Rising sun, setting moon

The two types of goodness

The nature of goodness is of two types.
One type is not subject to change,
while the other changes with circumstances.
Meditation is beyond change and non-change, beyond good and evil.

Huineng

An Open Heart

We had a relatively small gathering for meditation on Sunday afternoon. After sitting, Bob read from An Open Heart by the Dalai Lama. The reading concerned some essential elements of Buddhist practice - and as usual the discussion ranged widely. Afterward, we dug in the garden, preparing the soil from the seedlings that are just waiting for their new home!

Two Trees on Mt. McCrae

Advice from the mountain

Once a very old king went to see an old hermit who lived in a bird's nest in the top of a tree, "What is the most important Buddhist teaching?" The hermit answered, "Do no evil, do only good. Purify your heart." The king had expected to hear a very long explanation. He protested, "But even a five-year old child can understand that!" "Yes," replied the wise sage, "but even an 80-year-old man cannot do it."

Farewell ceremony for Liz

Some advice

Meditation has to be a joyous activity, it has to be a song. One has not to do it as a duty, one has to enjoy it as fun, as play. If you do meditation as a duty you will miss the whole point.

-Osho

A Gatha

A cup fell to the ground
With a sound clearly heard.
As space was pulverized,
The mad mind came to a stop.

- Hsu Yun

Instruction

Many forms of meditation exist and I believe part of the process is learning what forms fit your needs and abilities. However, I also have heard meditation described as climbing a mountain. If you have some guidance, you may be able to progress more rapidly.

Here is one link I recently found that gives some instruction in Buddhist meditation. And here is a site that gives some basic information about Buddhism.

Welcome!

Like the rest of life, this blog is an experiment.

I hope the blog will provide a space for people to share thoughts and information. I have named the blog "Boone Sangha." In fact, there is no such group. Not formally. And perhaps if such a group were formal, it would be less real. I don't know.

I do know that a group of us have been meeting regularly on Sunday afternoon to meditate. We sit for about 20 minutes, then we silently walk, then we get together again to drink tea. You could call the tea drinking time a "Dharma talk." Someone from the group reads something short, and then we talk about it. Often we talk about other things too.

Most recently, we have been meeting at the Councill House, Boone, NC at 1 p.m. Every Sunday.

While I think of the group as a sangha, I'm not sure if other people do. We have no "membership." No dues are paid. While the readings we discuss are generally Buddhist, not all of the people sitting with us would identify themselves as Buddhist. But "Boone Sangha" had more of a ring than "Boone Group" or "Meditation Group in Boone." So - that's what I've named the blog. I suspect that the group itself will remain unnamed. Or maybe it won't. I don't know.

Anyway - this is not my blog. This is a group blog. Feel free to post comments or art or other information.

I hope all of you are well!