Hi everyone,
I hope that all is well.
Recently I came across a talk by Dhivan on the excellent Freebuddhistaudio podcast called “In The Cool Shade of the Tree: Planting the Seed of Joy In Your Meditation Practice”. If you google “Dhivan cool shade” you will find the audio and video versions. It is a fantastic talk about a fantastic topic. Buddhism sometimes gets a bit of a bad press, but another way of looking at it is that it is opening up to deeper levels of joy.
The blurb on youtube says: “It’s said that the Buddha’s breakthrough came when he remembered a natural experience of enjoyment, which arose when he was a young boy sitting under a rose-apple tree: an experience that later became the seed of his Awakening. In this talk, Dhivan guides us through the significance of that famous image in the Buddha’s life, drawing on rich sources of inspiration including Greek philosophy and poetry, as well as core Dharma teachings such as The Middle Way and the Four Noble Truths. Dhivan then moves into a thorough exploration of joy, in both its mundane and grander manifestations. As he does so, he recalls the Buddha’s realization that joy and happiness arise when our life coalesces around our deepest values, often connected with relaxing in meditation. This is what may lead to Awakening for any and all of us… This talk was given in the Dharma Parlour tent, at Buddhafield 2022.”
Last Tuesday we explored this topic from our own experience, and found it very interesting. Many people settle for a joyless existence, and have given up the belief that deep joy is even possible for them, or are chasing after it in the wrong places. This is a great pity.
If you want to look at the nine questions we explored, you can find them inside our Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/hertfordbuddhist . Please join us there.
Anyway.
Coming up in the next four weeks we have:
05 Mar 2024 Samudraghosha
12 Mar 2024 Amber
19 Mar 2024 Keturaja
26 Mar 2024 Srigarbha
Beginners and newcomers are always very welcome
And then our next 6 week course starts after Easter on 9th April.
So will hopefully see you on some or all of these.
Have a great March!
Warm wishes
Keith