Fifth Precept Sangha

Sundays at 6 pm (UK time)/1 pm (US Eastern)
Mondays at 8 pm (UK time)/3 pm (US Eastern)
Thursdays at 8 pm (UK time)/3 pm (US Eastern)

This is a Buddhist-inspired online meditation meeting. No registration is needed. To join the meeting click this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4537777699 If you are asked for a passcode,  enter 5ps

DECEMBER  2023

Sunday, 03 December 2023	Janet	“Nobody can give you fearlessness.Even if the Buddha were sitting right here next to you,he couldn’t give it to you.You have to practice and realise it yourself.If you make a habit of mindfulness practice, when difficulties arise, you will already know what to do” Thich Nhat Hanh – Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm
Monday, 04 December 2023	Nicole	“I’m sorry,Please forgive me,Thank you,I love you.” Ho’oponopono, Hawaiian Forgiveness Prayer
Thursday, 07 December 2023	Patrick	In an age where there is much talk about “being yourself” I reserve to myself the right to forget about being myself, since in any case there is very little chance of my being anyone else. Rather it seems to me that when one is too intent on “being himself” he runs the risk of impersonating a shadow. Thomas Merton – Day of a Stranger
Sunday, 10 December 2023	Gary	A person who is beginning to sense the suffering of life is, at the same time, beginning to awaken to deeper realities, truer realities. For suffering smashes to pieces the complacency of our normal fictions about reality and forces us to become alive in a special sense – to see carefully, to feel deeply, to touch ourselves and our worlds in ways we have heretofore avoided. Ken Wilber – No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth p. 76
Monday, 11 December 2023	Jessica
Thursday, 14 December 2023	Claudia
Sunday, 17 December 2023	Janet
Monday, 18 December 2023	Shaku	“Magnanimous Mind is like a mountain, stable and impartial. Exemplifying the ocean, it is tolerant and views everything from the broadest perspective. Having a Magnanimous Mind means being without prejudice and refusing to take sides.” Dogen Zenji – Instructions for the Zen Cook
Wednesday, 20 December 2023	Gary	“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Viktor Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning”
Thursday, 21 December 2023	Noel
Sunday, 24 December 2023	Fozia
Monday, 25 December 2023	Vince	A Zen monk asked Master Yunmen,“What are the teachings of a whole lifetime?” Yunmen answered, “An appropriate response.” The Blue Cliff Record, Case 14
Thursday, 28 December 2023	Gary	“The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and sense in which he has attained liberation from the self.” – Albert Einstein (Letter to Hermann Broch about the book ‘The Death of Virgil’)
Sunday, 31 December 2023	Vince	A student of Suzuki Roshi asked “I’ve been listening to your lectures for years but I just don’t understand. Could you just please put it in a nutshell? Can you reduce Buddhism to one phrase?” Everyone laughed. Suzuki laughed. “Everything changes”, he said. Then he asked for another question. Suzuki Roshi

When you know that the other is angry,
you act for the good
of both yourself and the other,
if you’re mindful and stay calm.

~ Buddha [source: The Abuser (Akkosasutta SN 7.2)]

Buddhist Recovery Network – Midweek Meeting
BRN Sit-and-Share: Wed November 29, 2023

No registration is required. The meeting link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81326534832

You can connect manually, with Zoom meeting ID 813 2653 4832 and passcode ‘501497‘.

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual BRN ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom at:

Wednesday
3:30 pm HST (eg Honolulu, Hawaii)
5:30 pm PST (eg San Francisco/Vancouver)
6:30 pm MST (eg Denver)
7:30 pm CST (eg Chicago)
8:30 pm EST (eg New York/Tampa)
Thursday
8:30 am ICT (eg Bangkok)
12:30 pm AEDT (eg Sydney)
2:30 pm NZDT (eg Auckland)

This meeting’s topic was chosen by Vince who will be our host.

Image Link: Sculpture of Shakyamuni Buddha/lionsroar

All are welcome.

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We are each on our own life journey. I am not the cause of this person’s suffering, nor is it entirely within my power to make it go away, even though I wish I could.

~ Kristen Neff and Chris Germer [source: Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook, p. 142]

Monday, November 27, 2023

No registration is required. The meeting link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4537777699

You can connect manually with Zoom meeting ID 453 777 7699 and passcode ‘5ps‘.

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom at:

Image Link: kjpargeter/equanimity/freepik

All are welcome.

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If you feel anxious or unhappy, you know you can wait for this to pass – you do not need to fix the anxiety or the unhappiness immediately by taking drugs or alcohol. When some situation does not go the way you want it to go, do not feel powerless or aggressive and turn to intoxicants, but look at what you can learn from this or how you could understand it in a different way.

~ Martine Batchelor [source: Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits]

Sunday, November 26, 2023

No registration is required. The meeting link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4537777699

You can connect manually with Zoom meeting ID 453 777 7699 and passcode ‘5ps‘.

The above topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom at:

This meeting’s topic was chosen by Patrick, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

Image Link: pxhere.com/lake stones

All are welcome.

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Particularly critical to our spiritual progress is our selection of friends and companions, who can have the most decisive impact upon our personal destiny. It is because he perceived how susceptible our minds can be to the influence of our companions that the Buddha repeatedly stressed the value of good friendship (kalyanamittata) in the spiritual life.

~ Bhikkhu Bodhi [source: Association with the Wise via Access to Insight]

Monday, November 20, 2023

No registration is required. The meeting link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4537777699

You can connect manually with Zoom meeting ID 453 777 7699 and passcode ‘5ps‘.

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom at:

Image Link: pxhere.com/buddha peace

All are welcome.

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Part of the process of cleaning up our act is this very work of unburdening ourselves. Otherwise, true peace is never really available. Instead of meditation uncovering deeper levels of truth, it winds up being an escape, a covering over, and a numbing of the truth.

~ Kevin Griffith [source: One Breath at a Time, p. 181]

Sunday, November 19, 2023

No registration is required. The meeting link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4537777699

You can connect manually with Zoom meeting ID 453 777 7699 and passcode ‘5ps‘.

The above topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom at:

This meeting’s topic was chosen by Janet, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

Image Link: veilofreality/spiritual bypassing

All are welcome.

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Let me love this life as best as I can. 

~ Vidyamala Burch [source: From Fighting to Flourishing]

Buddhist Recovery Network – Midweek Meeting
BRN Sit-and-Share: Wed November 15, 2023

No registration is required. The meeting link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81326534832

You can connect manually, with Zoom meeting ID 813 2653 4832 and passcode ‘501497‘.

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual BRN ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom at:

Wednesday
3:30 pm HST (eg Honolulu, Hawaii)
5:30 pm PST (eg San Francisco/Vancouver)
6:30 pm MST (eg Denver)
7:30 pm CST (eg Chicago)
8:30 pm EST (eg New York/Tampa)
Thursday
8:30 am ICT (eg Bangkok)
12:30 pm AEDT (eg Sydney)
2:30 pm NZDT (eg Auckland)

This meeting’s topic was chosen by Vince who will be our host.

Image Link:  loving life/freepik

All are welcome.

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It will get clearer in time… that the whole world is inside you. . .  That to be able to live in peace, you have to be at peace with yourself . . . You must enjoy who you are. And for you to do that, you have to cultivate thoughts and feelings that resonate with you. 

~ Imane Bazoune [source: Instagram]

Monday, November 13, 2023

No registration is required. The meeting link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4537777699

You can connect manually with Zoom meeting ID 453 777 7699 and passcode ‘5ps‘.

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom at:

Artist Link: Krista Rae/Facebook

All are welcome.

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I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance.

~ Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama [source: Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, 1989]

Sunday, November 12, 2023

No registration is required. The meeting link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4537777699

You can connect manually with Zoom meeting ID 453 777 7699 and passcode ‘5ps‘.

The above topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom at:

This meeting’s topic was chosen by Claudia, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

Image Link: www.dalailama.com/pictures

All are welcome.

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To quell your contempt, first view acting like an asshole as a communicable disease.

~ Robert Sutton [source: The No Asshole Rule, p. 97]

Monday, November 06, 2023

No registration is required. The meeting link is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4537777699

You can connect manually with Zoom meeting ID 453 777 7699 and passcode ‘5ps‘.

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom at:

Image Link: donkey hole/9gag.com

All are welcome.

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