Peter and a group of Sangha members just completed a rewarding 12-week intensive study group organized around the practice of lovingkindness and all the other benevolent intentions that arise from the practice. Another 12-week course is being offered. Those persons interested in the course will commit to:
- Practicing lovingkindness meditation for at least one 45-minute sitting per day during the course
- Developing ways to extend this practice beyond the meditation period into daily life routines
- Reporting on their experiences during each meeting
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An Introductory Course on Buddhist Meditation
taught by Peter Carlson
Focusing on three elements necessary for reducing stress and increasing joy in life:
- Life affirming values
- Meditative awareness and discipline
- Wisdom in thought and deed
When: This course meets four Mondays, July 8 – 29, 2013, 7 to 9 PM
Fee: The fee is $50, payable to The Orlando Insight Meditation Group.
The fee pays for renting the class space and helps to sponsor meditation retreats.
The teacher takes no fee. Students may make a voluntary offering at the end of the course.
Where: The Winter Park Women’s Club, 419 Interlachen, Winter Park FL 32789 at the intersection of Lyman, Interlachen and Fairbanks
For more information, contact Peter by email or phone: 407 339-5444
Photo Credit: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos
Continuing the theme developed during Peter’s talks this year, we explored the value of thinking of and applying ways to alleviate suffering using the Four Noble Truths. While beginning the discussions of the Noble Eightfold Path, we spent one night on the Middle Way, emphasizing that our experience of life in this era is significantly different and more complex than during the era when Buddhism was developed.
by Robert Lockridge
Love is like a blooming bush,
That cannot wait for spring;
Heart stays still in sudden hush
That joy and sorrow bring.
What fills us up must then flow out,
Until the whole world sings;
In grace and fullness twirl about—
And do not wait for spring.
Love is like the searing sun
That marks stark summer’s height;
Heart can hold but only one
And has no other sight.
All other senses drop away,
Or soar in endless flight;
Intent is helpless in its sway—
So only hold its height.
Love is like the morning chill
That rustles leaves in fall;
Foretelling how the winter will
Soon cast a bitter pall
On everything that brightly shone
On summer’s fertile soil;
With no ceremony followed, gone—
So heed the rustling call.
Love is like the bitter cold
That covers winter’s ground;
All that matters bought and sold,
And lost without a sound
Of protest from a hateful earth,
That once we twirled around;
Only seek to find rebirth—
And thaw hard winter’s ground.
