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Happy New Year, Course starting 10th Jan and Two retreats coming up

Hi everybody and Happy New Year!

Of course on one level, we are all living in the continuous eternal present with memories of the dead past, and imagined future. But on another level, we choose to divide things up into units of seconds, days, years etc.

So on that basis, it is almost a feeling of relief that we have finally completed yet another year – 2022. We probably had good and bad times, successes and failures. But now, at last we can start again with a brand new slate.

So we often see things a bit more clearly, after reflecting on the past, and looking forward to the future. Maybe we might be thinking we might be happier if we made a bit more effort to do things that are good for us like exercise, eating healthily, and of course meditating and connecting with spiritual friends!

We all know that new year’s resolutions have a bad track record of success.

But that does not mean that we should give up completely.

Let us make the effort, and commit ourselves to things we think will not only make us happy, but also bring joy, meaning, friendship and community into our lives.

The problem with new year’s resolutions is not that we make them. It is that we stop making them. I think we should be continually making those sort of resolutions over and over throughout the year. When we do not live up to them, that is OK, we are not perfect. Just start again the following day with more commitment.

For me, the sort of things I have in mind are exercising every day, reducing sugar, processed food and alcohol, meditating with a group once a week, and meditating at home daily. I have found that for me, doing my best to follow these makes me a much happier person.

So please make your own list, and see what works best for you and your lifestyle.

We are starting a course on Tuesday evening 10th Jan for 6 Tuesday evenings. Why not come along? It is perfect for anyone who has not been before, anyone who has not been for a while, plus anyone else who comes all the time.

We will teach meditation and give full instruction, then after the tea break we will give talks, and lead discussions on “The Taste of Freedom”

03/1 Padmajata
10/1 Keith – Course week 1
17/1 Amber – Course week 2
24/1 Mangala – Course week 3
31/2 Helen – Course week 3
07/2 etc to be confirmed

I also wanted to mention that 9 people from Hertford recently attended a weekend retreat at Vajrasana hosted by the Cambridge Buddhist Centre. It was really a wonderful weekend. It was lovely to be in the snowy countryside with our sangha, and also meet new people from the larger Cambridge sangha. We made a lot of new friends, and deepened our existing friendships.

https://www.cambridgebuddhistcentre.com/retreats lists two more retreats that you might be interested in:

3-5 March for newcomers and regulars
and
11-16 June for regulars

also at Vajrasana

That is all for now. I hope to see you soon.

Happy 2023!

Keith

Because of the snow and ice, we are on zoom tonight 13th Dec

The zoom link is https://hertfordbuddhistgroup.co.uk/zoom , and it is also clickable form the menu bar of the website.

Please do not turn up at the Millbridge Rooms, as there will be no one there!

It will be a great evening, and Nigel will be talking about Going For Refuge in the second half.

Just zoom in at 7.30pm. Class will end at 9.30pm and there will be a break in the middle.

Next week on the 20th Dec we will be back face to face, and we will have Sangha Soiree with several acts including the acclaimed Mid Essex Buddhist Centre Band 🙂

Let me know asap if you would like to perform or present anything.

No class on the 27th Dec, and we are back face to face again on 3rd Jan.

Sangha Soiree and then a new course on 10th Jan

Hi everybody

December is always a bit of a funny month and a mix of heightened emotions of various types. But at least most of us can have a bit of a rest once Christmas Day is over.

It is a special month too at Hertford Buddhist Group. Many of us are going away on retreat the weekend before Christmas with the Cambridge Sangha.

Then on 20th Dec we are having Sangha Soiree (back by popular demand).

So if you are a regular, and fancy giving some kind of performance, then just let me know at least a week beforehand (i.e. by 13th Dec or earlier). In the past we have had poetry, singing, musical performances, photography slideshows and also belly dancing! Also if you want to present a youtube video or something on a laptop, that should be possible.

Maisie has volunteered to bring her projector, so we should be able to watch videos or screenshares on the big screen, and I can bring my laptop and bluetooth speaker.

Also if you want to bring party food, eg cakes, crisps, non alcoholic drinks etc then please feel free 🙂

This is also a great evening if you have not been for a while and just want to enjoy a pleasant social night with us 🙂

Then the following week on the 27th Dec we are shutting up shop and taking a night off. It is a bank holiday then, and many of us are away or with family.

We are back on the 3rd Jan, and on 10th Jan we are starting our 6 week introduction to meditation and Buddhism course called “A Taste of Freedom”. It will include content from one of Bhante’s talks in 1979. It is perfect for complete newcomers as well as regulars. Real freedom actually arises on the arising of insight which means breaking through the three fetters.

So to summarise:

06 Dec 2022 Nandaketu – Experiential evening on the Triratna System of Practice
13 Dec 2022 Keith and Nigel with some reflections from Nigel’s recent retreat
20 Dec 2022 Sangha Soiree
27 Dec 2022 No class this evening. Bank holiday.
03 Jan 2023 Padmajata
10 Jan 2023 Week 1 of meditation and Buddhism course – Keith
17 Jan 2023 Week 2 of meditation and Buddhism course –
24 Jan 2023 Week 3 of meditation and Buddhism course – Mangala

That is all for now. Have a great December, and have a happy Christmas and New Year 🙂

Keith

Coming up in November

Photo taken at our retreat in Burwell 4 years ago

Hi everybody,

I hope that all is well with you.

I went on a weekend retreat at Padmaloka recently. Padmaloka is a men’s retreat centre near Norwich and I have been going there for 40 years. It always takes a little while to adjust into the retreat atmosphere, but by about Saturday mid morning, I was already in full retreat mode and felt fantastic.

It felt like an altered state of consciousness that I had not experienced since my last retreat which was three years ago.  I used to try and get onto retreat every month, but the pandemic put a stop to that.

There were 62 retreatants there, and I had some great conversations with amazing people, although the bit I enjoyed most was actually the periods of silence.

That is the good news. The bad news is that I caught covid there! I have had my booster, so thank fully it was just like a bad cold, and I am almost back to normal now. I think I was just unlucky to catch it. I checked with two other people who travelled with me back to Norwich Station, and neither of them had it.  On the other hand I was lucky to just experience mild symptoms. I know others have had to endure a lot worse.

If you can make it, there is a Sangha Day festival at Cambridge Buddhist Centre on Sunday 13th Nov https://www.cambridgebuddhistcentre.com/SanghaDay2022 . It should be a great day out!

Next Tuesday Rob will give a talk and lead a discussion around meditation.  We will have plenty of great stuff lined up for the following weeks and another course coming in January 🙂

By the way, a new group has recently opened in Luton. It is being led by  Akashasiddhi and Archie from the Letchworth Group https://www.facebook.com/triratnaluton You can email them at triratnaluton@yahoo.com for more info. They meet on Tuesday evenings, just like us. It is worth checking out if you live over that way 🙂

All the best

Keith

p.s. Excerpt from one of my favourite books:   “Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life” by Vajragupta Â© Windhorse Publications

right livelihood

The Buddha taught what he called the Noble Eightfold Path – eight specific areas of practice that together constitute the path to Enlightenment. The fifth of these is right livelihood, and we’ll consider the process of bringing the practice of awareness and loving-kindness into our lives of activity under this heading.

A friend of mine, when discussing work and spiritual practice, especially if people were complaining about difficulties in their jobs, used to give the following advice. He said that if, by the end of the week, we couldn’t think of one good reason for doing our job, we should leave.

Life is short and precious. Why do something for eight hours a day, five days a week, forty-something weeks a year for the rest of our lives, if we don’t know why we are doing it? Especially when you take into account the idea of karma – that the kind of person we become is a product of the choices and actions we take all day – we can see that work and livelihood is a vital spiritual issue.

Sometimes we do make big changes to our lives because we realize our heart is no longer in what we are doing. This can take courage, especially when we are no longer young, but it may be well worth it. I have one friend who for many years was a stressed-out administrator in the National Health Service. He eventually decided to change direction, retrained, and became much happier giving careers advice to young people.

On the other hand, we might realize therearegood reasons why we do our job. These might be many and varied, or it might simply be that we are doing the job because we need the money to support our family. But that is still a positive reason. If we are clear about our reasons for doing something, it can help us feel much better about doing it.

Why not come along and join us one Tuesday?

Hi everyone,

I hope all is well.

We did try having a yoga class on Thursday evenings. But it turned out there was very little demand, so we have cancelled that.

However the face to face Tuesday night class is thriving. We have been getting about 20 attendees the last few nights which is a good number. As well as guided meditation, and a talk, I normally try and make sure that people get together in small groups to discuss things, and that we have a long tea break, so that there is a good balance of different activities during the evening.

Please feel free to drop in whenever you like. This includes newcomers (we had 4 newcomers last week), and old timers who have not been for a while. You do not have to “be a Buddhist”.

Coming up we have:

04 October 2022 Amber and team Happiness and beyond – The Spiral Path
11 October 2022 Maisie and Keith The Enlightened Mind
18 October 2022 Padmajata – to be announced
etc

See you soon hopefully

Keith

p.s. Excerpt from one of my favourite books: “Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life” by Vajragupta © Windhorse Publications

exercise – calm and activity

Sitting quietly for a few moments, begin to consider the balance of calm and activity in your life. Thinking about the following questions may help. Are there times when the balance is tipped too far in favour of calm, or activity? What are the symptoms of this in how you feel internally and in how you engage with what you are doing?

Are there times when you feel you get the balance about right? What does that feel like?
If and when you lose balance, do you believe it is possible to restore it, taking into account your responsibilities? What is your underlying attitude or predisposition to this question?

Look at the question of balance once again. Perhaps there are small, practical changes that would make more difference than you expect to your inner sense of balance. Make a note of just one or two practical ideas that you could try to implement.(These might be things like going for a quiet walk in your lunch break, or not listening to the radio while you drink your morning cup of tea, but using that time to reflect.)

So perhaps the twofold model discussed above was rather too simplistic. It is not that we are either practising in the world or apart from the world. Although one mode might predominate, we have times when we are in the other. There is a relationship between these two modes in our lives. Even a twenty-minute meditation in the morning is like a little retreat: we leave the world behind for a short while, but we come back to it refreshed. We have a few moments of calm in order to prepare for the activity of the day.

It was the same with the Buddha. Although, as we have seen, he returned to the world after his Enlightenment, he still went back to the forests to meditate. The order he founded was an attempt to create anew lifestyle that was both within, and apart from, the world. The monks and nuns had plenty of time and support for practice, but they also played a role in society – teaching others about the path to Enlightenment. As well as ensuring we have adequate calm, such as our daily meditation that prepares us for the activity of the day, we also need to learn how to make our active lives part of our practice. We are trying to develop awareness and loving-kindness as much of the time as possible, not only in meditation.

Subject: Fearlessness Day retreat 25th September

The Day Retreat Team Bev, Ellen and Helen announce details of the following event:

Hertford Sangha are hosting a Day Retreat on 25th September 10am-4pm, at Place House Hall, Ware SG12 9HL

We will be exploring ‘Fearlessness’ with movement, meditation, food, tea, talks and discussion with an opportunity to express ourselves creatively. Vimaladipa will be our guest sharing her wisdom and experiences with us.

Everything you need will be provided, but feel free to bring any mats or cushions to make yourselves more comfortable. A delicious lunch (gf, vg) will be offered. If you have more specific dietary requirements, you are welcome to bring your own lunch.

We will finish with a beautiful Puja. This is a wonderful opportunity to take part in a traditional Buddhist ritual if you so wish. Everyone is welcome regardless of experience.
Hertford Sangha operates using a Dana Economy, which means events are open to all regardless of ability to pay. Please give as generously as you are able to enable us to cover our costs.

We look forward to welcoming those who are new to the sangha, as well as reconnecting with old friends. 

Best wishes,

Bev, Ellen and Helen

Please RSVP Ellen.Taylor@POBox.com to help us gauge food and resources needed. 

A course, new yoga class on Thursdays and day retreat

Hi there,

There is a lot coming up this month, so please read this carefully 🙂

1) Starting tonight ( Tuesday 6th Sep) we have a new 6 week course coming up called “Mind Reactive and Creative”. It is suitable for newcomers, as well as more experienced people. Approximately half of each evening will be devoted to a guided meditation.

It is the first time we have done this course, and it is based on a lecture that our founder did in the early days, that got turned into a seminar, and then course. It takes a deep dive into an analysis of how our mind is usually very reactive. It draws inspiration from the Buddhist Wheel of Life which is included in this message.

Fortunately, there is a way out of this reactivity known as the Spiral Path which we will cover in a few weeks, later on in the course.

If you want some background reading there is a 44 page pdf “Mind Reactive and Creative ebook” that you can download from https://hertfordbuddhistgroup.co.uk/downloads/

2) Starting on 15th September, and every Thursday evening after that, our friend Hayley Brown will be offering yoga classes at the Millbridge Rooms, Hertford. SG14 1PX. Most attendees will probably be from our Buddhist group, but actually the classes are open to everyone.

Please bring a yoga mat if you have one, although we should also have a few spare if you are unable to bring one .

Classes are one hour long and will start promptly at 7pm, so please get there about 10 minutes beforehand.

3) Hertford Sangha Day Retreat, Exploring Fearlessness

You are invited to join Vimaladipa and the day retreat team, exploring Fearlessness through meditation, talks, discussion, creativity and puja (a devotional ritual) on Sunday 25th September, 10am – 4pm at Place House Hall, Bluecoat Yard, Ware SG12 9HL.

There is no charge, but we will ask for donations on the day
chilli and baked potato provided for lunch. Please bring other stuff to accompany if you would like to
Beginners are very welcome
Chairs are provided. You are welcome to bring meditation cushions and a mat if you want but we’re not planning long meditations

4) Coming up on Tuesday evenings we currently have booked in (subject to change):

06 September 2022 Keith Course week 1
13 September 2022 tba (to be announced) Course week 2
20 September 2022 tba Course week 3
27 September 2022 Amber Course week 4
04 October 2022 Amber and team Course week 5
11 October 2022 tba Course week 6
18 October 2022 Padmajata

See you at one or more of these hopefully.

Best wishes

Keith

p.s. Excerpt from one of my favourite books: “Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life” by Vajragupta © Windhorse Publications

I was once lucky enough to take part in a four-month retreat at a place called Guhyaloka in southern Spain. The name, which means ‘secret realm’, was certainly appropriate. Far into the mountains, the retreat centre is in an area of woodland surrounded by dramatic limestone cliffs. During the retreat we would sometimes climb up these cliffs so that, in effect, we formed a circle and faced each other across the valley. We would chant mantras as loud as we could and listen to them echoing and re-echoing around the valley walls. Part of the significance of the retreat was that we were indeed coming to a secret place. We had left our ordinary lives, our country and our homes, friends, work, family – all the things we normally rely on to give us a sense of who we are – far behind us. This is what is known traditionally as ‘going forth’. It gives us a different experience of ourselves outside of our usual conditioning, which can be extremely valuable in finding out who we really are and who we want to be.

Towards the end of the retreat something else happened. At dusk we again went up on top of the valley walls, but this time we all faced outwards. The rock face was golden in the dying sunlight. The twinkling lights of towns and villages were starting to emerge in the distance. Each of us read favourite texts and inspirational verses out towards the world. We were doing this to signify that we were shortly going back to the world, and we wanted to take something back with us. We wanted to have something new to give once we returned to our familiar lives. This is what it is like with a retreat: you go away, but you do so in order to come back again.

Getting the right balance between calm and activity is far from easy. For most of us, the life of activity will probably take over, and we may feel we have lost sight of the life of calm! In fact, it might be rare that we get the balance exactly right. This is not a problem as long as we are aware of the dynamic and do what we can to right it. It is when the imbalance goes on for too long that we might run into trouble, such as stress or burnout. But gradually, through trial and error, we learn how to remain at least in some sense of contact with that inner spaciousness; we get to know our limits and how much busyness we can deal with before our practice becomes thin. It is like keeping a boat on course. We keep an eye on its direction, the wind, and the weather, and we turn the rudder. Sometimes we turn it strongly to bring about a big change of direction. Later, only small adjustments are needed to remain on course.