Sunday morning..
This place is beautiful, a six mile run around the local countryside this morning was great. Rolling hills, quiet roads through hamlets, views over woods, lakes, frosty fields and sheep 
Sessions look to be 07:30, 10:30, 16:30 and 19:30 - no crazy early morning wake-up!
This is a Buddhist meditation retreat, and I admit to knowing nothing about buddhism. Apparently, Buddha gave different teachings to suit different people and their individual circumstances/views/current awareness. 84,000 of them in all. One of the most important was called The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. A buddhist master called Atisha, wrote Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment - also known as Lamrim in Tibetan, to help us understand how to integrate these teachings into our daily life. Although short, Lamrim contains the entire meaning of The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra.
There are twenty-one meditation practices; however let me be honest, some of the titles don’t mean much to me right now, and some of them sound a little - shall we say ‘challenging..’
- Our precious human life.
- Death and impermanence.
- The danger of lower rebirth.
- Refuge practice.
- Actions and their effects.
- Developing renunciation for samsara.
- Developing equanimity.
- Recognising that all living beings are our mother.
- Remembering the kindness of living beings.
- Equalising self and others.
- The disadvantages of self-cherishing.
- The advantages of cherishing others.
- Exchanging self with others.
- Great compassion.
- Taking.
- Wishing love.
- Giving.
- Bodhichitta.
- Tranquil abiding.
- Superior seeing.
- Relying upon a spiritual guide.
Along with the meditations, the text suggest we should engage in the practices of giving, moral discipline, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom. These are known as the six perfections.
Can’t wait :-) - more later..
Paul.
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