text.
The meditation in the morning will be the Kasina practice.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
