7 Sep
2018
Posted in: Books, Webcasts
By    Comments Off on All Day with Analayo…and the Buddha

All Day with Analayo…and the Buddha

Tomorrow, I’ll be “attending” a day-long retreat led by Bhikkhu Analyao (!) — which will be at Spirit Rock — but they’re live-streaming it, so if you sign up here, you can attend on-line for FREE!!!

(It’s from 11:30 am to 7:00 pm St. Louis time. But I think if you register before it starts, you’ll have access to the recorded video for a couple of weeks.)

According to the Spirit Rock website: “During this day, Bhikkhu Analayo will read and comment on excerpts from his recent book, A Meditators Life of the Buddha, followed by guided meditation instructions.

“The instructions are aimed at experienced practitioners and presuppose meditative expertise as well as readiness to face our own mortality, as one of the teachings will be on recollection of death. Participants are encouraged to read A Meditator’s Life of the Buddha prior to the retreat [available as a FREE pdf here].”

***

I’ve just about finished the book, which I really like. (It’s a LOT less academic than most of his previous books.) Here’s what Jack Kornfield says in the Introduction:

A common misunderstanding found in modern mindfulness teachings is that by simply observing experience with mindfulness all will be transformed. But there is more to mindfulness than this. 

The wisdom in this book helps us to realize that wise mindfulness recognizes what is present, and then guides us from unwholesome to wholesome states. We can learn to see clearly and then, in response, tend, direct, refine, and transform our own mind.

Developing a mind and heart suffused with wisdom and metta allows us to live with freedom wherever we are. Bhikkhu Analayo shows us how the Buddha embodied this spirit, ever responsive to those around him. There is an immediacy, decorum, grace, open-handedness, and profound compassion in his tending of all he touched. We are invited to bring these same qualities alive in our own Dharma life.

Read this book slowly.

Savour it and let it sink in.

Make it a manual of practice….

May the teachings, stories, and practices here bring you the blessings of the Buddha.

***

Sadhu. Sadhu. Sadhu.

Comments are closed.