Connecting with the actuality of body. Breath as a basis for samadhi. Cultivating support for stability here and now. Middle ground between pleasure and pain.
Meeting ourselves. Limitations of success and sense pleasure. The great reversal. The Buddha's journey. Knowing pleasure, pain, and beyond. Return to the original brightness.
A gradual path. Practice as preparation. An alignment with refuge here and now. Sangha as the relational field. Beyond morality. The chanting of ethics.
Based on an examination of early discourses found in the Buddhist Pali Canon, we explore the question: "What did the Buddha teach that was distinctively and originally his own?" By differentiating the Buddha's Dhamma from the ideas of Indian religion and metaphysics that prevailed at his time we seek to uncover a clearer sense of the Buddha's message and then consider what relevance it still has for people living in the modern world.
Arriving into a retreat and working within limitation. Being more "here". Calling on the ancestors, devas and earth spirits to bless and protect as the boundary of the retreat is set.
Our practice invites us to return to the present moment - yet in order to be here, we must let go of everything and enter this moment unburdened. Are we willing? If so, we will discover our true refuge - that which is utterly reliable.
