Online Retreat: The Heart of Practice
Day 5
Resources for Day 5:
‘Let’s not reduce the Metta Bhavana to technique to fix or improve our relationships.’
Bodhilila
Thursday 8am
Welcome to Day 4
Salute to the Three Jewels
Reading
45 min unled meditation with bells marking 5 stages
‘During the period of meditation there is not anything, it is simply open.’
Padmasambhava from Advice to the Three Fortunate Women
Thursday 10.30am
Talk by Bodhilila
Maitri mantra
Metta Bhavana meditation
Enquiry
Amitabha mantra
‘Looking after oneself, one looks after others; looking after others, one looks after oneself’
the Buddha in Samyutta Nikaya
Thursday 4pm
Chakra meditation led by Paramananda
Q & A with Paramananda and Bodhilila
Invocation to Amitabha in call and response
Amitabha mantra (melodic) led by Prajnanita
‘There is in fact only one need of one’s own that has to be fulfilled before one can preoccupy oneself effectively with the needs of others, and it is not a physical or material need, but simply a matter of emotional positivity and security. We need to appreciate our own worth and feel that it is appreciated by others, to love ourselves and feel that we are loved by others.’
Sangharakshita
Invocation of Amitabha
Turning to the West,
And the rays of the setting sun,
I bow to the ruby red light
That is the Buddha Amitabha.
Lover of light,
You sit on a rich red lotus,
Floating on the ocean of existence.
Your hands touch together in your lap,
A soft red lotus growing between them.
You are deep in meditation,
Completely at peace with yourself.
Rich red light emanates
From every pore of your skin.
Your red robes are embroidered with gold.
Soft red light and a rainbow surround you,
The wisdom aura of green encircles your head.
You are the rich red light of the setting sun
Sinking into the ocean of existence,
Your rays extending across the sea to meet us.
With your light comes your love,
A warm and passionate love for all that lives,
Suffusing all things,
Nourishing and healing,
Bringing back to life the hurt and wounded.
The red light washes over us,
Melting the ice of our hearts.
Yet always you are deep in meditation,
Your energy drawn inwards,
Moving from the senses
To the riches of your inner world.
From this wholeness and containment,
Your love shines out.
And the lotus growing in your hands,
Each red petal slowly opening
And emanating light,
This lotus echoes the growth in us
Of our own inner life,
Our own aspirations,
The gentle warming and unfolding of our own hearts.
Lover of light,
Your discriminating vision
Sees each person exactly as they are,
Loves each one according to their need.
You perceive clearly the nature of all things,
Seeing with the eye of reality
Beneath the form to the thing itself.
O Amitabha
You are the fire element,
The spark of life,
The warmth and heat that is life itself.
Let the fires of your love burn brightly for all to see.
O Amitabha,
Help us to overcome our selfish greed,
to see clearly what we really need.
Help us to become content,
with what we already have
and be happy wherever we are.
O Amitabha,
Help us to come alive
to a world beyond the senses.
Help us to experience the joy of meditation,
The ever-renewing energies of our own minds.
Help us to enter Sukhavati
The blissful land of your light,
The blissful land of your love.
Saccanama
