Our meetings focus on the practice of mindful meditation / zazen – paying attention without judgment, commentary or clinging – as a way of exploring who we are and how we relate to the world. By developing mindful awareness in all aspects of our everyday life we cultivate understanding, enjoyment, peace of mind and compassion for ourselves and others.
Our meetings are simple and non-ritualistic, non-dogmatic and free of attachment to any particular teacher or tradition. We particularly draw on contemporary research into the ideas and methods of the historical Buddha and into the questions he poses for us.
Our aim is to understand how things are (Dharma) by paying attention to our own experience – learning to live in harmony with a world of constant interaction, change and uncertainty. The Circle also aims to cultivate wellbeing, fulfilment and creative living (sukha) through meditation.
The process of awakening is sometimes a process of learning and sometimes a process of unlearning, in this sense we are all students and teachers, helping each other to grow in understanding.
As we sit in a circle in silent mindful meditation we experience the interconnectedness and equal importance of everyone. Together we develop a secular Buddhist way of life that is of our time and place.
PLEASE NOTE that whenever the word ‘Buddha’ is used in this website, I am referring to the historical Buddha, known as Gotama, or Gautama, a man who, current evidence suggests, lived between 480-400 BCE (there is uncertainty among scholars as to precise dates) in what is now Nepal and nearby regions of northern India. The only exception to this is when reference is made to, ‘Buddha-nature’ or ‘Buddha-mind.’
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS or SKILLS
At the centre of Gotama Buddha’s insight and teaching is the cultivation of wellbeing, peace and fulfilment in all beings (sukha). His advice includes the development of the following skills or attributes:
- Being mindful and recognising that suffering (dukkha) is an inevitable part of living – and suffering includes feelings of dissatisfaction, unease and discord, as well as physical pain and mental or emotional anguish.
- Learning to identify the causes of suffering – these include: craving, desire and attachment (tanha) – arising out of an inability to recognise and cope with impermanence, change and uncertainty.
- Learning to observe and let go of habits of craving and attachment, and to let go of incorrect beliefs and views (delusions – avidya) all of which are based on a desire for permanence and certainty.
- Learning to be mindful – the Eightfold Path – mindful: perspective, intention, communication, action, livelihood, effort, awareness and concentration.
Remember that to be mindful means both: to be aware – to observe clearly without comment, judgement or reactive habits; and, ‘to mind’ – to be kind, caring and compassionate.
Gotama also mentions many times that we need to recognise, to understand, and to free ourselves from, what he calls ‘the three poisons’ – craving, aggression (and other ‘negative’ emotions) and delusion. These three poisons also contribute to the suffering we experience and need to be recognised, understood and treated if we are to achieve health and wellbeing.
Keep in mind that Gotama’s suggestions, whether we refer to them as truths, tasks or skills, aren’t to be adhered to as rules we blindly accept because Gotama said so! They are propositions, or suggestions for action, that need to be questioned and tested in the laboratory of our own everyday life. It is vital that we each decide what ethical values we try to live by – and to take responsibility for these values and the actions we undertake. In this sense, whether we think of ourselves as Buddhists, secular or not, it is important we develop our own understanding of Gotama’s four points and ask ourselves: do they make sense? are they helpful in enabling me, and those around me, to live a more peaceful, healthy and fulfilling life? Only then do these ‘noble truths’ become valuable tools for living well.