This week our family group was studying the parami of Sīla. We started by asking the question, “What is Sīla?” The adults were able to chime in with a few ideas. What do you think? How would you describe Sīla to one who had never heard the word? When we did this, a lot of […]
Recently we hung a Buddhist flag in the meditation room in Shelburne. Surprisingly, not everyone was familiar with it! Though the Buddhist flag officially comes from the country of Sri Lanka, it is now a recognized international symbol of the buddhist faith. This is because it was adopted at a very important time for modern
Great Debates and a Flag Read More »
Lately in our family group we’ve been going through the list of the ten parami’s. These qualities are considered perfections of character and heart that are the attributes of a fully awakened Buddha (samma-sambuddha). Such a being is capable of not only attaining enlightenment without the aid of an existing teacher, but they have the
In this Uposatha reflection Tahn Pamutto goes up against the notion that you have to believe in Karma and Rebirth to be a Buddhist – where the idea comes from and what exactly the Buddha talks about as essential in the understanding of karma.
Talk: Kamma and Rebirth Read More »
This last Sunday our family group had the chance to take a field trip to the town of Wendell, the hilltown where Tahn Pamutto and company spent the summer months living in a tent and walking almsround. There the topic of the day, the parami of Nekkhamma or Renunciation, was made real by seeing different
Reclaiming Renunciation Read More »
Following on from our talk in recent weeks of goals, character development, and the bases of power, it was surprising to receive a request to devote our Tuesday evening study group to a continuing look at the iddhipāda. We cracked open the Samyutta Nikaya (Discourses Connected by Topic) and looked at the chapter devoted to
Examining the Bases of Power Read More »
The focus for today’s family gathering was very timely – Mettā. Not only as a perfection of character, but also as a life skill, it’s hard to find a buddhist teaching as fundamental as Goodwill. But explaining this skillful emotion or it’s underpinning is deceptively hard. The reason for this is that while we often
The Many Faces of Mettā Read More »
In this Uposatha reflection, Tahn Pamutto discusses how getting a vision of the reason we practice and what we would like to develop can serve as a foundation for the work we actually do in cultivating the eightfold path. He also discusses the list of four known as the iddhipāda, which are factors we can
One of the joys of being stably in one spot as well as amidst a community of buddhist practitioners is the ability to have programs suitable for participants of all ages. In Shelburne we had the first of our planned weekly family gathering today. The theme was ‘Developing Paramī’. We had the chance to contemplate
Family Group: Developing Paramī Read More »
In this Uposatha reflection, Tahn Pamutto reflects on the ‘Homage to the Triple Gem’, a sort set of verses that are among the most commonly chanted pāli phrases in theravāda buddhism. These phrases are known as the epithets of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha, and are a great reflection on what it means to grow
Talk: Developing Faith in the Triple Gem Read More »
