Wildmind: Transcending Space and Time(zones)

Bodhipaksa, founder of the online meditation centre Wildmind (www.wildmind.org), has been running online meditation courses for over ten years. Now he’s started something new that brings together the convenience of an online course with the immediacy and atmosphere of a face-to-face class.  He writes -

"This weekly group, meeting on Skype though videoconferencing, involves an ongoing exploration of the principles and practice of meditation, of mindfulness in daily life, and of the cultivation of insight.

"The first classes started a few days ago, and have been very successful. One participant said that she was surprised to find she experienced the best meditation she’d had in a long time. There was an abundance of humour".

The videoconferencing format allows the workshop participants to see and talk to one another, and Bodhipaksa reports that the format offered for genuinely warm connections to form, and he envisages strong bonds of closeness and intimacy developing as people practice with each other and share their lives. This will be helped by the fact that participants are being asked to make at least a three month commitment to the workshop.

The topics explored go well beyond introductory meditation, and will deal with such things as how to free the mind from the hindrances, how to cultivate jhana/dhyana, bringing mindfulness into daily life, and how to cultivate insight.

Bodhipaksa rather ambitiously says that his aim is to help participants become enlightened. Although he admits that not everyone in the workshop is currently aiming that high, he points out that Enlightenment is the purpose of all Dharma practice.

Each week there is a short talk, a guided meditation, and opportunity for discussion. Meetings last for 90 minutes. So far there have been participants from across the US, from Canada, Mexico, and the UK. The times of the classes have been chosen to allow people from as many timezones as possible to participate. The most difficult region to accommodate, Bodhipaksa says, is Australia and New Zealand.

There is no fixed charge for the workshop, and people are free to give what they can afford.
Bodhipaksa sees the workshop groups as a mission: “What I'm suggesting,” he says, “is a mutual commitment to generosity. I'll go out of my way to support the people I'm working with.” He’s offering to deal with students’ questions via email or phone calls, and to support their spiritual development in any way he can.

For further information on Bodhipaksa’s Skype meditation workshops, visit Wildmind at www.wildmind.org.

Wildmind celebrate ten years of online meditation teaching

Just over ten years ago — on March 12, 2001 to be exact — Wildmind’s first-ever online meditation course kicked off. Founded by Bodhipaksa, it offered an innovative combination of online readings, audio guided meditations, discussion forum, and a personal journal in which students could have an intimate discussion about their evolving meditation practice with their teacher, and receive personal guidance and encouragement.
He says - “The fact that we’re still running these classes after 10 years is a testament to their success. (Heavens! Ten months is a long time on the internet!) And we plan to keep running these courses. But we’re also offering something new, and very, very exciting...”

On their website you’ll find details of their new offering - live meditation courses by videoconference. These started in April, with Bodhipaksa leading an ongoing donation-based workshop for people beyond the beginners’ level, exploring techniques for freeing the mind from negative states such as fear and anger, showing participants how to cultivate positive states such as calmness, contentment, and loving-kindness. He goes on to say, “Videoconferencing is no longer just for executives in glass towers. Advances in videoconferencing technology mean that it’s now possible, using Skype’s free software, for us to have live classes online. Live teleconferencing allows for a sense of closeness and intimacy, spontaneity, the ability to have your questions answered and for discussion to emerge. This is an incredible opportunity to join a small online community of people committed to deepening their meditation practice”.

Details are on the Wildmind website here .

Wildmind on Meditation

Every month Wildmind, Triratna’s meditation teaching website based in New Hampshire, USA, publish a collection of articles in their blog ‘On Practice’.  Written mostly by members of the Triratna Buddhist Order, they relate to all aspects of life, the world, meditation and practice.  We aim to feature them here, but we’re way behind - so today we bring you a selection from the past few months. 

  

Transforming hurt and anger through self-compassion
by Bodhipaksa

Under every episode of anger - 

from mild irritation to outright rage - 

is a feeling of hurt or fear, 

Bodhipaksa says. 

By finding the hurt that gives rise to anger, 

and embracing it in a mind of compassion, 

we can prevent rage from taking root.

  

Four life lessons that bring happiness
by Saddhamala

We all want to be happy. 

Book stores have aisles and aisles of self-help books, 

many of which include chapters 

on how to be happy. 

But happiness still remains elusive. 

Here are four lessons Saddhamala has learned 

that she's found bring happiness.

Getting your meditation practice back on track
by Sunada

You committed to yourself that you'll meditate. 

And you do, for a few days or weeks. 

But then something happens. 

You miss one day. Then another. 

And before you know it, you've stopped entirely. 

Hmmmm... What happened? 

And what can you do about it!?

Enlightenment in a myriad of beautiful ways
by Sunada

Sunada recently found a beautiful article by Jack Kornfield, 

which begins with the question, 

“Is enlightenment just a myth?” 

There are so many different descriptions of what enlightenment is like, 

we might begin to wonder 

whether it’s all made up, she says.

  

Being mindful of pain
by Bodhipaksa

Bodhipaksa points out that meditation offers us a powerful paradox - 

that becoming more mindful of our pain 

reduces the amount of pain we experience - 

and highlights research showing that meditation 

does in fact reduce the amount of pain we feel.

For many, many more articles, check their archives - or even better, subscribe to their free newsletter. 

Ever been curious about the meaning of mantras like Om Mani Padme Hum?   They’ve also got a new double CD out on Mantra Chanting and Sacred Sound, linked to Bodhipaksa and Sunada's audio course of the same name.  On it they take you through the origins of mantra meditation, explain how mantras can be both a mindfulness practice and a devotional practice that calls forth inner wisdom, and give you tools to help free your voice and connect with your creativity.

Living like a River - exploring the Six-Element practice

Last month Triratna News carried breaking news of Bodhipaksa’s new book, ‘Living like a River’. Positive reviews have continued to flow in and we thought we’d highlight a few.

Bodhipaksa is founder and director of Wildmind, a US-based website and publishing house offering on-line meditation courses and a vast array of free meditation-related material. ‘Living like a River’ is his fourth book. Subtitled “Finding Fearlessness in the Face of Change”, it explores one of the Triratna Buddhist Order’s central insight practices - the Six-Element Practice. But more than that, it’s a guide to life itself. As the book’s introduction makes clear, “To face reality is to embrace change; to resist change is to suffer.”

It continues - “This is the liberating insight that unfolds with Living as a River. A masterful investigation of the nature of self, this eloquent blend of current science and time-honored spiritual insight is meant to free us from the fear of impermanence in a world defined by change.

“The primary vehicle for this journey is Buddhism's traditional Six Element Practice, a deconstructive process of deep reflection that helps us let go of the belief in a separate, static self-the root of unhappiness. Readers are led through a systematic yet poetic analysis of the self that supports the realization of:

• A sense of spaciousness and expansiveness that transcends the limitations of the physical body
• Profound gratitude, awe, and a feeling of belonging as we witness the extent of our connectedness with the universe
• Freedom from the psychological burden caused by clinging to a false identity
• The relaxed experience of "consciousness, pure and bright"

Out in the US for about a month now, it’s been attracting some great review. Here’s a few...

"An interesting, lively, and genuinely illuminating teaching of Dharma." - Jack Kornfield
"An engaging fusion of science and spirituality, without dumbing down the science or marginalizing the spiritual. A difficult task. Bravo!" - Rapid City Public Library
"At a time when it's increasingly challenging to find clear and honest direction on the spiritual path, Living as a River offers contemporary insight into an ancient practice and wise counsel we can trust. This book is both beautifully written and useful to ... all serious seekers." - Mariana Caplan, PhD, author of Eyes Wide Open and Halfway Up the Mountain
"Keep flowing Bodhipaksa, the world is hungry for your words." - Claudio Basso, Amazon Reviewer

There’s also a long interview with Bodhipaksa available on Buddhist Geeks where he speaks about Triratna’s new name - as well as the book, of course!

For further details visit the book's website livingasariver.com, or buy on-line

News from Wildmind

It’s been a while since we brought you news from Wildmind, Triratna’s US-based on-line meditation teaching website. They’ve been busy, and alongside their regular courses and newsletters, have no less than three books in the pipeline.

The first, already out, is their first audio book, entitled ‘Sacred Sound: Mantra Meditations for Centeredness and Inspiration’.

By Bodhipaksa and Sunada, Wildmind’s principle teachers, it’s a complete guide to mantra meditation, including:

• The "magical" background and history of mantras
• How mantras can help us develop centeredness and inspiration
• Preparatory exercises to open the body and free the breath
• Seven mantras chanted for listening and learning
• The meaning and symbolism of each of the seven mantras
• A print-friendly companion guide with images, pronunciation key, and musical notations

You can listen to a free five-minute sampler of the content (which runs to over two hours) by clicking here - Five minute sample of Sacred Sound - and there’s even a Companion Guide to the audiobook, available as a free PDF download.

Next up is the second edition of Bodhipaksa’s much-loved book, Wildmind: A Step-by-Step Guide to Meditation, due out in July (August in the US). He says “Meditation helps us to cut through the agonizing clutter of superficial mental turmoil and allows us to experience more spacious and joyful states of mind. It is this pure and luminous state that I call your Wildmind.”

Last but not least is ‘Living as a River: Finding Fearlessness in the Face of Change’, a major new work from Bodhipaksa and probably Triratna’s first to explore the implications of the Buddhist Six Element Practice. He writes -
“I wrote Living as a River because I’m fascinated by the Buddhist Six Element Practice, and I wanted to communicate my explorations. But my book isn’t really about the Six Element Practice, which is really just the framework for the explorations it contains.

“The Six Element Practice is a way of exploring the nature of the self, and how we cling onto notions of what we are. It’s a way of letting go of our clinging so that we can, eventually, lose our clinging and find freedom. But that’s not an very adequate description of the book either.

“But those are the kind of descriptions I keep giving people. I just couldn’t think of a pithy way of expressing what the book was about that wasn’t too narrow or long-winded. I needed to find a “pitch.”

“A couple of days my last flailing attempt to describe my book, it finally came to be how I could describe the book in just two words: “Embracing change.” So that’s what the book’s about. It uses the structure of the Six Element meditation in order to face up to the reality of change, and to help us let go of clinging so that we can embrace change”.

‘Living as a River is due out on October 1st this year. You can follow its progress on Facebook www.facebook.com/livingriver, where it’s already clocked up nearly 1,000 fans!

There’s too much new on the site to do it justice in a single post - tomorrow we’ll feature a few more of its highlights...

Technology and Enlightenment: new Wildmind newsletters out

Wildmind is the FWBO’s US-based website dedicated to teaching meditation. Each month they publish a newsletter exploring one or another aspect of meditation or dharma practice. 

October 2009 looks at the interesting topic of ‘Technology and Enlightenment’, in which contributors explore whether immersing ourselves in a world of gadgets may also distance us from more authentic connections with teachers, family, and friends - or not. There’s reports too on recent scientific research disproving the notion, still common in the West, that Buddhists must be a miserable lot because their teachings dwell so much on suffering. The research in fact suggests what Buddhists have believed all along - that Buddhism -- or at least Buddhist meditation- leads to happiness.

November, by contrast, is on the theme of ‘ Making your meditation work’. One article sees Sunada explain how working with (as opposed to fighting against) our fears can point us toward our own place of freedom: she describes fearlessness not as the absence of fear, but the ability stay with one's fear and use its energy wisely. Meditation teacher and life coach Srimati offers a ten-stage guide to getting the most out of your meditation practice -and new contiributor Rev. Canon Renée Miller explores Buddhist practice from the perspective of her own Christian faith.

December, just out, is simply on the theme of ‘Practice’ - especially appropriate at a time of year which often seems dedicated to anything but! There’s a rich collection of articles here too - but we’ll leave you to find out more by clicking here...

If you want to keep in touch with Wildmind they’ve recently launched a new Wildmind Facebook page and Twitter feed, which will deliver ‘tweets’ right into your Twitter in-box each time they post an article - sign up at twitter.com/medit8.

new Wildmind newsletters: Rational Faith, and Practice as Play

Wildmind is the FWBO’s US-based website dedicated to teaching meditation.

Each month they publish a newsletter exploring one or another aspect of meditation or dharma practice. 

August 2009 looks at the interesting topic of ‘Practice as Play’, in which you can find out about the 'hedonic treadmill', learn from your children, and discover why Sunada, one of Wildmind's teachers, sees play as an essential way of expressing life itself.

September, by contrast, is on the theme of ‘Rational Faith’ - one of Buddhism's great strengths.

If you want to keep in touch with Wildmind they’ve recently launched a new Wildmind Facebook page  and Twitter feed, which will deliver ‘tweets’ right into your Twitter in-box each time they post an article - sign up at twitter.com/medit8.

Wildmind hits a million!

Bodhipaksa, founder of the FWBO’s Wildmind meditation teaching website, reports on Twitter –

“My meditation site, www.wildmind.org had over a million page views last month! Looks like April will be about the same”.

FWBO News says, Sadhu Wildmind!

They’ve been branching out, and now have an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, and, most recently, YouTube. 

Of YouTube, Bodhipaksa says “Wildmind has started putting mantras and guided meditations on YouTube as part of an effort to reach more people with what we're doing, and maybe you could do a story about that on FWBO News as well. There's not much up there yet, but we'll be continuing to add more video over the next few weeks”. 

The YouTube page provides a tantalising glimpse of the more personal tastes of the good folk at Wildmind – of their 19 favourites no less than 17 are ‘Peter, Paul, and Mary’ songs…

Their latest Newsletter has also just been released, on the theme of “Celebrating impermanence”.

Wildmind on Love, Sex, Non-Attachment, and living in the age of distraction...

Wildmind is the FWBO’s US-based website dedicated to teaching meditation.

Each month they publish a newsletter exploring one or another aspect of meditation or dharma practice. 

February 2009 looks at the perennial issue of ‘Love, Sex, and Non-Attachment’  and March the very topical theme of ‘Living in the age of distraction’.  Each carries articles by FWBO teachers and links to Dharma and meditation courses.

If you want to keep in touch with Wildmind they’ve recently launched a new Wildmind Facebook page  and Twitter feed, which will deliver ‘tweets’ right into your Twitter in-box each time they post an article - sign up at twitter.com/medit8.

Wildmind on spiritual rebirth, materialism, solitude, warriorhood, and more...

Wildmind is the FWBO’s US-based website dedicated to teaching meditation.

Besides offering an easy and free way to
learn meditation on-line, their site hosts a vast library of meditation-related articles from a wide range of sources.

Every month they issue their meditation newsletter, each one dedicated to one or another theme connected in some way to meditation.

We've neglected to keep you up to date with these as they've come out, but here they are now -

· January 2009: Spiritual rebirth
· December 2008: Spiritual materialism
· November: Solitude
· October: Warriorhood
You can either browse these on their enormous website or subscribe here.

Wildmind: meditation teaching, news, and more - an update

Wildmind is the FWBO’s US-based website dedicated to teaching meditation. Besides offering an easy and free way to learn meditation on-line, their site hosts a vast library of meditation-related articles from a wide range of sources.

Every month they issue their meditation newsletter which you can subscribe to here. Back issues are of course available on their website -

· September: Spiritual Abundance
· August: Getting Unstuck
· July: Friendship as Practice
· June: Meditating with the Body

In addition to these, they’ve built up a vast library of meditation-related articles of all sorts.

Their Meditation in the News service tracks exactly that, while the fascinating ‘Meditation Zeitgeist’ blog offers a myriad fascinating glimpses of how Buddhist meditation is entering – and affecting – American culture.

More personally, their very own Auntie Suvanna is available to answer all those tricky questions that arise for the novice practitioner. What is the Buddhist approach to excess body hair? How does Enlightenment relate to the Matrix? And many more…

In ‘real life’ they have a rich section on ‘Applied Meditation’ which among other things details their prison work, their translation projects, meditation and pain management, and meditation for stress and depression.

And in case all that’s not enough, there is the new Open Circle community, which they describe as part on-line book club, part Buddhism course - an opportunity to explore key Buddhist concepts with like-minded people. They are currently exploring Sangharakshita's excellent book 'The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path', available either direct from them or any good bookstore.

Wildmind's 'Open Circle' launched; practical mysticism explored

Two new offerings from the FWBO’s Wildmind online meditation teaching site have recently come to FWBO News’ attention.

Their new venture, the ‘Open Circle’ aims to offer participants – who may live anywhere in the world – the opportunity to participate in an ongoing online discussion forum exploring key Buddhist teachings and applying them to everyday life. Shrijnana, the Open Circle’s full-time facilitator, describes it as “part on-line book club, part Buddhism course”. What this means in practice is that each week discussions and activities are based on sections of Vajragupta’s book Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life; besides simply reading the text there’s wide-ranging discussions, weekly exercises; opportunities to ask questions and share experience, and of course the guidance and feedback of a resident facilitator. The Open Circle doesn't assume that you are a Buddhist or that you want to be a Buddhist, but it does assume that you wish to learn something from the Buddhist tradition.

More details of the Open Circle are available on the Wildmind website and we should add that Wildmind have a policy that noone ever is ever turned away for purely financial reasons – so if their suggested contribution is not possible for you, contact them to see what they can do.

Alongside this, Wildmind’s latest newsletter is on the theme of ‘Practical Mysticism’ with, among other delights, their guest contributor, Zen teacher and author David Brazier asking the question “Are meditative experience and engagement with the world mutually contradictory?” and examining the false dichotomy of mysticism and engagement.

Wildmind, it’s worth pointing out, is far more than simply online meditation teaching: they offer courses on pain management, anger management, basic Buddhism, host extensive archives covering topics as diverse as book reviews, celebrity Buddhists, and meditation in prisons across the US. Explore the Wildmind website at your leisure...

Wildmind on Purification

Wildmind has recently released their latest Newsletter, on the theme of Purification. Highly recommended – but so is the rest of the Wildmind site. Although they are basically in the business of teaching meditation on-line to all who wish to learn, their site has, over the years, grown to include contributins on many subjects from many people.

While researching this article, FWBO News’ eye was caught by their recently revamped guest column ‘Ask Auntie Suvanna’ – a unique, on-line, opportuniity to put your burning questions to a wise and kindly Buddhist auntie… In her own words, she says, “Ever despair at how to cultivate lovingkindness for Dick Cheney, or ponder the effect of anti-depressants on Buddha Nature? If so, check out Auntie Suvanna, who applies her unique wisdom and wit to your queries about life, meditation, Dharma, family and relationship issues, or anything else that comes up…” Just in case you’re wondering, she goes on to say “They don’t have to be Buddhist troubles - any kind will do!”.

They’re also pretty good at keeping up with meditation in the news.

If you are pretty new to Buddhism and want to learn basic Buddhist meditations as practiced in the FWBO, and if you’re not near a Buddhist Centre, Wildmind is the place for you. It’s all here – mindfulness, loving-kindness, posture, mantra, and walking meditations.

Getting even more interactive, their new Open Circle is a discussion forum, currently looking at Buddhism: Tools for Living Your Life, by Vajragupta. To quote Wildmind’s own introduction, “Open Circle is part on-line book club, part Buddhism course. It provides an opportunity to explore key Buddhist concepts and be guided through reflections and activities designed to integrate them into your life. The emphasis of Open Circle goes beyond understanding Buddhist principles, and we do much more than just discussing the concepts presented. Each week the facilitator suggests specific reflections and activities to make the material for the week relevant and applicable. There is ample opportunity to ask questions, receive guidance, and share your ideas and experiences”.

Enjoy!

Wildmind: Waking Up...

Wildmind's on-line meditation newsletter has a new edition out. The theme is

'Waking Up'.

It's what practising the Dharma is all about!

There's articles by Sunada, one of Wildmind's principal teachers; Vimalasara, currently on tour in India; Vajradaka, long-time chairman of Vajraloka (the FWBO's meditation retreat centre in Wales); the multi-facetted Parami; and Suvarnaprabha, Director of the San Franscisco Buddhist Centre - as well as Bodhipaksa himself, Wildmind's founder and director.

Besides their on-line teaching courses and free meditation instruction, Wildmind's site hosts a variety of different blogs - you might like to try Ask Auntie Suvanna for some less serious but still deeply profound advice on meditation and much, much more...

Wildmind - new Newsletters on Parenting and Healing

Two new Wildmind newsletters have been published recently, with the February 2008 issue on the theme of "Family Practice: Parenting with mindfulness"; and the January 2008 issue on the theme of Healing. Both include some excellent articles, their February one especially complements our January feature article ‘The New Buddhist Parents' by Karmabandhu.

In "Family Practice: Parenting with mindfulness"; Wildmind’s Sunada asks "Is it possible to have children and a spiritual practice at the same time?" Read Mindful Moms, Dharma Dads for her answer. In 'Parenting and Practice' Steve Bell, a Buddhist practitioner with the FWBO, currently a social worker from New York, uses his experience of meditating while parenting two young boys to explore the questions "How do we maintain an active practice while being immersed in the world of parenting and work?” and “Are children a hindrance to spiritual practice? Or can parenting also be a path?".

Feature article - the new Buddhist parents

FWBO News is happy to present another in its occasional series of feature articles, this time looking at the intriguing topic of the new wave of Buddhist Parents. Karmabandhu, a new parent himself, looks at the whole area both from the point of view of the Buddha’s own advice to avoid the ‘dusty sphere’ of the household life, and, more pertinently, at the real-life experience of a number of new parents, all members of the Western Buddhist Order living around the London Buddhist Centre, as they struggle to take their practice into their new circumstances.

Click here to read the article, or simply visit the ‘Features’ tab above.

By happy coincidence, Wildmind, in New Hampshire USA, have focussed their Febuary meditation newsletter on the theme of "Family Practice: Parenting with mindfulness"; it includes two in-depth articles on parenting and practice. In the first, Mindful Moms, Dharma Dads, Sunada asks "Is it possible to have children and a spiritual practice at the same time?" and talks with some friends who are managing to raise a family while staying committed to their spiritual lives. In Parenting and practice Steve Bell, Buddhist practitioner and social worker, speaks from his experience of meditating while parenting two young boys in answer to the questions "How do we maintain an active practice while being immersed in the world of parenting and work? Are children a hindrance to spiritual practice? Or can parenting also be a path?"

Celebrating Wildmind

We'd like to celebrate Wildmind. It describes itself as “online guide to meditation”. That sounds very simple – but actually, it’s much more than that...

If you dig a bit deeper into their extensive website you’ll find they go on to say “Our mission is to benefit the world by promoting awareness and compassion through the practice of Buddhist meditation”. Wildmind is a huge resource for anyone with an interest in contemporary Buddhist meditation, specifically as practiced and taught by the FWBO. Created by Bodhipaksa, a member of the Western Buddhist Order, in the year 2000, it is run by him and a small team out of their offices in Newmarket, New Hampshire.

There’s jewels scattered throughout their site, and FWBO News would like to highlight just three of these – as well as let you know one way you can support them.

First is their wonderful series of ‘Quotes of the Month’ – this month’s being Esther Lederer’s “Hanging onto resentment is letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head.”

Second is the Wildmind Newsletter, just reaching its fifth anniversary - a treasure trove of insight, teaching, and tit-bits…! You can subscribe and have it delivered monthly to your inbox, or browse their extensive archives.

Third is their archive of over 2000 meditation-related news stories from around the world – fully searchable of course. A one-stop-shop which, in effect, catalogues how meditation is influencing more and more people’s lives across the Westen world.

If you’d like to get involved, besides the obvious possibility of taking one of their courses, they have an active translation program, and already have most of the site available in five languages besides English – Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian, and Polish.

Next comes Portuguese, already part-completed - but they would welcome your donations to assist them in this, and also extending the Chinese section of the site.

Enjoy!