During May-July 2020, Gregory Kramer led a global online Whole-Life Path 10-week course supported by the Insight Dialogue Community, exploring how to begin living a whole-life vision of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path. Members of the HKIMS community (including Jessica Mui) participated in the course, and gave very positive feedback on its breadth and usefulness to ones ongoing learning and practice in everyday life. The resources and materials from this course are still available online (see below for details on how to access).
We would like to invite everyone to join us in exploring the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path, as part of the weekly Monday Night English Practice Group from 10th August 2020. We will be drawing upon the resources from the above Whole-Life Path course, broken down into the following key modules;
Introduction - Purpose of path, the six tenets of a whole life path; foundational practices of generosity; what is “right”.
Right View - Everything depends on how we see the world: how do we practice to radically shift perspective? The role of thinking on the Buddhist path.
Right Intention - How the mind is aimed in each moment, with specific tasks, and in the arc of life; the exceptional power of shared intention.
Right Speech - The power of language; communication; expression and consumption of art and media.
Right Action - Causal factors that connect individual, interpersonal, and social suffering and liberation. Social responsibility aligned with an early Buddhist perspective.
Right Livelihood - Mental imprinting at work; wise use of requisites for the lay life - how we use resources as we live, eat, dress, use money, and impact the environment.
Right Effort - Out with the bad, in with the good; energy and perseverance; the role of psychotherapy and understanding the psychological bypass
Right Mindfulness - Essential to every path factor; why relational mindfulness accelerates and amplifies meditative qualities.
Right Samadhi - The liberating factor of a calm and gathered mind; often misunderstood as “concentration”; multi-faceted; rooted in happiness.
Crafting a path - You can do this!
Format
As usual, our weekly practice sessions will start at 7:15pm HKT and finish by 9:30pm, broken down into the same 3 parts;
dharma talk / sharing (~40 mins)
self-practice (~ 40-45 mins)
group sharing and discussion (~35 mins)
We will base the dharma talks and sharings on resources from the Whole-Life Path course, and plan to dedicate 2 or 3 weeks on each of the key modules above.
The Whole-Life Path course also contains suggested daily life practices relating to each topic of contemplation. After the Monday evening practice session is over, you'll be encouraged to have a look at some of these practices to see which resonate and to incorporate them into your daily routines in the following days. There will be the opportunity to support one another through sharing and discussion via a post-practice WhatsApp group before returning the following Monday to report and share in person.
Access to course materials and resources
Access to the course materials is via free Registration (with optional dana contribution) via the Insight Dialogue Community A Whole-Life Path Self-Study webpage.
Draft Weekly Detailed Schedule
The number of weeks dedicated to each module above will largely depend on the nature of the material available for that module, how participants respond as the weeks progress, as well as any other events / speakers / visiting teachers planned into the schedule. This is the schedule we've followed so far and what we foresee to be the plan in the next few weeks:-
10 Aug 20 - WLP Module 1 Introduction (supported by HKIMS teacher Jessica Mui)
17 Aug 20 - WLP Module 1 Introduction
24 Aug 20 - WLP Module 2 Right View
31 Aug 20 - Visiting Teacher Khema
07 Sept 20 - WLP Module 2 Right View
14 Sept 20 - WLP Module 2 Right View (supported by HKIMS teacher Jessica Mui)
21 Sept 20 - WLP Module 3 Right Intention
28 Sept 20 - WLP Module 3 Right Intention
05 Oct 20 - Insight Dialogue Practice (supported by HKIMS teacher Jessica Mui)
12 Oct 20 - WLP Module 4 Right Speech
19 Oct 20 - WLP Module 4 Right Speech
26 Oct 20 - "The Buddha Taught Action" by Gil Fronsdal
02 Nov 20 - WLP Module 4 Right Action
09 Nov 20 - WLP Module 4 Right Action
16 Nov 20 - WLP Module 4 Right Action (supported by HKIMS teacher Jessica Mui)
23 Nov 20 - WLP Module 5 Right Livelihood
30 Nov 20 - WLP Module 5 Right Livelihood
14 Dec 20 - Visiting Teacher Visu Teoh
14 Dec 20 - WLP Module 5 Right Livelihood (supported by HKIMS teacher Jessica Mui)
21 Dec 20 - WLP Module 6 Right Effort
28 Dec 20 - WLP Module 6 Right Effort
04 Jan 21 - WLP Module 6 Right Effort
Chinese Whole-Life Path Group
If you are interested in a similar group but Chinese-speaking, you are welcome to join the Tuesday Chinese Whole-Life Path Group.
Feel free to contact us at retreat@hkims.org if you have any questions, otherwise we hope to see you at the next Monday evening practice!