A lot of Buddhism

From Sangharakshita's collection, Adhisthana

I've been doing a lot of Buddhism recently. Our local group meets every Tuesday evening, my study group with people from Birmingham is every Monday evening, and I've joined another local study group on a provisional basis, which takes place fortnightly on Thursdays. There have been a couple of occasions when I've gone to the Birmingham Buddhist Centre on other days, and we've also been running an introductory course on meditation and Buddhism for newcomers, and a weekend retreat in Herefordshire. And I do most of the admin for the group - things like emails about Tuesday meetings and who is going to bring the milk and planning future meetings.

Thanks to the miracle that is Zoom, we held the introductory course in person while the regulars met at the same time on Zoom, then at the end of the course the newcomers were invited to carry on attending and the regulars joined us in the village hall. I wasn't supposed to be involved with the introductory course, but one of the teachers had to drop out because of illness in her family, so I was asked to stand in. Thirteen people had signed up to attend, and most stayed for all four weeks and expressed an interest in carrying on. It was the first time we'd had to run a course ourselves - previously an ordained Buddhist had always helped us out - but I think it went pretty well.

The retreat was quite a significant event. Retreats can be just a day, or a weekend, or a week, or much longer. During lockdown the idea of online retreats appeared, which are still taking place but don't appeal to me as much as attending in person, because one of the main aspects of a retreat is to take a break from ordinary life and focus on Buddhist practice. Not so easy to do at home, when you can't even turn the computer off because that's how the content is delivered.

This retreat was specifically aimed at three small groups, each of which would not be able to supply enough people to warrant their own event. The significance was also that for three of our group it was their first retreat experience and for two more it was only their second.

We travelled to the retreat centre through Storm Eunice, but the journey was completely uneventful apart from it being rather windy. We even managed a walk on Saturday with brief periods of sunshine and no rain. The rest of the time there were talks, meditation, a communication exercise, ritual, reflection, and discussion in groups. I had been asked to facilitate a group, which put me on the organising team as well as wanting to make the first timers as comfortable as possible. Usually I return refreshed and energised, but I got a bit worn out with the responsibility. It was still a great experience which I think helped to bring the group together and make it stronger.

So after a rest on Monday I welcomed Glf back to do the pointing on the front wall of the house, which I hope will prevent damp coming through to the Auditorium. I have given up on finding a roofer for two reasons - one is the stormy weather that means many people need a roofer more than I do, and the other is that the leak is so small and intermittent that I doubt we'll find its source until it becomes worse. So I'm prepared to wait until it does get worse. The LTRP isn't over, though - the lawn needs mowing again and it may be time to do something about the garden next.

Glf pointing, February 2022