Fifth Precept Sangha

“Life is too short to waste any amount of time on wondering what other people think about you. In the first place, if they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn’t have the time to sit around and talk about you. What’s important to me is not others’ opinions of me, but what’s important to me is my opinion of myself.”

~ C. JoyBell C.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode then enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Jacob, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

“Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry – all forms of fear – are caused by too much future, and not enough presence.
Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”

~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode then enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Andrew, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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Image by © Vince Cullen – ‘Coffee Time’ – Yak Cafe, McLeod Ganj – Dharamsala, HP, India – October 2019

You desire to know the art of living, my friend?
It is contained in one phrase: ‘make use of suffering’.

~ Henri Frédéric Amiel (Swiss moral philosopher, poet, and critic 1821–81)

MONDAY, NOVEMBER , 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode then enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Beth, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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Image by © Vince Cullen – ‘Wheel of Becoming’ – Wat Suan Mokkh – International Dharma Hermitage, Chaiya, Thailand – March 2004

See yourself grow into the person you’re meant to be.
See yourself helping others in your purpose. 
See yourself smiling and feeling excited in this new purpose.
Your purpose is enough to keep you happy.

Adapted by Will M. from a meditation titled “Free Yourself: A Meditation to Let Go of Toxicity“

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode then enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Will, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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Image by courtesy of pixabay.com

The non-doing of any evil,
the performance of what’s skillful,
the cleansing of one’s own mind:
this is the teaching of the Awakened

~ Buddha (Dhammapada Verse #183) from “Buddhavagga: Awakened” (Dhp XIV), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode then enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Donny, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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Image – Three-monkeys-1212621 (by Robert Fotograf from Pixabay)

As with breathing practice, walking meditation, lovingkindness practice or living in harmony with the precepts, we take refuge over and over again. We make progress, we slip backwards and sideways, we get distracted, we get discouraged, we get elated, and we begin again.

~ Beth Roth, “Family Dharma: Taking Refuge (On the Wings of Angels)”

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode then enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Vince, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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Image by (c) Vince Cullen – ‘Precepts at Kopan Monastery’ – Kathmandu, Nepal – June 2017

Life always gives us
exactly the teacher we need
at every moment.
This includes every mosquito,
every misfortune,
every red light,
every traffic jam,
every obnoxious supervisor (or employee),
every illness, every loss,
every moment of joy or depression,
every addiction,
every piece of garbage,
every breath.
Every moment is the guru.

~ Joan Tollifson ‘Awake in The Heartland’ (often mis-attributed to Charlotte Joko Beck)

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 09, 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode then enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Andrew, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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Image by (c) Vince Cullen – ‘Rubbish in Dharamsala’ – McLeod Ganj, HP, India – September 2019

May I be loving, open, and aware in this moment;
If I cannot be loving, open, and aware in this moment, may I be kind;
If I cannot be kind, may I be nonjudgmental;
If I cannot be nonjudgmental, may I not cause harm;
If I cannot not cause harm, may I cause the least harm possible.

~ Larry Yang, ‘In the Moments of Non-Awakening’, Lion’s Roar (January 21, 2020)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 05, 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode then enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Filly, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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Image by (c) Vince Cullen – ‘Buddha in the Garden’ – Newbury, Berkshire, UK – June 2004

You can recognize a good-hearted friend who’s the same in good times and bad on four grounds. They tell you secrets.
They keep your secrets.
They don’t abandon you in times of trouble.
They’d even give their life for you.

~ Buddha’s Advice to Sigālaka’

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 02, 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode just enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Paul, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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[Image by Bob Dmyt from Pixabay]

A fashion is merely a form of ugliness so absolutely unbearable that we have to alter it every six months!

~ Oscar Wilde, ‘The Philosophy of Dress’, New York Tribune, April 19th, 1885

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2020

No registration required. The meeting link is –

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/553721188?pwd=NXdmSnFSQUVTWFVhMk13dHMzVlRDQT09

If you are asked for a passcode then enter: 5ps

The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:30 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time). This meeting’s topic was chosen by Vince, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host.

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at or shortly after 9 pm but the Zoom meeting room will be open 30-minutes before and after for conversation, connection and fellowship.

All welcome.

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’.

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