Fifth Precept Sangha

“Our common human goal is happiness and our common human condition is fear. Fear is the obstacle in every moment to our happiness and our complete illumination. It is fear that holds us in a job or a relationship or a situation that we don’t like or enjoy, and it is this fear that society continually caresses.”

~ From ‘Buttons in the Dana Box’ by Michael Kewley

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –

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.

“For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.”

~ Viktor E. Frankl

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –

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.

“Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled. You’ve got to relax, let it happen at times, and at others move forward with it.”

~ Ray Bradbury, [Farewell Summer]

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –

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 can’t get no satisfaction, I can’t get no satisfaction
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no”

~ Songwriters: Keith Richards / Michael Jagger (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction lyrics © Abkco Music, Inc

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –

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.

“Being cut off from our own natural self-compassion is one of the greatest impairments we can suffer. Along with our ability to feel our own pain go our best hopes for healing, dignity and love.”

~ Gabor Mate

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –

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.

Confess All Your Hidden Faults.
Approach That Which You Find Repulsive.
Whoever You Think You Cannot Help – Help Them.
Anything You Are Attached To – Let Go Of It.
Go To the Places That Scare You.

~ Machig Labdrön (1055-1149) 11th-century Tibetan tantric Buddhist practitioner, teacher and yogini.

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –

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.

“At death a person abandons
what he supposes as mine.
Realizing this, the wise
shouldn’t incline
to be devoted to mine-ness.”

~ Jara Sutta: Old Age – translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Alternatively…

“That which a man imagines to be his
will disappear at death.
Knowing this a wise man
will have no attachment (to anything).”

~ Jara Sutta: Old Age – translated from the Pali by John D. Ireland

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –

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.

“Like fever and pain, anxiety and low mood are useful normal responses to some situations.”

~ Randolph M. Nesse, Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –

https://5th-precept.org/virtual-sit-and-share-meetings-via-…/

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

https://5th-precept.org/how-to-attend-a-virtual-sit-and-sha…/

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.

“To see ourselves as just another person deserving love is a valuable exercise. Here we start to disidentify with ourselves, see ourselves in more objective terms. When we can see ourselves as just another imperfect human, equally deserving of love as anyone else, it becomes easier to offer love to ourselves.”

~ Kevin Griffin, “May All Beings Be Happy”

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –

https://5th-precept.org/virtual-sit-and-share-meetings-via-…/

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

https://5th-precept.org/how-to-attend-a-virtual-sit-and-sha…/

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.

“As we change our own dysfunctional habits, we are simultaneously changing society.
Our own awakening is intertwined with the awakening of enlightened society.
If we can lose our personal appetite for aggression and addiction, the whole planet will rejoice.”

Pema Chödrön 
Taking the Leap : Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears [pages 98-99]

This is this week’s topic 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.

This week’s ‘Sit-and-Share’ host can be found here –
https://5th-precept.org/virtual-sit-and-share-meetings-via-skype/

Please read ‘How to attend a Virtual Sit-and-Share meeting’ –
https://5th-precept.org/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.