A Visual Taste of Freedom
Keep an eye on Unproductive Kammax at the bottom of the main page and at Dhamma Comics for some beautiful renderings of famous teachings, including A Taste of Freedom by Ajahn Chah and a visual tour of the Pali Canon!
Reflections
Coming to terms with Uncertainty
This last Wednesday we had a lively conversation around the topic of our mental landscape – small worldly concerns becoming massive mental hindrances. Sometimes we make a decision and we don’t get to know if it was the right one, and we can agonize and worry and dwell on what could have been. It’s amazing …
The Chocolate Hindrance
(This story and reflection come from a session of Upavana’s online “Lay Sangha Chat”, held on the first and last quarter Moon, open to all and hosted by Upavana sangha members.) “So I bought the chocolate bar. And ate it.” He shrugged his shoulders with a good-humored expression of “I tried not to, but …
Introduction to the Four Noble Truths
The family group has collectively decided to take a look at one of the quintessential buddhist teachings: the Four Noble Truths. This is not an easy topic to cover, and even those who have devoted their whole lives to buddhist practice have not exhausted their exploration of the topic. But at its core the Four …
Family Group: Dānā Paramī
This week the Santigama family group got back together after a long summer hiatus, and we finished our look at the Ten Paramī’s with the final paramī of Dānā, or Generosity. We started with a Meditation: Imagine a friend or family member. Now imagine that they need something. This could be that they or hungry …
Essay: Putting Away the Books
Tahn Santi, who recently visited in Shelburne and offered the reflection on Renunciation for Uposatha night, has had an article published in Tricycle magazine. It can be found here: Putting Away the Books
Reflections on Mettā
A transcription by Laura of some Mettā reflections given on Wednesday, in full color, can be found here: https://upavana.org/comic/advice-on-the-practice-of-metta/
Family Group: Pañña, Wisdom
With summer vacations and COVID outbreaks cutting into our schedules, it’s been awhile since our last family group and it will be awhile still before the next one. But it was a joy to come together for a special session dealing with a very special topic- one of the most important qualities we can develop …
Family Group: Sacca/Honesty
This week for the family group, we had the fun task of looking at the paramī of Sacca, or Truthfulness. This is a fun task because it’s pretty straightforward: it takes almost no effort to see the chaos and distrust caused by lying, and appreciate the trust and harmony created by a commitment to the …
Family Group: Mudita
This week for the family group, we stepped sideways from the list of the ten perfections to cover an important wholesome emotion that doesn’t always get so much press: Mudita. Mudita is described as the feeling of joy we get upon perceiving happiness in ourselves or others. This emotion is one of the four brahma-vihara’s, …