Sangha night

Aspects of Practice

Come along for Sangha Night, an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the Dharma, how it relates to our own lives, and practice together.

Almost anything can happen on Sangha Night, but mostly we meditate together, have a 20-30 minute presentation from someone in the community, and then have 20 minutes for small group discussion on the evening's theme.

Tonight: Conditions for Practice.

We continue our "mini-series" on aspects of practice, as we lead up to the Sangha retreat at the beginning of October. You don't need to be going on the retreat in order to benefit from the content of this Sangha night theme. While retreats offer us the very best of conditions, we are talking here of increasing our awareness of the circumstances, experiences and responses to important aspects of our lives.

Tonight, Ratnavyuha will join us to talk about the importance of establishing supportive conditions for spiritual practice. A key part of the Buddha's own enlightenment experience was the realisation that things arise on the basis of conditions. We have much more influence on the conditions of a process than we do of an outcome.

Examples in a sangha frame are the importance of friendships with like minded people, shared language as a basis for deeper communication, engaging in ethical reflections as a foundation for meditation, and simplifying our lives. Come along and hear Ratnavyuha elucidate this, and, if you find it helpful, discuss your own experience in small groups.

Sangha nights are a place for people to come together and celebrate community, deepen their knowledge of Buddhism, and their understanding of how to practice it. They are designed for those who have been coming to the centre for a little while. If you have had minimal contact with us, you are best to attend our Intro course first, even if you have practiced within other traditions.