:: Local Shambhala Association Meeting
My evening went like this: show up to the location advertised in the paper only to find that I am the seond person to arrive, after the organizer/timekeeper. Not such a bad thing, I was able to introduce myself and get a sense of what to expect from the evening. Once a few more people arrived, we sat down to begin meditation practice. I was given a few short instructions about posture and what I was to do with the thoughts that arose during meditation and we began.
We sat for twenty minutes. I was surprised at how quickly the time passed. Maybe this is a sign that I am getting a little better at meditation. My mind still flew off in hundreds of directions and I struggled to reign it in. I tried counting the exhalation only to find that my thoughts would slip away during the inhalations. Finally I tried thinking the word “the” on the inhalation and “breath” on the exhalation. I imagine this must have much the same effect as counting and so can’t be that harmful to the practice.
After the sitting, we moved to a table where we had tea and cookies. Collectively, we read a chapter from a book called Shambala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior. The chapter we read was called Letting Go, and in it I found many interesting themes. After completing the chapter, we had a brief discussion about what we had just read and then our meeting was adjourned.
I enjoyed the meditation practice portion of the evening but feel I need to discover more about Shambhala. What is it? How does it relate to Buddhism? What concepts are carried through the two? Why do the words “cheer up” appear so often in the text we read? Work to be done.
1 Response to “First Time Out”