As we move into the fall season at Waves and Water Sangha we continue with our Thursday evening practice and our Days of Mindfulness on the second Saturday of the month. We welcome old friends, new friends and those who walk together steadily on the path.
This week we begin a new program – one focused on the Paramita teachings that support us as we “cross over to the other shore” – the shore of well-being. This is a powerful choice – one that can be difficult to sustain alone without a raft! The teachings are the raft and the Sangha is our support. Together, we support not only ourselves and each other. We support our families, workplaces, communities and the world.
THIS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 we begin our program of practice. The first paramita, allows us to explore our attachment, aversion and indifference towards the very many different opportunities we have to offer GENEROSITY. We will begin to investigate both our reactions and our responses to opportunities of offering time, energy and material resources as well as a generosity of spirit. Each four weeks, we will begin to explore another of the six Paramitas, grounding our practice and our ways of making sense of our lives individually and as a community.
THIS SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14 IS A DAY OF MINDFULNESS. Beginning at 9:45 and ending at 3:00 we will engage in mindfulness through sitting, walking, eating, chanting and discussion. We will begin to consider how we can offer GENEROSITY within our various communities – in particular our Sanghas but also out in the world. Being a welcoming presence in the world, providing a beautiful space for deep looking, offering tea and other nourishment, sounding a bell of mindfulness – these are all practices that provide a strong container anywhere, at any time. Please bring a bag lunch. Following the formal practice those who can stay will offer service by cleaning the meditation hall.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22 Our Sangha sister Kim has also let us know about an engaged practice that will help open our hearts – A walk for reconciliation on Sunday, September 22. Sangha members may want to discuss walking together as a river! For more information http://reconciliationcanada.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 12 Farah Moolji Nazarali [Yoga Name: Sarita] will offer the video Peace is Every Step as part of our Day of Mindfulness (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpyWD7y84ms). This beautiful documentary of more than two hours allows us to experience the roots of our practice in the engaged Buddhist tradition of Plum Village. We hear and see Thich Nhat Hanh and his students over the years as they build the community that we now see throughout the world.
Please contact us at wwsangha[at]gmail.com – all who wish to practice in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh are welcome to attend.
