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Ven Canda answers questions about how to balance different forms of meditation, selecting phrases for loving kindness (metta) practice, how external silence conditions a silent mind, encounters with heavenly beings (devas), whether one’s meditation practice needs to be complemented by studying the early Buddhist texts (suttas), monastic names, women’s ordination, Early Buddhism, and whether it is necessary to commit to the entire Buddhist path to Enlightenment if you don’t feel ready for it.
Time stamps:
[0:00] Insight, loving kindness (metta), and the convergence of all forms of meditation
[7:11] Changing metta phrases and being patient in the moment
[11:00] Nobel Silence and the silent mind
[18:25] Dealing with physical symptoms of sending metta to a difficult person
[22:15] Understanding meditation terms: samadhi vs. jhana vs. samatha
[24:16] Stories of heavenly beings (devas) and psychic powers
[31:56] Loving kindness without an object
[34:35] Stories of heavenly beings part 2
[39:00] Is metta meditation enough?
[43:53] Rapture (piti) and enduring the bliss
[46:44] Ven Canda’s name and monastic naming
[49:05] Metta songs as practice
[53:41] Nuns vs. Bhikkhunis and women’s ordination
[59:50] Ven Canda’s tradition and Early Buddhism
[1:03:42] Having strange dreams on retreat
[1:06:35] Meditation in the lying down posture
[1:08:54] “Kindness” and other single-word metta phrases
[1:09:32] Perspective shifts
[1:13:09] Earlier versus later Buddhist teachings
[1:17:41] Choosing unconditional phrases of love
[1:19:53] Do I have to commit to the whole path to Enlightenment? What if I like my attachments?
[1:24:24] Seeing lights in the mind (nimittas) outside of formal meditation
Loving kindness (metta) is a boundless quality of heart that promotes social harmony and inner peace. The careful cultivation of metta undermines fear and ill will, opening us to a selfless kind of joy that can deepen into blissful, boundless states of stillness (samadhi).
This retreat will encourage the flourishing of metta; both as a way of relating to our experience through body, speech and mind, and as a meditation method. We will experience the potential of metta to dissolve the barriers we erect between ‘self’ and ‘other,’ which blind us to the universal truths of suffering and non-self.
More about us:
Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project is a Charity founded in 2016 with the aims to spread the Buddha's teachings and develop a monastery where women can train toward full bhikkhuni ordination for the very first time in the UK. Over the years we have developed a diverse and dedicated spiritual community around these aims and recently found a property! Anukampa Grove Bhikkhuni Monastery, in Boar's Hill, is only 5 miles from Oxford and is surrounded by peaceful woodland. Our moving date is March 22nd, 2024. In this exciting phase we welcome your support so we can make essential renovations and adaptations to the property and welcome visitors and aspiring monastics trainees as soon as possible!
Donations of any amount are very gratefully received, either as one-off donations or standing orders. UK tax payers can claim gift aid, increasing your donation by 25%. International bank transfers can be made via Wise.
Please visit
www.anukampaproject.org/donate or write to finances@anukampaproject.org for more information.