281: Dhammarati on Sikkha - A New Project to Review and Develop Training in a System of Buddhist Practice

Dhammarati talks here about a new project on the system of training in Triratna. He is one of the most experienced members of the Triratna Community, having been chair of the College of Public Preceptors for a decade. He lives and works at Adhisthana, and is now the convenor of the International Council.

Dhammarati reflects on what is essential in Buddhist practice: a growth of awareness which leads to positive and rich emotion and a move away from self-referential emotion. As joy and compassion arises, it allows for a deeper seeing into impermanent nature of all of your experience and a letting go. The reflex of this is to open up to something deeper; wisdom and spiritual rebirth. This moves you towards spontaneous action for the benefit of others; seeing that your own growth and the growth of others is integrally connected.

Dhammarati introduces a new project by the name of Sikkha (with a long a at the end). This is a Pali word meaning spiritual training. The project is about becoming conscious of what is essential to theTriratna community. It is about deepening our understanding of what and how we teach and practice, and developing an explicit shared framework to talk about it.

How effectively are we doing that as a system of training? Dhammarati celebrates the changes that make wider discussions possible across the movement: the International Council and Adhisthana. Here he and Dhammamegha talk about how that conversation can begin and what Sikkha will be doing to enquire about what is most effective in our teaching and practice.

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