As part of our week-long
Home Retreat on 'Sailing the Worldly Winds - A Buddhist Way Through the Ups and Downs of Life', we are delighted to host here for a live online Q & A, Vajragupta the author and Dharma teacher behind the retreat itself.
A great, wide-ranging and practical discussion about what this classic Buddhist teaching has to say to us about caring for ourselves and each other during the current coronavirus / Covid-19 pandemic. And what communities can do to try and make sure the world does not simply forget all that's being learned when the crisis is finally over.
Topics discussed are:
- Naming the worldly winds in your own way
- Gain and loss at the heart of change
- Where does fear come in?
- What can you do when the winds are blowing strongly? Spaciousness and reflection
- Considering pleasure and pain as the basis of all the winds; each of the pairs as possible root factors; fame and celebrity
- Poem - 'This is the time to be slow' by John O'Donohue
- The place of beauty in our response
- The intimacy of care for others - engaging as fully as we can
- Working with hyperactive thought processes (papanca) in meditation
- No expectations, only possibilities - control and influence in relation to the worldly winds
- Connections between the five hindrances in meditation and the worldly winds
- Joy and pain are woven fine - potentially hopeful aspects around the consequences of the pandemic
- Human beings forget very easily - the urgent value of commuinity and conditions as a context for remembering what matters
- Final thoughts on keeping your practice going