The 8 verses of mind training in Exeter

On Saturday the Exeter Sakya group were delighted to welcome David Armstrong back for his biannual visit. Apart from Exeter sangha, there were also attendees from North Devon and Bristol. His visits have been a fixture in the timetable for a number of years now and we have received a number of valuable teachings including the latest, “The 8 verses of mind training”. This teaching is one of the most famous in the mind training canon; a short but incisive and wide-ranging text that enables us to appreciate how sentient beings are pivotal in developing our own dharma practice. In particular it shows us how encountering difficult people can actually provide the very resource that we need to move beyond our limited perspective on the nature of our relations with others and dissolve attachment to self. In other words, engaging with this teaching sincerely helps us to begin to remove the focus on self-cherishing and self-protection which are the basis of suffering according to the Buddha’s teachings.
The one-hour sessions, centred on David’s clear and measured instruction, allowed time for meditation, reflection and questions.
We look forward to hopefully welcoming back Liz and David in early November for the second session of the year.

18th March 2023