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First meeting of ABMGT, Sunday, 30th November 2014: From 2.00-4.00 PM

Preliminary program

Ajahn Brahm's Meditation Group in Toronto (ABMGT)

First meeting of ABMGT, Sunday, 30th November 2014: From 2.00-4.00 PM

Program

1.45 PM- Registration

2.00 PM-2.45PM: Guided Sitting Meditation by Ajahn Brahm using an audio (from the retreat, 18th of October, 2014)

2.45 PM-2.50: Break/Tea/Coffee

2.50 PM -3.45 PM: Watch a Video from Ajahn Brahm on “Introduction to Meditation” (Provided by Buddhist Society of Western Australia)

3.45 PM- 4.00 PM Discussion on book chapters 1& 2, “Mindfulness Bliss and Beyond” by Ajahn Brahm (we will use this book as our meditation guide)

Please bookmark the link below for any updates regarding the meetings in the future.

http://ajahnbrahmsgroupintoronto.blogspot.ca/

Mega Metta.

For Ajahn Brahm’s Meditation Group in Toronto (ABMGT)

Indi and Piyal

Place of the monthly retreat: West-end Buddhist Cultural Center, 3133 Cawthra Road, Mississauga, ON, L5A 2X4, Canada

Contact info: info@westendbuddhist.com (905) 891-8412

(905) 566-9741 http://www.westendbuddhist.org/  

What to wear: Please wear comfortable clothing, preferably white. Shoes will have to be removed as you enter the temple and they should be placed in a specified area in the basement.

What to bring: A meditation cushion (if you have one), a blanket or shawl if you need one. We will provide a chair if you want to sit and please let us know in advance

Where to park: Parking is available at the back of the temple. Please car pool if possible.

Let's start our group meditation again!

Now that the retreat is over, we are hoping to restart our monthly meditation sitting. This group was started in 2012, after his three day retreat in Toronto. It was formerly called "Hi-Five Meditation Group." We have now changed the name to "Ajahn Brahm's Toronto Meditation Group."

We are planning to have the first sitting in November, 2014 (the date and time TBA), approximately a month after the October 19th retreat. The goal is to meet once a month for half a day (i. e 2-5 pm ) and practice meditation as a group. We will be using a guided meditation audio/video by Ajahn Brahm from the retreat, at the beginning of each session. We will also be using his book, "Mindfulness, bliss and beyond" as our text guide. We can also watch a videos by Ajahn Brahm related the meditation instructions as given during the retreat to refresh our memory.  We believe these group sessions will inspire us to follow the path and encourage our daily meditation practice at home. 

The date (usually a Sunday), time and place will at the same venue as the retreat, Mississauga, temple. The general format of the monthly meeting is outlined in the blog (in the right side column). At the first meeting after the sitting meditation we will discuss the first two chapters of of the Ajahn Brahm's guidebook for meditation, "Mindfulness, bliss and beyond."

Joining this group is totally voluntary and is free of charge. Anyone who lives in and around the Toronto area and wishes to join us, can sign up by signing up using a online sign up sheet that will be emailed to you soon.  We are hoping to limit this to a small group about 50 so that we can have interactive discussions as a small group.

To join the group please click on the following link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1o2jdLfPUKD3JzxKiD0wFFkRpRi-PFebe860B617q6zw/viewform

If you have any suggestions to the format please comment here. Also if there are any volunteers who have their own expertise who are willing to help to set up the group please let us know by email at 

buddhistwisdomgroup@gmail.com

Metta

Ajahn Brahm's Toronto Meditation Group

Next meditation sitting on Sunday, the 26th of May, 2013

Dear  Group Members,

We will be having our May meditation sitting on Sunday, the 26th of May, 2013 at 3 PM. 

May you be well, happy and peaceful.

With Mega Metta.

Piyal

Back to the basics

The April meditation sitting will be held on Sunday, the 21st of April, 2013 at 3 PM. An email has been sent to all the members already. We will start from the beginning of the book, "Mindfulness bliss and beyond." We are hoping to discuss chapters 1&2 after the one hour meditation session.  Hope to see you all.

The Four Focuses of Mindfulness

Mindfulness

Yesterday we had a great meditation session followed by an excellent discussion.  After an hour of sitting we discussed the chapter 8 of the book, "Mindfulness bliss and beyond," The Four Focuses of Mindfulness. This is a well known sutta called "Maha-satipatthana Sutta: The Great Frames of Reference (also translated as The Four Foundations of Mindfulness). The simplest definition for mindfulness is "to keep something in the mind" or "remembering." We discussed the components of contemplation of body, feeling, mind, and mental qualities in detail (Please see the above figure in the-handout given).

The five spiritual faculties

The five spiritual faculties were also a subject of discussion. Thery are faith (conviction), effort (vigor/energy), mindfulness, concentration and wisdom.   We used a simile of a hand (see the figure above) and we discussed how the strongest digit is the thumb and that it should be like the faith in the ptactice. The role of mindfulness in the center as the middle finger balancing the other four factors were discussed. It is important to have some amount of faith about the path to arrive at  wisdom one day.  The difference between investigative faith (Akarawathi saddha) and blind faith (Amulika saddha) were also discussed.  The goal of the Buddhist partitioner is to develop faith through investigation and direct knowledge as a result of the practice.  We also discussed the differences between Faith follower and Dhamma follower and the stream enterer.  The faith follower has strong faith on the path and its results.  He is the one who knows the arising and falling away of the five aggregates. The Dhamma follower has developed more wisdom than the faith follower.  He sees the arising and passing away of the five aggregates.  One who  both knows and sees the arising and passing away of the five aggregates is a stream enterer.  The stream enterer  also has all the components of all the five faculties well developed.  The advantages of being a stream enterer  and how attaining this level  avoids lower realms were discussed.

Wisdom (paññā)
We also discussed three levels of wisdom (paññā) and it is shown in the figure below.

• Study (Pali: sutamayā paññā,)
• Reflection (Pali: cintāmayā paññā)
• Meditation (Pali: bhāvanāmayā paññā)

  Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_in_Buddhism#cite_note-13

We collected $950 from voluntary donations and it was rounded up to $1000 and a money order will be posted to The Sati Saraniya Buddhist Hermitage from the meditation group.

We decided to visit the Sati Saraniya Buddhist Hermitage as a group in the summer.
Much merit to all who participated in this meritorious deed.

The next meeting will be in April and the members will receive a email notification soon.