Author Archives: John Barter
Mindful Experience – Pure and Simple
Dear Friends
Much of the stress, struggle, stain and suffering of our life relates to our mind’s unskillful identification with physical or mental experience; creating, conditioning and compounding an identity. That identity or ego-I, continues to need to be feed and fuelled, serviced and supplied with ongoing mental-physical experience to be sustained. This is the ‘my-making’, ‘I-making’, ‘me-making’, that is both tiring and taxing of precious time and energy.
Our Insight – Vipassana Meditation practice through the Four Foundations of Mindfulness,...
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THE PRACTICE OF MINDFULNESS
Dear Friends
I recently spent 10 days on a Mindfulness Meditation – Vipassana Retreat, held at Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery and Retreat Centre, lead by Venerable Pannyavaro. This was a wonderful occasion and experience of simplifying and slowing life down, relaxing into silence and inner stillness. Days of Mindful Sitting and Walking Meditation in the context of Vipassana – Insight Wisdom, allowed for a natural unfolding of clarity and peace.
Beyond the hustle and bustle of our busy regular life, there...
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LISTEN UP AND LISTEN DOWN
Dear Friends
We so often become attracted and distracted by the superficial surround sounds both of the external world and our mentalising self-talk of and about the external world. This mental talk creates and makes, compounds and conditions, the endless mental comments, commentary, complaint, critique and ongoing concerns that fill our mind and detract from what might be more important.
Why not take some time to ‘listen up and listen in’ so we can actually hear what our Heart-Mind might be...
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FLEE TO FIND, FEEL, SEE AND BE!
Dear Friends
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves to run, race and even flee from the all to easily conditioned mental creations and reactions that keep us stuck in our static stress, struggle and state of ‘self’.
The Buddha’s last words and final teaching just before his death was a remind:
‘To see the impermanence of all things and make haste in Realising Enlightened Freedom.’
Here we appreciate that time and effort is of the essence.
Thus, any words of inspiration and motivation to...
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Gone Forth
Dear Friends
This week has held the Full Moon of July and is celebrated as Asalah Puja – a significant day within the Buddhist Calendar, when the Buddha soon after his Enlightenment – gave his first Teaching to the five yogi’s that he had previously been practicing with. Following this teaching, these five asked to become his students and thus began the Buddhist Monastic Order. These monks together with the Buddha then began the three-month ‘Rains Retreat’ which has been...
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Well-being and Warmth in Winter
Dear Friends
Trusting this message finds you well and warm as we progress through our Winter of 2019.
Here on the Tweed Coast of NSW we have has some cool days as well as some much welcomed Winter rain.
Our Half Day Retreat on Sunday 7th July was well attended as usual. We even found some time in between rain showers to do Walking Meditation outside.
The theme of our Retreat was ‘Meditations, Readings and Reflections on Enlightened Living’. This theme allowed me...
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BEAUTY WAS – IS – AND AWAYS WILL BE!
BEAUTY WAS – IS – AND AWAYS WILL BE!
Dear Friends
Beauty is a particular perception and appreciation that is very much ‘in the eye of the beholder’. In seeing, knowing and experiencing things as beautiful, it creates a certain joy and delight that brightens the mind and lightens the heart. The more our mind is free from fear and frustration, anxiety and anger, delusion and dullness; the more we see and know the beauty of things, as things and in...
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Find a Friend in Nature
FIND A FRIEND IN NATURE
Dear Friends, while winter may find us spending more time in - doors than what we usually do in the warmer months of the year, we may however be more aware of and even wary of the weather and nature than we usually are. We are more likely to be aware of the air through its coolness; the sun through its intermittent shinning through grey skies and clouds. Certainly, we are more aware of the...
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Being Beyond the ways of The World
BEING BEYOND THE WAYS OF THE WORLD
Dear Friends, the Ways of the World are all around us and within us; however, the Way of Wisdom is to Find and fulfill the ultimate Freedom that is the teaching and legacy of all the Buddha’s wisdom.
Our Place and Path of Practice is not beyond the world but by seeing and knowing the Ways of the World and not being identified with or as these. The verse below is my offering of...
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Finding our way home
FINDING OUR WAY HOME!
Dear Friends
In some way or another we are all looking for the place of peace, that place of ease, that place of surrendering the struggle and strain of daily life. We are looking for our home, even Psycho-Spiritually, our ‘Real Home’. It is so easy to become attracted and distracted from the Path and from our Journey.
We might even think that some well made ‘high road’ or ‘Highway’ is better than a bush track or by...
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