The Buddha Way is about changing your self-harming attitude to life to bring about peace. Obviously, you cannot do meditation and continue harmful behaviour in ordinary life the same as before. As you do more and more meditation you will see for yourself that you are becoming more peaceful and ‘complete’. For example, you won’t get irritated or frustrated or angry quite so often or so deeply as before. As you learn to watch and manage your own reactions you also begin to understand what is going on with other unhappy people. You become more patient and wiser. You may change your outlook on the nature of right/wrong and praise/blame

Modern Buddha Way is a free and easy community in which meditators give each other support in following the peacefulness path. We do this by sharing and talking about our daily difficulties and insights in a safe and helpful way, following a programme of guiding ideas first taught by the Buddha.

Weekly Ethics Discussion

MBW has a weekly 'Ethics discussion' following the tea break. This takes place in two styles, which one may choose from:
1) Informal style: free-flowing discussion with a facilitator. Emphasizes spontaneity.
2) Formal style: also with a facilitator, but each participant does a 'gasshou' [hands together like praying, with brief bow] to indicate beginning and end of their intervention; and no one else may speak until their closing 'gasshou'. Emphasizes quiet and respect.

The Buddha on Ethical Living

The Buddha had a great deal to say about living in a fashion which is non-harmful to oneself, others, animals, plants and the physical environment.
Here is one idea of his, called The Eight Worldly Conditions:

We human beings are naturally inclined to eight kinds of habits or attitudes, which mould our lives and cause anxiety and dissatisfaction. These are:

• seeking praise and avoiding blame (and blaming or manipulatively praising)
• seeking pleasure and avoiding discomfort and pain
• seeking popularity and avoiding unpopularity
• seeking gain and avoiding loss

These are not ‘evil’, but we usually don’t know when to stop! So we have a tendency to greed (wanting more things or people), hatred (not wanting certain things or people), and ignorance and fear (not knowing what we want or why we want them.) Preoccupied in this way, we are not dwelling in the moment, not at peace, and lose ourselves. What do you think?