Bhante Buddharakkhita - Forgiveness For Self - The Armadale Meditation Group

We haven't seen Bhante at Club Med for some years so it was a welcome surprise to see and hear him.  Bhante started the evening in an unconventional way which was an unusual but welcome change.  Bhante, having been present in areas of the world that have suffered greatly from both natural and man made disasters, replayed a podcast from the US radio station website "This American Life".  The podcast documentary tells the story of a phone booth in Japan that attracts thousands of people who lost loved ones in the 2011 tsunami and earthquake.  A Japanese TV crew from NHK Sendai filmed people inside the phone booth.  The phone line, however, is not connected.  The episode by Miki Meek is incorporated into our podcast but can be listened to independently by following the link below.

Bhante thankfully warned us that hankies and tissues would be and were required.

Bhante used this podcast to highlight the need for us to come to terms with ourselves more than anything and in doing so, forgive ourselves. Don’t wait for the forgiveness of those we have  trespassed against.  Forgive ourselves now -  for ourselves.

Immediately after the podcast had concluded, Bhante lead us into a body scan meditation.  Toward the middle of the meditation, Bhante used the Metta Sutta as a mantra in and for the rest of the meditation.  After the meditation, Bhante continued to talk on forgiveness and why we should forgive ourselves.



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This American Life - episode 579 - One Last Thing Before I Go - act one