Pride and Prejudice
11th January 2020
This was our seventeenth session at Broad Oak Village Hall.
We started to look at the ‘Fetters’ that stand in the way of our mindfulness practice.
Michelle picked ‘Pride’ out of the bag.
We practised the Sitting Meditation and also our Walking Meditation.
and then we all had tea and some very nice caramel biscuits (they are very welcome) …
Pride
We talked about Pride and the antonym Humility. This is some of what we said…
We all have roles in life, that we can hold on to as our own. It might be a parent, a partner or a sibling for example. Our pride can force us to play this role even though it is not our true self or it hurts the people around us.
Pride can stop us from admiting to our mistakes, even if they are obvious to us and others. This can result in our holding onto pain in ourselves or continuing to hurt those around us. The people that mean most to us in our lives will most likely forgive our mistakes if we let go.
Practise again
Gratitude
I was very pleased to hear that the practise is bringing benefit to those of us in the community. That benefit is not only felt in their lives but it sounds like it has effected the lives of those around them.
This is my motivation for sharing the practice with you.
But pennies are helpful too, so if you are also feeling grateful, hit this button
Larry Rosenberg
book report
Breath by Breath
This is a great book, which I read over the Christmas break. It is another comentary on the Anapanasati – Full Awareness of breathing sutra. It is always helpful to see things from multiple points of view and this author’s perspective was very insightful. It is written in a very informal way so it is quite easy to engage with. If you have read Thay’s book (or even if you haven’t) you should find this very helpful in understanding your practice.
Larry Rosenberg, Cambridge Insight Meditation
Larry has been practicing Zen and Insight Meditation for over 40 years.
Enjoy silence.
I spoke with some about taking a further step in the practice.
If you are confident now in the steps of the standard sitting meditation maybe you could follow the verses on your own, with no reminders from me.
A silent meditation track is available in the Library, under the ‘Finished Article’ section – click Empty. It is not actually totally silent, at the start you will hear the bell and after that a ‘click’ is heard at each point where I would normally speak. So you can use this to move on to the next gatha.
There are steps for set up, preparation and the scan followed by the sutra, which is …
I am breathing in
I am breathing out
My breathing is natural
My breathing is soft
I am aware of my whole body
I calm my body
I am aware of my feelings
I calm my feelings
I am Alive
I am free
I am aware of my mind
I calm my mind
I am meditating
I am content
Good Luck
Next session is Saturday 18th January 2020
Followed by the 25th of January, 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th February …
If you have enjoyed meditating as a group, tell your friends.
Everyone is most welcome.