As the end of 2009 approaches and a new year commences, the Meditation Circle of Charleston will begin to undertake a discussion of the basics of meditation in the Buddhist tradition and the building blocks of a good sitting practice. We’ll start by using tapes describing insight and metta meditation by Ajahn Sumato along with the book “Mindfulness in Plain English” by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana. Fortunately, the entirety of Bhante Gunaratana’s book is online. So, those interested in taking an active part in an ongoing discussion about the regular practice of meditation are encouraged to start reading the boo
k online or it can be ordered from Wisdom or Amazon. It’s an excellent introduction to the basics of sitting. We can also print out chapters or reprint significant sections of ones on this site, We’ll also upload to this site some mp3s of Ajahn Sumato’s talks on meditation in advance of meetings, where we will listen to them there (I have them on my iPhone — anyone have an iPhone speaker?). Stay tuned for more details.
~ Read “Mindfulness in Plain English” online here.
~ See Bhante G’s biography here and here.
P.S. Bhante G has a new book out about the jhanas, titled “Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English: An Introductory Guide to Deeper States of Meditation” (Wisdom Publications, Boston). More to come about that later.
Douglas | Meditation Circle member
I look forward to reading Bhante G’s book and the Ajahn Sumato tapes. I try to come reguarly to have some discipline in my meditation practise and delve into the occassional buddhist reads; the book and taped lectures will add some focus to our discussions.
They will indeed. Stay tuned!