These dharma study events emulate the community of the Aniruddhas in the Pali Canon. The Anirruddhas lived together through a rainy season retreat, carrying out meditation practice, household tasks and begging rounds in complete silence. But every full and new moon they would sit together and talk through the night about the dharma.
That’s what we do. Talking through the night is not compulsory. I’ll surely be yawning by 10 o’clock (uk time), but once things get going, there is no reason why our discussions, rituals and meditations shouldn’t continue past midnight, or into the day or evening if you’re in USA or Oceania.
There will be pre-meeting groups from 7 for those who want them. Groups can stay together week after week. Also you can specify preferences in advance (single sex, not with X, with Y assuming they agree, etc.)
The study will usually be seminar style. That is, we’ll look at a text or some other kind of dharma content and I’ll comment on each point to clarify what is being said (I hope!), and at times open that up for further discussion. There’s something I essentially want to communicate – the nature of the mind in relation to our dharma practice. That can come out of all kinds of texts, images, ideas, doctrines – some things work better than others. I am currently looking at a few possibilities but I’m really open to your ideas.
So a typical evening might look like this
7-755 Groups
Short break
8:00 Meditation and chanting
8:30 Seminar – reading, comment and discussion, occasional quick group discussion
…the rest? We’ll see at the time.
Dharma 8 to late takes place every full and new moon on the Zoom online platform. Here is the link
Dates for next few meetings
Sun 25 Sept 
Thur 6 Oct 
(early)
Tue 25 Oct
Tue 8 Nov