Dear Sangha friends, beste Sangha vrienden (Dutch below)
Our daily experience teaches us that there is suffering and there is happiness. Often we are like a bouncing ball moved from side to side going through a rollercoaster of emotions.
The thing that helped me is to realize that we experience the world through our mind and our perceptions. It is our mind that makes the experience to what it is.
What has helped me in many situations was being aware, learning to observe my mind and to train my mind to be free and open.
It is insight into reality that breaks us loose of habit, insight opens a new path.
With the teaching of the 4 noble truths the Buddha has brought us a way of looking at the rollercoaster and not be swept away by it.
The noble truths: "there is suffering" and "there is extinction of suffering" can also be read as:
"there is happiness" and "there is extinction of happiness".
It is the full realization that this is life;
It is an invitation to see the suffering and the happiness as they really are.
An invitation to look deeper into the formation of suffering and the formation of happiness.
(these are the other two noble truths)
Understanding who we are and what we are helps us to see what makes us suffer and what makes us feel happy. Our image of happiness and suffering is naive. What we think is happiness and suffering really are formations, creations of our mind.
Looking deeper into our daily lives and into the nature of reality, we can see the path into suffering and into happiness.
This Insight helps us to see that there is a deeper happiness and that we can be free of the rollercoaster.
The contrasting image is that ignorance of our true nature keeps us trapped in the rollercoaster of daily life.
The way the Buddha has shared his experience and insight is by showing 8 elements of the path to happiness. (often called the 8-fold path)
We will look in our meditation Monday-evening at the first step of that path: Insight (or right view)
Looking deeply into reality we can see that all is impermanent, all phenomena are depending on all other, and all divisions or boundaries are artificial. In other words: only the present moment is real, all things have the nature of interbeing and only looking with the eyes of non-discrimination helps us to see things as they really are.
Monday evening we will be looking at and sharing on our experiences with this topic.
I wish you a beautiful weekend full of silence, discovery and wonder ,
Hans
Our Sangha meeting is in 'De Schatkamer', Mimosaplein 2 Eindhoven
De format of the evening is:
19.15: preparing the room
19.30: doors open, arriving, meet with tea
20.00: start meditation
introduction theme
guided meditation
walking meditation
silent meditation
dharma sharing
21.30: closing, cleaning up and opportunity for meeting with tea.
Beste Sangha vrienden,
Onze dagelijkse ervaring leert ons dat zowel lijden als geluk bestaan. Vaak voelen we ons als een stuiterbal heen en weer gegooid als in een wild waterbaan van emoties.
Wat mij enorm geholpen heeft is het inzicht dat we we wereld zien via onze bewustzijn. Ons bewustzijn maakt de ervaring tot tot wat het is. Wat mij in veel situaties geholpen heeft is om alert te zijn, om mijn bewustzijn te observeren en om mijn 'Mind' (geest) te trainen om vrij en open te zijn.
Het is het inzicht, in wat er werkelijk is, dat me vrij breekt van gewoonte; inzicht opent een nieuw pad.
Als we diep kijken in de realiteit van de wereld zien we dat alles tijdelijk is, alle verschijnselen hangen samen met alle andere en alle grenzen of afscheiding is kunstmatig. Met andere woorden: Alleen het huidige moment is echt; Alle dingen hebben de natuur van inter-zijn; En alleen kijken met de ogen van non-discriminatie helpt ons de wereld te zien zoals die werkelijk is.
Maandagavond zullen we samen kijken naar en delen over onze ervaring hiermee.
Ik wens je een heerlijk weekend, vol van ontmoeting, verwondering en dankbaarheid,
Warme groeten
Hans
De bijeenkomst vindt plaats in De Schatkamer, Mimosaplein 2 in Eindhoven.
De indeling van de avond is:
19.15: klaarmaken van de ruimte
19.30: aankomen, ontmoeting en thee
20.00: start meditatie.
introductie thema
geleide meditatie
loopmeditatie
stille meditatie
dharma-sharing
21.30: afsluiting en opruimen, gelegenheid voor ontmoeting bij thee.
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