Self-Discovery through Writing Practice

This month the Bristol Young Buddhists Team are inviting Satyalila as our guest teacher. As she is a creative, imaginative and inspiring person, we have asked her to lead us in one of her writing practices. From Satyalila:

We – and the world – are so much more than we are usually able to realise.  This is one way of understanding what the Buddha taught.  Yes, there is suffering in the world and our experience.  And there’s so much more than this.  One of the practices I’ve found really helpful (consoling, earth-touching, transformational) over many years is the simple act of writing.  Not writing like at school.  Not writing for anyone else to see.  Just putting pen to paper to find out more about what I feel and think.  My rational mind is only the (sometimes rather pointy) tip of the iceberg.  There’s a lot more to me than that.  There’s a lot more to all of us.  Mining the often hidden secret depths (and heights) of our own psyches is a vital part of the path to the end of suffering.  Meditation is very important – but it’s not the only tool in our  picnic basket.

Maitreyabandhu, an Order Member who took up writing after many years of Dharma practice wrote this poem:

This

There’s no law against my listening
to this thrush behind the barn,
the song so loud it echoes like a bell,
then it’s further off beyond the lawn.
Whatever else there is, there’s this as well.

There’s no law against this singing –
nesting I suppose – up in the silver birch,
even though we build a common hell,
have done, and will make it worse.
Whatever else there is, there’s this as well.

Writing can help us to ‘re-tune’ our minds so that we can be receptive to so much more than our familiar, habitual experience of life.

If you’d like to discover more, just turn up on Friday 7th October at 7:15 pm, ideally with a pen and paper.  You don’t need any previous experience,  It’s not possible to do it wrong. You don’t have to show anyone else anything you’ve written unless you want to.

With Satyalila and the Bristol Young Buddhists Team.

Doors open at 7:15pm for a 7:30pm start. Do bring a pen and paper if possible.

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