To begin to practice the dharma is a huge, significant step – and some of us can date the time of our beginning. What we don’t usually mark with anniversaries is the ways in which we discover to deepen and strengthen our practice, though this is what keeps us going year after year, and what truly transforms our lives.
Drawing on a dharma talk by Jill Shepherd, Don guided our exploration this week of maintaining and deepening our practice at various stages —as beginners looking for a recipe satisfying enough to keep us returning to the cushion, as longer term students who want to move beyond methods that have come to seem mechanical, to meditators with years and decades of experience who are rewarded by finding greater subtleties in practice—or by seeing how practice and daily life can work together to transform one another. Sharing off-the-cushion time with sangha can contribute to one’s depth of practice in many ways, as the Buddha recommended.
And then there is the question of finding an appropriate teacher, if that would seem helpful at certain stages. Where to find them? How to connect? & Finding a meaningful relationship are key questions when the time comes for some one-to-one guidance.
A link to the talk is below:
