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 to share some of my favourite verses and sayings of the Buddha, that invite and inspire our minds towards ‘Enlightened Living’. I spoke on the importance of verse in the expression of the Buddha’s Teachings and how they can hold in just 4 lines profound wisdom that eloquently expresses what otherwise might take 40 lines of explanation.
Such is the power of verse and poetry. During the morning several people shared verses that they had written.
The particular verse that I shared on the ‘beautiful’ is available here.
NEXT FULL DAY RETREAT:
MEDITATIONS & REFLECTIONS ON The Four Foundations of Mindfulness for Insight
With Special Guest Venerable Pannyavaro
Sunday 1st September 2019 9:00am – 3:00pm
John Barter with Ven. Ajahn Pannyavaro at the Bodhi Tree Monastery in Lismore May 2019
Our next Retreat here at Ratanagiri, will be a Full-Day Retreat lead by Venerable Pannyavaro from Bodhi Tree Forest Monastery.
Venerable Pannyavaro has been practicing Satipatthana Vipassana – Mindfulness for Insight Meditation for 40 years. He will share teachings on the practice of this most important Meditation.
Please see the details below about this special Retreat.
Places for this are filling fast so please let us know if you would like to Register your place?
Last month on the 10th June, we were fortunate to have a special guest visitor at the Monday Night Meditation Group. Ajahn Appi an Australian Buddhist monk based at Bodhinyana Forest Monastery in Perth WA, shared teachings with us on various strategies of Meditation and Wisdom practice that he has found useful. Ajahn Appi’s parents are based on the Tweed Coast, so we welcome him back to share with us, the next time he is visiting.
The three month Vassa – monastic retreat begins on Wednesday 17th July after the Full Moon of July. Buddhist monks and nuns throughout the world use this three month period for extra practice in Mindfulness, Meditation and Wisdom reflections. This can also be a significant time to give extra attention to our Mindfulness practice and apply extra effort and care. Find something healthy to practice over the next 12 week period together with special attention to Meditation practice.
I wish you warmth and well-being for the rest of our Winter.
I hope to see many of you at our weekly Monday Night Meditation Group and the next Retreat Day.
John B.
