Study day retreat With Dhivan and Sagaraghosa
We are delighted to welcome two excellent study leaders offering a day on the topic of conditionality:
Opening to freedom and joy: an exploration of conditionality
Conditionality is at the core of the Buddha’s teachings. This day is an exploration of the teaching for everyone who knows how to meditate. It will start with a led meditation and chant and then there will be two groups:
– One group will be aimed at people who know nothing or very little about conditionality. It will explore how this teaching is relevant to our lives today. We shall look at how it can help us with the stresses of various kinds that we experience in our lives, and how it can help us to move towards freedom and joy. It will consist of short talks, interactive explorations, reflections, small group discussions and meditations and will also include
readings and poems.
– The second group is for people with some familiarity with the teaching of dependent arising. In the morning we will explore the meaning of some of the twelve nidānas, and in the afternoon go into the ‘positive nidānas’ of the Spiral Path, which involve joy and culminate in freedom. There will be study and discussion of key early Buddhist discourses and some short meditations.
The day will end with a short ritual for everyone together.
BOOKING REQUIRED: PLEASE BOOK YOUR PLACE HERE
Day Programme
10.00. Meditation and chant (Dhivan)
10.30. Separate sessions with tea break
13.00. Lunch together
14.00. Separate sessions with tea break
16.15. Threefold puja including Cetana Sutta (Sagaraghosa)
16.30. Close
About the leaders:
Sagaraghosa led newcomers’ Buddhism and meditation courses at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre for 14 years, as well as leading study for mitras. She was asked by Sangharakshita to be one of his literary executors. Windhorse Publications has published her book, Starting on the Buddhist Path (with helpful input from Dhivan) which is a clear and accessible introduction to Buddhism and encourages readers to explore the truth of the Buddha’s teachings in their own experience. The book is in full colour with many illustrations. She will be available for book signings during breaks on the day.
Dhivan is a well-known study leader in Triratna, co-leading the Scholars’ Retreats and Philosophy Symposiums at Adhisthana. He is the author of This Being, That Becomes: the Buddha’s Teaching on Conditionality (with the collaboration of Sagaraghosa), and is currently writing another, more scholarly, book on dependent arising in the Buddha’s teaching.
Bring veggie/vegan lunch to share. No fixed charge but please consider donating.
Dhivan and Sagaraghosa’s books will be available for purchase on the day.
event image credits: Photo by Mitul Grover on Unsplash