The Five Training Principles

This month, we focus our practice and discussion on the Five Training Principles and Two Protectors during our evenings sessions, at 6pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The Five Precepts, sometimes called Five Training Principles, offer a rich opportunity to look at our day to day life and our practice in action. They are not commandments, nor are they even about "being good" per say. The Buddha referred to the Protectors of the World as hiri and ottappa, translated as (non toxic, positive) shame and moral dread. Yikes. This does not make for good marketing in the mindfulness market! Yet in a world where so much harm is happening in a shameless way, with so little sense of accountability, perhaps it's time to draw upon the wisdom of these Great Protectors.

How do teachings such as compassion, loving-kindness. inter-dependance and non-harm actually get operationalized in our lives? And what has changed or intensified in these times of plague? How can focusing on our ethics through these Five Training Principles and Two Protectors support our meditation practice, and vice-versa?

At a time in history when many people - individuals, families, communities and nations - are engaging in important conversations about our deepest values, about who we want to be, and about what kind of world to we want to bring into being...it seems like a good moment to bear down on these five beautiful and challenging teachings as guides.

Link to the Recordings