The ritual of Namaste - bowing to the sacred in ourselves and others - helps us live from the loving awareness that is our true nature. This talk looks at how we suffer because we forget this basic goodness, and explores the pathways of remembering that carry us home.

At Harris Park – breath meditation guided by Bhante Sujato, Dhamma talk by Bhante Sujato on the life of the Buddha: the Buddha as a leader who empowered the Sangha right from the start.

Guided Meditation

date estimated

Those who are familiar with the practice of mettā, or lovingkindness, know that it is one of four divine abidings of the heart according to the Buddha’s teachings. One way that this quality can be cultivated—as traditionally and so frequently taught—is through the recitation of phrases. However, without a deeper understanding or familiarity with the subtle expressions of mettā, or the alternate doorways into cultivating this profound and limitless quality, lovingkindness meditation can mislead us to binary thinking, as in: "I am loving and kind” or “I am not loving and kind." In our daylong together, we will explore the various doorways into cultivating mettā, as well as the spectrum in which it can come alive in our daily lives. All levels and experiences welcome.

When we understand that direct experience is not solid/not separate, we can embrace experience in its changing conditionality with the heart of compassion and inclusion born of non-clinging. This is the inter-weaving of the teachings of emptiness and suchness, and the talk will explore teachings and practices which support us to live from this wiser view.

We resist reality by tensing our body and contracting into thoughts. This meditation guides us into letting go of resistance by surrendering over and over into the aliveness and presence that is right here.