The third presentation on the Blazing in the Fires of Sunyata retreat, held at Adhisthana in 2017, on the theme of Metta and Bodhicitta.

Parami presented Hri and Apatrapya, the two Lokapalas, unfolding a single line in the Karaniya Metta Sutta: “One should not pursue the slightest thing for which other wise men might censure them.”

Both Hri and Apatrapya express a positive sense of remorse and regret, one in relation to our own inner ethical sensitivity, the other in relation to the ethical sensitivity we aspire to embodied by our spiritual friends and teachers. They are the guardians of our Dharma Life which keep us alive to our ethical values and ideals, and when we fall short they help us to realign ourselves and come back into relationship. Parami draws out how they arise in the context of friendship and spiritual community, the vast nexus of relationships within which we live and practise, which support us in living in pursuit of the good and inspire us along the path.

“In the spiritual community, the rigid application of rules is replaced by something far more subtle: a living network of friendship and communication centred on the highest shared ideals.” – Sangharakshita, Living with Kindness

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