Hi everybody,
Spring has finally sprung. At least it was quite sunny the other day. A friend told me that he heard his first cuckoo of the year, and I saw my first brood of ducklings this morning. It feels really heartwarming to know we have our whole summer ahead of us.
Our “Steps to Enlightenment” course is going well (see photo), and we are getting close to 30 attendees most Tuesdays. We are exploring how many of us are very inconsistent in our spiritual lives. We just dabble, and do a bit of meditation now and again, read a book, watch a youtube video etc, and we may expose ourselves to a very wide range of ideas and practices, that can leave us a bit overwhelmed, and can make progress very slow.
We all start like that. But many of us have realised that if we want to really get the benefits of a spiritual life, it is very useful to choose one tradition, and one group and be more focussed and consistent in our approach. In this course we are particularly exploring the Buddha’s threefold path of meditation, ethics, and wisdom which looks at our actions while meditating and in our daily lives, and also looks at the degree that we are in touch with our direct experience rather than some conceptual fantasy.
Here are some dates for your diary:
Sunday 19th May – Buddha Day at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre.
Saturday 22 June, 10am-4pm Calm Mind, Open Heart – A day exploring our main meditation practices(no charge but by donation) in Ware led by Kiranadhi and Samudraghosha. The day will be followed for those who wish to stay by a Full Moon Summer Solstice Puja. These events require booking – please email hertsbuddhistmeditation@gmail.com as soon as possible if you intend to come to either or both events to help with our planning.
Tuesday 25th June. Our next course is entitled “Unlimited Heart” and is an exploration of the metta bhavana practice which focusses on loving kindness. This is a really beautiful practice, and this six week course is a fantastic opportunity to learn the course for the first time if you are a newcomer, and also to deepen our practice and plough through any obstacles if you already know this practice.
Also Vajragupta has made a special invitation to our Sangha. He said: “I would be very happy if anyone from the Hertford sangha joins me for the Wild Awake retreat at Rivendell (28th June to 5th July). I’ve run this retreat for several years now, using time in nature to open up our hearts and awareness, to bring down the barriers between self and world. It is a retreat that can allow your meditation to come alive in surprising ways and would be suitable for a first retreat, as well as for those with more experience.”
Link to YouTube video talking about the retreat and link to Rivendell info and booking for the retreat
Many of you will have come across Vajragupta as he is the author of several excellent books, and has visited our Sangha twice in person, and once by zoom. It is the first time he has made an invitation to our Sangha to join him, and it looks like a very special opportunity.
Anyway please just turn up any Tuesday evening to our drop in class. Newcomers and beginners are always very welcome. No charge, but you are able to leave a donation if you would like to.
That is all for now. I hope to see you at one or more of the above.
Warm wishes
Keith