Nathan Glyde has been practicing and studying meditation since 1997, and sharing teachings on retreats since 2007. In 2004 he co-founded SanghaSeva whose retreats emphasise wisdom and compassion in ecological and humanitarian service.
Continuation, Crossing the Threshold, or more commonly called Closing Talk of our retreat. Gathering our insights, transferring our practice, and going forth.
Expanding the world through skilful wholesome modes of relating. When there is an object in attention there is always some degree of push or pull happening. The contraction is what holds attention there. It is not something we’re doing wrong, it is the nature of experience. What happens when we invite an opening in the contraction, either in the body sense, or the sense of awareness, or by bringing in a bit more metta in the atmosphere of attending?
Letting metta be expansive, unconstrained, vaster than vast, beyond boundaries, so that it can fabricate more and more well-being. Metta is an expression and experience of non-dukkha, it is a skilful delightful way of relating that brings wellbeing, it is a compass for practice, and it is so much more too.
Starts with a 'Zoom video call' based metta practice, then some Pali metta chanting (around 13 mins in), then a guided metta practice towards oneself or another. Pali: Sabbe sattā sukhitā hontu.
Sabbe sattā averā hontu.
Sabbe sattā abyāpajjhā hontu.
Sabbe sattā anighā hontu.
Sabbe sattā sukhi attānaa pariharantu.
Exploring the appearance of all phenomena from an understanding of naive realism and fabrication. Then opening to a path of radical transformation developed from incremental change.
Awakening the heart from limitation also opens us to a sense of boundlessness. What is it to see the Dharma as an exploration of release through lessening our built up and heavily fabricated experiences? How would it be to see this path as a way to fabricate less and less dukkha–distress and self-centredness, and to liberate all appearances?
How do we fabricate our experience by habitually seeing in terms of permanence and constancy? What happens in terms of 'dukkha' when we allow our sense of self and phenomena to become more ephemeral? How does our sense of time change, and how does changing that change experience?
