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INSIGHT NEWSLETTER PAID Insight Meditation Society Permit No.2 1230 Pleasant St
INSIGHT NEWSLETTER FALL WINTER 2006/2007 IMS Schedules: Practicing with Vedana: The Retreat Center 2007 The Forest Refuge 2007 The 2nd Foundation of Mindfulness An Interview with Christina Feldman Teacher Interview In 1971, Christina Feldman began Buddhist meditation practice in northern India. She was 17 at the time, and had left her native Canada to travel and explore new IMS News horizons. Since then she has played a key role in bringing the Buddha’s teachings and Developments to the West, offering retreats at IMS and co-founding Gaia House in Devon, England. Married with two adult children, she introduced the Family Retreat at IMS in 1982, and the Women’s Retreat in 1984 – both popular mainstays of BCBS 2006/2007 our annual course calendar. Course Schedule Outline Christina, what are the On his journey towards enlightenment, Buddha’s ‘Four Foundations we know that these ascetic practices of Mindfulness’? didn’t work; they did not bring about the freedom from suffering that he First, it’s helpful to describe the historical sought. One of the turning points of context of the Buddha’s teachings. his awakening was the understanding Siddhartha Gautama - the Buddha - that the very aspects of life he was came from a society rooted in the belief trying to overcome actually held the that life was an obstacle to overcome. key to liberation. He then turned The body, the mind and human rela- towards his body, his mind, his tionships were all to be transcended. feelings and towards everything So, once he started his spiritual search, that arose in his consciousness, it was natural for him to become an seeing them as the ground for his ascetic – he left his family and spent awakening. -
In Any Given Moment
Gradually, gradually, A moment at a time, The wise remove their own impurities As a goldsmith removes the dross. Dhammapada verse 239 in any given moment Ajahn Munindo In Any Given Moment by Ajahn Munindo This publication is made available for free distribution by Aruno Publications Aruno Publications is administered by: Harnham Buddhist Monastery Trust Company No. 6688355, Charity Reg. No. 1126476 Contact Aruno Publications at www.ratanagiri.org.uk This book is available for free download at www.forestsangha.org ISBN 978-1-908444-69-1 Copyright © Aruno Publications 2021 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Produced with the LATEX typesetting system, set in EB Garamond, Alegreya Sans and Merriweather. First edition, 2021 CONTENTS Preface x i TAKING SHAPE 1 1 . 1 The End of the River 3 1 . 2 Being Different 7 1 . 3 Doctor Albert Schweitzer 1 1 1 . 4 Difficult Lessons 1 7 1 . 5 Getting Ready to Leave 2 5 YEARS OF CHAOS 2 9 2 . 1 Out Into the World 3 1 2 . 2 Jumping Sundays 3 5 2 . 3 Lifelines 4 1 2 . 4 Journeying 5 1 2 . 5 Ready to Leave, Again 5 9 2 . 6 A Very Foreign Country 6 1 THE SPIRIT OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 6 9 3 . 1 A Reorientation 7 1 3 . 2 What Next? 7 5 3 . 3 Heading For Asia 8 1 3 . 4 Dark Clouds Descending 8 9 3 . 5 The Land of the Free 9 5 3 . 6 Different Perspectives 9 9 3 . 7 First Encounter with the Forest Sangha 1 1 3 3 . -
FSNL 42.Qxd Copy
FOREST SANGHA newsletter October 1997 2540 Number 42 Wings of the Eagle Ajahn Jayasaro, who is currently Abbot at Wat Pah Nanachat, gave the following teaching during a retreat for the monastic community in 1995. n Thai language they speak of two kinds of discovered are still fragile, they don’t stand up to I friends. There are ‘eating friends’, who are adverse circumstances. We have to nurture and friends when there is something to eat, when protect them, and sometimes we have humbly to everything is going well, but who disappear as accept that there are certain things that our minds soon as things get heavy; and ‘dying friends’, who are not strong enough to deal with yet. So we need would die for you. I sometimes think of those to give attention to developing wisdom in relating phrases in reflecting on our Dhamma practice. to various phenomena or problems that arise in There are practices our practice. In that we use as the Sabbåsava refuges when things So we have to put effort into developing Sutta (Majjhima are going well, but Nikaya 2) the they disappear as our practice because these teachings that we Buddha gives soon as things start have discovered are still fragile, many different to get tough. It methods of reminds me also of they don’t stand up to adverse circumstances. dealing with a scene in a movie I åsavas* or their saw many years manifestations. ago, in which the hero, Woody Allen, had There are certain things to be avoided, for a thought up a clever idea of how to escape from monk they’d be påråjika* offences. -
FSNL 43.Qxd Copy
FOREST SANGHA newsletter January 1998 2541 Number 43 The Path to Peace Venerable Ajahn Chah passed away six years ago this January; from time to time new translations of his talks get published. What follows is edited from ‘The Path to Peace’, a small collection that came out last year. ^lâ, samådhi and paññå are the names given to take responsibility for your actions? Who is the S the different aspects of the practice. When one who knows before you lie, swear or say you practise s^lâ, samådhi and paññå, it means something frivolous? Contemplate this: whoever it you practise with yourselves. Right s^lâ exists is who knows is the one who has to take here, right samådhi exists here. Why? Because responsibility for your s^lâ. Bring that awareness your body is right here! You have hands, you to watch over your actions and speech. That have legs right here. This is where you practise knowing, that awareness is what you use to watch s^lâ. over your practice. To keep s^lâ, you use that part It’s easy to reel of the mind off the list of which directs wrong kinds of To keep s^lâ, you use that part of the mind your actions and behaviour as which directs your actions and which leads which leads you found in the to do good and books, but the you to do good and bad. bad. You catch important thing to You catch the villain and transform him the villain and understand is that transform him the potential for into a sheriff or a mayor. -
Dear-Jane-Web.Pdf
WISDOM FROM THE FOREST FOR AN ENGLISH BUDDHIST BHIKKHU PAÑÑĀVAḌḌHO AND JANE BROWNE Jane and Ian George Sharp at Wat Baan Tard Freeda Wint at Wat Baan Tard Jane and Freda Wint Jane & George After leaving London, where for four years since 1956 he had been teaching the Buddha-Dhamma as a Buddhist monk, Bhikkhu Paññāvaḍḍho arrived in Thailand seeking for a teacher himself. He chose, and was accepted by, Venerable Acharn Mahā Boowa, who was relatively unknown at that time. His monastery, Wat Pa Baan Taad, was in the north-eastern province of Udon Thani. In those days, it was an area scarcely developed where traveling was done on foot or by bullock cart. The Monastery grounds were partly forested, surrounded by paddy fields and connected to the village by a sandy track lined with tall trees. There was a plentiful supply of water provided from wells and huge rainwater tanks, but beyond that there was little in the way of any other facility. Life in that region was sparse and comfortless and it was there that Jane, in company with her friend Freda Wint, took herself at a time when the notion of two educated and refined middle class ladies going on such an adventure would have been almost unthinkable. When reading the letters it should be remembered that Bhikkhu Paññāvaḍḍho, at the outset of his training under Venerable Acharn Mahā Boowa, was a beginner who had had little more than an intellectual grasp of the teachings of the Buddha. As the letters progress one becomes aware of Bhikkhu Paññāvaḍḍho’s growing insight and wisdom. -
Insight Newsletter
INSIGHT NEWSLETTER FALL WINTER 2005/2006 Practicing Emptiness, IMS Schedules: Experiencing Fullness The Retreat Center 2006 An Interview with Guy Armstrong The Forest Refuge 2006 The world is empty because it is empty of self or of what belongs to self. Teacher Interviews – The Buddha IMS News Guy Armstrong was introduced to the Buddha’s teachings in 1974. Since then, he has and Developments trained as a Buddhist monk with meditation masters in Thailand and Burma. He began teaching the dharma over twenty years ago, and is currently a member of the IMS BCBS 2005/06 Guiding Teacher Council. With an abiding interest in the depth and implications of Course Schedule Outline suññata, or emptiness, he offers us insights into this essential Buddhist teaching. Guy, the teachings on Yogis – those on retreat – often report ‘emptiness’ can be difficult three experiences that indicate a growing for many of us in the West understanding of emptiness: spaciousness, to grasp. What did the Buddha absence of a tangible self, and insub- mean by this term? stantiality. You might say that as the truth of emptiness dawns, the fullness of life People frequently imagine ‘emptiness’ as comes into awareness. blankness, where nothing happens in the mind, where there’s just a big vacancy. Can you describe each of these? That’s not what the Buddha was pointing to with this term. When we begin to meditate, we may feel that thoughts are occurring all the time. As we practice, we start to come in After a while, as our bodies and minds contact with emptiness in different ways. -
Unexpected Freedom Jh Munindo Ajahn
Unexpected Freedom Unexpected Freedom Ajahn Munindo printed for free distribution Dhamma talks by Ajahn Munindo ARUNA PUBLICATIONS Unexpected Freedom Dhamma talks by Ajahn Munindo Aruna Publications This book has been sponsored for free distribution. © Aruna Publications 2005 www.ratanagiri.org.uk www.forestsangha.org Aruna Ratanagiri: Harnham Buddhist Monastery 2 Harnham Hall Cottages Harnham Belsay Northumberland NE20 0HF United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1661 881 612 Permission to reprint this book is hereby given so long as it is produced for free distribution and no changes are made to content or layout. Cover photo copyright Wat Pah Nanachat Contents Introduction Profoundly Simple 1 Simplicity, gratitude to teachers, determination, effort to remember, valuing insight, gentleness We are all Translators 15 Communal task of translating, discerning essence, respect for tradition, creative involvement, source and goal-oriented practice More than our Feelings 29 Cultivating mindfulness, Middle Way, right detachment, learning from everything, spontaneity and confidence Getting to Know our Emotional Household 45 Uncovering denied life, encountering ourselves, raw emotions, feeling empty, letting go of guilt, fearlessness When We Fall in Love 53 Capacity to be loving, absence of fear, undivided attention, pain of separateness, transformative power, intimacy No Blame 65 Capacity to hold anger, motivation, arising of good and bad, accommodating pain, right preparation Meeting our Anger 71 Restraining initial reactions, investigating assumptions, -
L'essence De La Vie Le Jeu Des Agrégats Vivre À L'ombre De Mettā N°04 - Bhikkhu Bodhi
Les Livrets du Refuge L’essence de la vie Le jeu des agrégats Vivre à l’ombre de Mettā Sister Ariya Ñani Textes Choisis nº 3 L’essence de la vie Le jeu des agrégats Vivre à l’ombre de Mettā Les Livrets du Refuge sont disponibles au Centre Bouddhiste Le Refuge ainsi que dans certains monastères de la Tradition de la Forêt. Ils sont mis gracieusement à disposition sur le site : www.refugebouddhique.com Ils ne peuvent en aucun cas être utilisés à des fins commerciales. La distribution gratuite de ces livrets est rendue possible grâce à des dons individuels ou collectifs spécialement affectés à la publication des enseignements bouddhistes. © Les Éditions du Refuge Première édition - Septembre 2005 Sister Ariya Ñani Ariya Ñani, d’origine Suisse-Allemande, est une nonne bouddhiste de Tradition birmane. Après avoir terminé ses études au conservatoire de Zurich, elle enseigna la danse rythmique pendant quelques années et c’est durant cette période qu’elle commença à pratiquer la méditation dans différentes traditions bouddhiques. En 1992, elle partit en Birmanie pour pratiquer sous la direction du Maître Sayadaw U Janaka. C’est là qu’elle prit les vœux monastiques. Après qu’elle eut médité quelques années au Centre principal de Yangoon, son Maître l’a chargée de s’occuper des méditants occidentaux dans un Centre de campagne (Forest Center). Depuis, elle traduit les Maîtres birmans, donne elle-même des enseignements et dirige des retraites de méditation vipassanā en Australie, aux États-Unis, en Thaïlande et dans plusieurs pays d’Europe. La mise en page est de Jean-Yves Delarbre. -
The Body.Indb 1 09/05/2013 12:07 the Body.Indb 2 09/05/2013 12:07 the Body.Indb 3 09/05/2013 12:07 the Body by Ajahn Sundara, Ajahn Candasiri and Ajahn Metta
06/05/2013 11:54 AJAHN SUNDARA • AJAHN CANDASIRI • AJAHN METTA FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION The Body-Cover.indd 1 The Body The Body.indb 1 09/05/2013 12:07 The Body.indb 2 09/05/2013 12:07 The Body.indb 3 09/05/2013 12:07 The Body by Ajahn Sundara, Ajahn Candasiri and Ajahn Metta Amaravati Buddhist Monastery St. Margarets Lane Great Gaddesden Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP1 3BZ UK www.amaravati.org (0044) (0)1442 842455 This book is offered for free distribution, please do not sell this book. Also available for free download from: www.forestsanghapublications.org If you are interested in translating this text into another language, please contact us at [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-870205-72-6 2013 © Amaravati Buddhist Monastery Cover and book design: Nicholas Halliday Cover photograph: 2013 © Victoria Roberts Cover and text set in Gentium and Trajan This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England and Wales License. To view a copy of the license visit: http://creativecommons.org/license/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk See the last page of this book for more details on your rights and restrictions under this license. First edition, 6,000 copies, printed in Malaysia 2013 The Body.indb 4 09/05/2013 12:07 Dedication We would like to dedicate this collection of teachings to our parents and all others who have shared gracefulness and wisdom in response to their meeting the messengers of old age, sickness and death. The Body.indb 5 09/05/2013 12:07 The Body.indb 6 09/05/2013 12:07 Contents Introduction -
Buddhist Rituals & Observances
Buddhist Rituals & Observances Buddhaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi Dhammaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi Sanghaṁ saraṇaṁ gacchāmi Buddhist Rituals & Observances, Based on talks given at Cittaviveka by, Ajahn Sucitto and Ajahn Candasiri, compiled by Dr. Barry Durrant, Preface This booklet is a revised edition of a work originally composed by the late Dr. Barry Durrant, using material with which we had supplied him. We therefore dedicate the following text to his memory; he was a dedicated follower of the Buddha and a good friend to the Sangha and to all on the Way. ‘Just as a large banyan tree, in level ground where four roads meet, is a haven for the birds all around, even so, a lay person of faith is a haven for many people: for bhikkhus, bhikkhunis, male lay followers and female lay followers.’ (A.5, 38) Ajahn Sucitto and Ajahn Candasiri, 2016 Contents 1 The Sacred and its Recollection . 1 The Triple Gem . 3 Devotional Practice . 6 Time and Place for a Shrine . 8 Religious Occasions . 10 2 Buddha-images . 15 Earth-touching Mudrā . 16 Abhaya Mudrā . 18 Samādhi Mudrā. 19 Dāna Mudrā . 19 Dhammacakka Mudrā . 20 Caring for Buddha-images . 21 3 Shrines . 23 Offering to a Shrine . 27 Care and Respect for a Shrine . 28 4 Stūpas . 31 Circumambulating a Stūpa . 34 5 Paying Respect: A Relationship Based on Spiritual Values . 37 Making Añjali . 40 Bowing . 42 6 Making Offerings to the Sangha . 47 Receiving or Handling Money . 51 Tradition, Form and Relationships . 52 The Role of Samaṇas. 53 7 Rites of Passage . 57 Births, Marriages and House Blessings . -
Download an 14—16 Taitetsu Unno & Mark Unno Shin Buddhism Application and Information Packet
Insight Journal Fall 2005 An Organic Spirituality Editor’s Essay It’s About How to Live An Interview with Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara The Buddha Did Not Teach Buddhism Paul Fleischman The Emptiness of Concepts Rajesh Kasturirangan Advice to a Dying Man Sutta Studies Illustrated Metta Sutta & Poems From the Community Dharma Contemplation Gregory Kramer Caregiving and the Buddha’s Way Susan Stone Program Information A Face So Calm Pali Poetry Barre Center for Buddhist Studies Th e Insight Journal is freelyfreely distributed by the Barre Center Insight Journal for Buddhist Studies. If you would like additional copies, or is a free publication of the if you would like an issue sent to someone else as a gift, please just let us know and we will be happy to mail them out. Complete program information is also available upon request, or can be found online at our web site. If you fi nd the Journal valuablevaluable Barre Center for and would like to help support the on-going work of the study Buddhist Studies center, please feel encouraged to make a donation. BCBS is a non- profi t educational organization, and depends greatly upon the 149 Lockwood Road voluntary contributions of its Barre, MA 01005 members and friends. (978) 355-2347 (978) 355-2798 fax [email protected] www.dharma.org Volume 25 • Fall 2005 Editor: Andrew Olendzki 3 EDITOR’S ESSAY An Organic Spirituality Andrew Olendzki Managing Editor: Sumi Loundon TEACHER 4 It’s About How to Live Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara INTERVIEW 7 ARTICLE Th e Buddha Did Not Teach Buddhism Paul Fleischman Insight involves an intuition of mind and heart that takes us beyond 12 ARTICLE Th e Emptiness of Concepts Rajesh Kasturirangan knowledge toward wisdom. -
In Any Given Moment
Gradually, gradually, A moment at a time, The wise remove their own impurities As a goldsmith removes the dross. Dhammapada v.239 in any given moment Ajahn Munindo In Any Given Moment by Ajahn Munindo This publication is made available for free distribution by Aruno Publications Aruno Publications is administered by: Harnham Buddhist Monastery Trust Company No. 6688355, Charity Reg. No. 1126476 Contact Aruno Publications at www.ratanagiri.org.uk This book is available for free download at www.forestsangha.org ISBN 978-1-908444-69-1 Copyright © Aruno Publications 2021 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Produced with the LATEX typesetting system, set in EB Garamond, Alegreya Sans and Merriweather. Digital edition 3.0, 2021. CONTENTS Preface x i TAKING SHAPE 1 1 . 1 The End of the River 3 1 . 2 Being Different 7 1 . 3 Doctor Albert Schweitzer 1 1 1 . 4 Difficult Lessons 1 7 1 . 5 Getting Ready to Leave 2 5 YEARS OF CHAOS 2 9 2 . 1 Out Into the World 3 1 2 . 2 Jumping Sundays 3 5 2 . 3 Lifelines 4 1 2 . 4 Journeying 5 1 2 . 5 Ready to Leave, Again 5 9 2 . 6 A Very Foreign Country 6 1 THE SPIRIT OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE 6 9 3 . 1 A Reorientation 7 1 3 . 2 What Next? 7 5 3 . 3 Heading For Asia 8 1 3 . 4 Dark Clouds Descending 8 9 3 . 5 The Land of the Free 9 5 3 . 6 Different Perspectives 9 9 3 .