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Alistair Appleton
Jan 09, 2025
In Alistair Clips
Here's a clip from this morning session, the first in our 8-week series looking at the Four Foundations of Mindfulness one of the most famous and influential meditation discourses of the Buddha. Please join us for the rest of the funfair ride - we're meeting every Thursday morning at 8am UK but if you can't make that, sign up anyway and we will send you a recording. It's an amazing text and I'm looking forward to unpacking it together. https://www.mind-springs.org/online-live
The Satipatthana Sutra is a Funfair for Meditators! content media
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Alistair Appleton
Jan 09, 2025
In Sharing Space
For the first eight weeks of 2025, we're using Thursdays to explore one of the ground meditation texts of Buddhism, the Satipatthana Sutta. This is the core text from the first collections of the Buddha's teachings (the Pali Canon) which, in its own words, describes how meditation can be the direct path for the 'overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, the end of physical and emotional pain', in other words, the path to Nirvana. It's a long text, and Pali literature is full of extensive repetition. So I'm attaching a variety of translations here. And Bikku Bodhi's translation is the one we will be using most: https://suttacentral.net/mn10/en/nyanamoli-thera?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false You can download it here: @rachelrawlins also pointed me to this beautiful translation (abbreviated) by Thich Nhat Hanh: https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-the-four-establishments-of-mindfulness This is Ajahn Thannissaro's translation (from Access to Insight): https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.than.html And this is the Jotikka / Dammaninda translation: And here is the link to Ajahn Amaro's discussion of the text: Chapter 1 – General Aspects of the Direct Path (part 1),https://open.spotify.com/episode/5yiD3sHyvUdl955aJ875is?si=94088fe96d3141e3
Satipatthana Sutta content media
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Alistair Appleton
Jan 03, 2025
In Alistair Clips
Please do book your sessions for the Monday, Tuesday and Thursday classes. You need to book each class you come to as each one has a unique Zoom code. And if you'd like to sign up for the first time and get the Baobab membership then please use the code Meditate2025 to get that deal.
The 2025 Plan for Live Sessions - starts Monday! content media
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Alistair Appleton
Dec 31, 2024
In Sharing Space
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I have written and spoken a lot about how the News Industry does not mirror reality and that one of its main drivers is to make people anxious and watch more news. This is why I am an avid support of Reasons to Be Cheerful and Positive News, two excellent outlets of what has been going right. So please take a moment to look at the Positive News' round up of 2024. Not to make us complacent - but certainly to give us hope! https://www.positive.news/society/what-went-right-in-2024-the-good-news-that-mattered/
Good News from 2024 content media
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Alistair Appleton
Dec 18, 2024
In Sharing Space
Here's an excerpt from last nights Fighting Festive Frazzle session, outlining some Dos and Don'ts for your mental health this Christmas: https://share.descript.com/view/4QirAOwFBDS
10 Festive Dos and Don't  content media
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Alistair Appleton
Dec 16, 2024
In Alistair Clips
You're very welcome to join us at 6pm UK time tomorrow (Tuesday 17th) for our annual exploration of Christmas stress and how to use meditation to mediate the worse bumps and bashes. You don't have to subscribe for this one. Just click the link at 6pm UK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87201743901
Fighting Festive Frazzle (Free Zoom Tomorrow) content media
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Alistair Appleton
Nov 21, 2024
In Alistair Clips
I'm super excited about the upcoming Power of Emotions weekend coming up in a few days. I'm busy putting the finishing touches to my slide shows and trying to get my emotional ducks in a row. I think it will all come together for Saturday! It promises to be a really rich exploration of our emotions. But have not fear (!) it won't be a cry-fest or encounter group. What's exciting is having new ways of understanding affect and emotion and how it unspools in our day-to-day life. Don't be afraid of emotions! They're the powerhouse of a life well-lived. As site members you can still access the Early Bird discount (£50) if you use the code Emote50 at the checkout. Hope to see you on Saturday.
The Emotions Weekend is coming! content media
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Alistair Appleton
Nov 18, 2024
In Sharing Space
We were exploring the importance of 'emotional concepts' this morning. Emotions depend on a conceptual framework in the brain to have meaning. This is why it's so useful to have a richer vocabulary regarding our feelings. For example, the widespread experience of waking up in an inexplicably bad mood. It would be easy to pathologise this and see it as a personal failing or a terrible injustice. But when we know there is a word for it, then our emotional experience is validated and given meaning: MATUTOLYPEA (pronounced: mah-tu-toh-leh-PEE-a) “Dejection of the Dawn” Waking up in misery or a bad temper. From the Roman goddess of the dawn, Mater Matuta, and the Greek word for dejection, lype,
Mututolypea content media
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Alistair Appleton
Nov 14, 2024
In Sharing Space
Is it selfish to wish yourself free from pain? https://share.descript.com/view/QbHp2rz6xuV
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Alistair Appleton
Nov 06, 2024
In Sharing Space
Johanna asked me to publish some of the talk we had yesterday - on Bonfire Night in the UK and Election Night in the US - about how we navigate these big global events with an open heart. So here it is: https://share.descript.com/view/tQugrMCxcro
Splinters of bright in the darkness content media
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Alistair Appleton
Oct 31, 2024
In Sharing Space
We started a new 8-week cycle of Buddhist exploration at 8 am this morning - looking at the "four immeasurables" of loving kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita) and equanimity (uppekha). We began with a meditation, exploring the atmosphere of our own minds. Are we irritated, grumpy or unkind about the phenomena of our mind? In the discussion, we looked at the aversion many of us in the West have about wishing ourselves well... Here's a snippet from that discussion: https://share.descript.com/view/Orbwpz0ql1z
A snippet from the new Thursday cycle on the first immeasurable, Mettā. content media
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Alistair Appleton
Oct 31, 2024
In Sharing Space
translated from the Pali by The Amaravati Sangha This is what should be done By one who is skilled in goodness, And who knows the path of peace: Let them be able and upright, Straightforward and gentle in speech, Humble and not conceited, Contented and easily satisfied, Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways. Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful, Not proud or demanding in nature. Let them not do the slightest thing That the wise would later reprove. Wishing: In gladness and in safety, May all beings be at ease. Whatever living beings there may be; Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, The great or the mighty, medium, short or small, The seen and the unseen, Those living near and far away, Those born and to-be-born — May all beings be at ease! Let none deceive another, Or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill-will Wish harm upon another. Even as a mother protects with her life Her child, her only child, So with a boundless heart Should one cherish all living beings; Radiating kindness over the entire world: Spreading upwards to the skies, And downwards to the depths; Outwards and unbounded, Freed from hatred and ill-will. Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down Free from drowsiness, One should sustain this recollection. This is said to be the sublime abiding. By not holding to fixed views, The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, Being freed from all sense desires, Is not born again into this world.
Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Buddha's Words on Loving-Kindness (Sutta Nipata 1.8) content media
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Alistair Appleton
Oct 30, 2024
In Sharing Space
We’re having a few problems with people not being able to book the live sessions. Which is annoying for everyone. Especially as tomorrow morning at 8am UK sees the start of our new Buddhist cycle exploring the Four Immeasurables: Loving Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity. So until WIX can fix things, I’ll post the Zoom link here. It’s also a chance for you to try out the Live Sessions if you’ve not done so. Free of charge. So please come along tomorrow morning (or your time zone’s equivalent) at 8am UK time for an hour of practice and exploration. Here’s the Zoom code: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83970718323
Booking Problems? Come anyway…  content media
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Alistair Appleton
Oct 29, 2024
In Sharing Space
I just wanted to let you know that our annual Book Club starts next week. We're looking at Mingyur Rinpoche's amazing book In Love With The World, which, far from being a dry Buddhist text, is a bit of a page-turner. It starts with a midnight escape from a monastery and runs through a life-and-death experience in a park in Lumbini. In between, Rinpoche imparts beautiful truths about the experience of life. I'm so thrilled to be reading it with you guys. It's a free winter offering for all of the folks that support Mindsprings with their Oak or Baobab subscriptions and you can find out more about the reading schedule below: https://www.mind-springs.org/simple-info-pages/in-love-with-the-world
Book Club starts next Wednesday! (6th November) content media
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Alistair Appleton
Oct 17, 2024
In Sharing Space
Begin by cultivating a sense of delight in the qualities of the freedoms and riches: Seeing its many wonderful qualities, I rejoice and delight in this human life. Next contemplate the impermanence nature of phenomena: Like waves in the ocean, all things are impermanent. I will accept whatever happens and make it my friend. Contemplate the interdependence of causes and conditions: When causes and conditions come together, the result is sure to follow, so I will do my best to help others and engage in positive deeds. Contemplate the dreamlike quality of the suffering of Samsara: The suffering of beings is mainly produced by the mind. I must free myself from my self-created bonds.
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Alistair Appleton
Oct 17, 2024
In Sharing Space
Click the image below to see the video message: https://share.descript.com/view/YQUpfRabq7B Hello. Just a quick note to you lovely members of the Mindsprings community. I am going away next week to Barcelona with Daniel for his 40th birthday. And I will be back the following week. So that is the 28th so we'll start, live sessions again on this Monday, the 28th. And on the 31st, we're going to start a new cycle of Buddhist teaching: We're looking at the four immeasurables, which will be at the later time of 8:00 AM UK time. So we're doing this seasonal switch. So slightly later on a Thursday morning. So the Monday session and that Thursday session, the morning sessions are both at 8:00 AM UK time. Slightly complicated, I think because the clocks go back. So if you're in a different time zone, you need to just be mindful of that. And also to let you know that, Let's just check the date. we're starting our book club. Looking at Mingyur Rinpoche's wonderful "In Love With the World" on the 6th of November. So this is in just in a few weeks time, and that's free, if you're a Baobab member, so many of you have that. Do come along. It's I think it's seven o'clock on Wednesday evenings for, I think we're taking six weeks up until Christmas. So I will send out an email and that'd be a page with some reading instructions for that. coming in the next few days. Anyway, just thought, I'd say hello. And, let you know, what's coming up in the next few weeks. And I hope you're very well. I've got a little bit of a cold, I think I might have had COVID actually, cause I can't smell anything. . Curious. Never had that before. But I hope you're well and healthy. And, enjoying the fall slash spring. If you're in Australia.
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Alistair Appleton
Sep 05, 2024
In Sharing Space
I've been puzzling with Wix about the problem of people not getting email confirmations for the bookings. Most people do get them, but a few don't. If you don't, it's fine: you can find the Zoom link in your Mindsprings account. Click the box below to see the walk-through... https://share.descript.com/view/MoJpb75RJfm Log on to your account on your computer then click My Bookings this will show everything you have coming up. Click on the one you want to attend and then on Zoom details. This will take you to the meeting. Or you can click the symbol to the right to copy it for later. The same thing pertains to the app. Click the My Profile button on the bottom right and then on bookings. Remember: • you do need to book each session individually to get the details. Each session has its own Zoom code. • you will need a valid Baobab subscription. (You can also check, cancel and control your subscriptions in your Mindsprings settings, as above.) The system gets confused if you have multiple subscriptions running. • Please check your spam box. You might get personal emails from @mind-springs.org but your server might be sniffy about automated emails from the same domain. So if possible 'whitelist' @mind-springs.org in your mail server settings.
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Alistair Appleton
Sep 02, 2024
In Alistair Clips
https://share.descript.com/view/aPR2UMIBJDc The first teaching session of the 'new term' - September 2024 - and I was comparing Beingfulness, the practice we usually explore on a Monday, with the Abhidharma course my teacher Mingyur Rinpoche is teaching at the moment.
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Alistair Appleton
Aug 29, 2024
In Sharing Space
Hey! Hope you had a nice summer holidays and that you’re thriving. Just put together some pointers for the next few months at Mindsprings so you might like to check those out: https://mind-springs.org/so/f0P6F5IQG
Some pointers for the ‘Autumn Term’ at Mindsprings content media
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Alistair Appleton
Jun 12, 2024
In Sharing Space
In the gap between teachings, I took a trip up into the Himalayan foothills to the little settlement of Namo Buddha. This was the spot that the Buddha’s earlier reincarnation offered up his body to feed a starving tigress and her five cubs. There’s now a big monastery founded by the late Thrangul Rinpoche, one of the Karmapa’s teachers. I’m not also a natural at pilgrimage sites, but this one really moved me. The thought of that bodhicitta activity and the fact that historical Buddha, Siddharta Gotama, often came back to this hill to teach. The forests surrounding the Tiger’sDen are thick with prayer flags and pictures of departed loved ones. It’s a very moving place.
Namo Buddha content media
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Alistair Appleton

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