Exercises and reflections for Wednesday: the stories we tell

We’re now making use of all three sections of the practice diary – resolve, remind, and review. Have another look at your diary today, and reflect on how the practice is going.  You can print more pages, if you need to, here.

Today, we’re going to have a bit more “Dharma input”. We’re going to look a bit more closely at what is happening when we’re caught by the worldly winds. We’re going to look at the ‘stories’ that...

Ch'an Story

‘There was a well-known scholar who practiced Buddhism and befriended a Chan Master. Thinking that he had made great stride in his cultivation, he wrote a poem and asked his attendant to deliver it to the Master who lived across the river. The Master opened the letter and read the short poem aloud:

“Unmoved by the eight worldly winds, * 
Serenely I sit on the purplish gold terrace.”

A smile broke up on the lips of the Master. Picking up an ink brush,...

Exercises and reflections for Tuesday: how’s it going? Learning to review our practice

The Urban Retreat is now well under way.  During the weekend we learnt about the worldly winds, how we might turn them from obstacles into spiritual opportunities, and then we made our own personal practice resolutions. Yesterday we set up various “reminders” to help us keep clear about our sense of purpose even when we’re in the thick of it.  Today we’ll explore the “review” section of the Urban Retreat diary.

This is the last main section of the...

The Worldly Winds and Wisdom

Insight, Wisdom and Enlightenment are big, impressive and rather scary words. It’s easy to think that they are far beyond the level of our daily practice and that what’s relevant right now is just simple ethics, mindfulness and trying to be kind. But digging a bit deeper into the issues we confront, and especially considering them in the light of the Buddha’s teachings, they often turn out to touch on deeper truths. The things that happen to us every day...