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Navigating the Brahma Viharas - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 6

By Sadayasihi on Wed, 29 Apr, 2020 - 09:18

Navigating the Brahma Viharas - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 6

By Sadayasihi on Wed, 29 Apr, 2020 - 09:18

Years ago I did a mountain navigation training over the course of two weekends. As part of that we had to bring an Ordnance Survey map of the area and, more excitingly, a fancy compass that included a magnifying glass, twirling dial and ruler. I was impatiently looking forward to using said compass - probably having visions of myself as a cross between a detective and a code breaker. To my surprise we seemed to spend much more of the time standing...

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Reflections on Upekkha - Being Divine Online home retreat

By Maitrisiddhi on Tue, 28 Apr, 2020 - 11:21

Reflections on Upekkha - Being Divine Online home retreat

By Maitrisiddhi on Tue, 28 Apr, 2020 - 11:21

Hi everyone, thought I’d share one way in which I enjoy approaching equanimity.  I’ve been really enjoying listening to Ratnavandana’s material and feeling quite inspired by the ‘great tree of the Brahma Viharas’.  

Ratnavandana and I would have been running ’Living in the Mandala: The Brahma Viharas’ retreat at Taraloka this very week (April 2020) - I’m so pleased it can happen in another form.      

love Maitrisiddhi

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Ever Greater Wholeheartedness - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 5

By viriyalila on Tue, 28 Apr, 2020 - 08:36

Ever Greater Wholeheartedness - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 5

By viriyalila on Tue, 28 Apr, 2020 - 08:36

Upekkha mystifies me. I’m really drawn to it as a state of being, and yet I’ve no idea how to describe it. I think it’s because I’ve lived most of my life bound by its near and far enemies of neutrality and indifference, and I want nothing more than to feel deeply with all beings. To imbibe equanimity is to be permeated by love, by compassion and by joy fully and wholeheartedly, without wavering, without shying away, without averting or hiding. 

I...

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Reflections on Mudita - Being Divine Online home retreat

By Maitrisiddhi on Mon, 27 Apr, 2020 - 11:04

Reflections on Mudita - Being Divine Online home retreat

By Maitrisiddhi on Mon, 27 Apr, 2020 - 11:04

Hi everyone, hope you’re enjoying your explorations of the Brahma Viharas - I am!  Here’s a few of my reflections on Mudita.  Somehow I feel like this is the Brahma Vihara I always forget about, and every time I rediscover it, I find it so delightful I wonder why! 

Ratnavandana and I would have been running ’Living in the Mandala: The Brahma Viharas’ retreat at Taraloka this very week (April 2020) - I’m so pleased it can happen in another form. ...

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A Day So Happy - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 4

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 27 Apr, 2020 - 08:31

A Day So Happy - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 4

By Sadayasihi on Mon, 27 Apr, 2020 - 08:31

A good few years ago I remember watching a film on TV with my sister. We generally don’t like the same type of films - and this one was a dance movie, not my favourite genre - so my attention was phasing in and out. But somewhere in the midst of the seeming silliness of the plot (a middle aged lawyer, played by Richard Gere, finds a dance teacher, Jennifer Lopez, and his life turns around for the better) something caught my...

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Reflections on Metta - Being Divine Online home retreat

By Maitrisiddhi on Sun, 26 Apr, 2020 - 09:52

Reflections on Metta - Being Divine Online home retreat

By Maitrisiddhi on Sun, 26 Apr, 2020 - 09:52

‘Living in the Mandala: The Brahma Viharas’ retreat would have been happening at Taraloka retreat centre now - April 2020 - but then there was lockdown! So I thought I’d share some personal reflections around my own current practice of the Brahma Viharas to complement Ratnavandana’s online retreat.   

There’ll be a few more coming! 

love Maitrisiddhi 

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A temptation to fix suffering - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 3

By kusaladevi on Sun, 26 Apr, 2020 - 09:18

A temptation to fix suffering - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 3

By kusaladevi on Sun, 26 Apr, 2020 - 09:18

I’m a fixer. I’ve always been good at fixing things. I love the challenge of it and the satisfaction of something broken working again. I’m quite practical and my Dad is a plumber, so when I was young I used to watch him using tools and learn that I didn’t need to be afraid of trying many different ways to repair something. I remember when I was around 9 years old, my Dad’s internal cassette holder in his car had...

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Metta like the sun - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 2

By kusaladevi on Sat, 25 Apr, 2020 - 09:10

Metta like the sun - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 2

By kusaladevi on Sat, 25 Apr, 2020 - 09:10

In today’s Notes on the Metta Bhavana on the Being Divine Online home retreat, Ratnavandana speaks of Metta as being both a natural state that is present when we relax and open...

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Welcome - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 1

By Sadayasihi on Fri, 24 Apr, 2020 - 11:20

Welcome - Being Divine Online Home Retreat: Day 1

By Sadayasihi on Fri, 24 Apr, 2020 - 11:20

As the end of another week approaches, it’s always a good moment to take stock of things. It’s the end of yet another week of lockdown for many of us across the world - another week of re-adjusting to the new normal: of social distancing but increasing online connection. And it’s vital in making that transition that we bring all the Dharmic tools we can with us so that our online connections are rich and satisfying.

So for this home retreat...

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Free eBook this week is Living with Kindness

By dhammamegha on Mon, 20 Apr, 2020 - 14:25

Free eBook this week is Living with Kindness

By dhammamegha on Mon, 20 Apr, 2020 - 14:25

‘This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness, and who knows the path to peace…’

These are the opening lines of the Karaniya Metta Sutta, the discourse on loving kindness. This is the sutta that introduces the loving kindness or Metta Bhāvanā meditation practice. 

This week’s Windhorse Publications eBook giveaway is a commentary by Sangharakshita on this beautiful and practical guide to living a competent, ethical and liberating life. The book is Living with Kindness. You can download it here until...

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