Fifth Precept Sangha

“To make a vow is to set an aspiration.
It is to ground our life in certain values.
A vow states our intention and creates a current which we can flow towards and feed.
We can renew and extend our vow.
It is helpful if the vow is not too extraordinary but at the same time helps us to stretch ourselves.”

Source: Adapted and used with the kind permission of Martine Batchelor from the book ‘Let Go: A Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits’.

Meeting link – https://us04web.zoom.us/j/553721188 (see below for telephone options)

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

PLEASE NOTE: The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at 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’ –

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

Source : Blaise Pascal ~ French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic theologian (1623 – 1662)

Meeting link – https://us04web.zoom.us/j/553721188 (see below for telephone options)

This meeting’s topic was chosen by Jessica, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’. The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:45 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time).

The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 pm and close at 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’ –

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.

“I yearn to be free of pain, but rush straight into it;
I long for happiness, but foolishly crush it like an enemy.”

Source : Shantideva (8th Century Indian Buddhist) as quoted in ‘Living with the Devil – A meditation on Good and Evil’ (p16) by Stephen Batchelor.

Meeting link – https://us04web.zoom.us/j/553721188 (see below for telephone options)

This meeting’s topic was chosen by Vince, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’. The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Zoom from 7:45 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time).

All welcome.

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

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.

“We should not be afraid of suffering.
We should be afraid of only one thing,
and that is not knowing how to deal with our suffering.”

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

This week’s topic was chosen by Vince, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host on Monday. The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Skype from 7:45 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time).

All welcome.

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

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.

“Three ways to discover one’s own faults:
Ask a friend,
Ask an enemy,
Identify the faults you find in others.”

~ Origin unknown

This week’s topic was chosen by Paul, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host on Monday. The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Skype from 7:45 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time).

All welcome.

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

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.

“We tend to stick to our habits, even the ones that cause us to suffer.

Workaholism is one example. In the past, our ancestors may have had to work nearly all the time to put food on the table. But today, our way of working is rather compulsive and prevents us from having real contact with life. We think about our work all the time and don’t even have time to breathe. We need to find moments to contemplate the cherry blossoms and drink our tea in mindfulness. Our way of acting depends on our way of thinking, and our way of thinking depends on our habit energies. When we recognise this, we only need to say, ‘’Hello, habit energy,’’ and make good friends with our habitual patterns of thinking and acting. When we can accept these ingrained thoughts and not feel guilty about them, they will lose much of their power over us. Right Thinking leads to Right Action. “

~ The Heart of the Buddha’s teaching – Thich Nhat Hanh

This week’s topic was chosen by Jessica, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host on Monday. The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Skype from 7:45 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time).

All welcome.

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

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.

“…the eight worldly conditions revolve around the world, and the world revolves around the eight worldly conditions.
What eight?
Gain and loss, fame and disgrace, praise and blame, pleasure and pain.
These eight worldly conditions revolve around the world, and the world revolves around these eight worldly conditions.”

~ Buddha (numbered discourses #8.5 Worldly Conditions ~ Paṭhamalokadhamma Sutta)

This week’s topic was chosen by Eileen, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host on Monday. The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Skype from 7:45 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time).

All welcome.

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

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.

“Keep in mind how fast things pass by and are gone—those that are now, and those to come.
Existence flows past us like a river:
the “what” is in constant flux, the “why” has a thousand variations.
Nothing is stable, not even what’s right here.
The infinity of past and future gapes before us—a chasm whose depths we cannot see.”

~ from the book ‘Meditations’ by Marcus Aurelius

This week’s topic was chosen by Vince, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host on Monday. The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Skype from 7:45 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time).

All welcome.

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

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.

“Satori is not the crowning of an ultimate success, but of an ultimate defeat. The consciousness of always having been free appears in us when we have exhausted all the attempts, all the trainings, that we believe may be capable of liberating us.

If the disciplines could not be paths to Satori, it does not mean that they should not be followed; they are paths leading to blind alleys, all leading to a unique and ultimate blind alley; but they are to be followed, just because Satori cannot be obtained unless we have come up against the end of this last blind alley.”

~ from the book ‘Effortless Living : Wu-Wei and the Spontaneous State of Natural Harmony’ by Jason Gregory

This week’s topic was chosen by Paul, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host on Monday. The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Skype from 7:45 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time).

All welcome.

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

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.

Thirty spokes join at the hub:
their use for the cart
is where they are not.
When the potter’s wheel makes a pot,
the use of the pot
is precisely where there is nothing.
When you open doors and windows for a room,
it is where there is nothing
that they are useful to the room.
Therefore being is for benefit,
Nonbeing is for usefulness.

~ Tao Te Ching #11 By (author) Lao-Tzu, translated by Thomas Cleary

This week’s topic was chosen by Eileen, who will be our ‘Sit-and-Share’ host on Monday. The topic is for contemplation, reflection and sharing at the online virtual ‘Sit-and-Share’ meditation meeting via Skype from 7:45 pm ready for a prompt start at 8 pm (UK time).

All welcome.

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

Closing dedication of Merit:

We dedicate the merits of this practice to all suffering beings.
May everyone be free of suffering, and the causes of suffering.
May everyone enjoy happiness, and the causes of happiness.
Keep sitting; and keep smiling.