A different kind of Thanksgiving weekend for me this year. The Alberta Insight Meditation Centre ran a two-day non-residential retreat over the Thanksgiving long weekend, Harmony in Mindfulness, conducted by Ajahn Vineetha. AIM is just north of Devon, a few minutes up the road from the U of A Botanic Garden. About a 50 minute drive for me. I go out on Monday nights for the group meditation when I can, so the place is already familiar. I couldn’t commit to the full 10-hour days this weekend, but I was able to attend the afternoon sessions on both Sunday and Monday.
The afternoon rhythm was simple. Three hours of meditation, alternating sitting and walking, then a small tea break and the Dhamma talk.
Monday’s talk is the one that stuck with me. The theme was obsession, delivered with a lot of humour. Don’t be obsessive with your meditation practice. Don’t be obsessive about being a nice person. We tend to only use the word “obsessive” for things we think are bad for us, and we give ourselves a pass on everything we’ve decided is good. In Buddhism, attachment and aversion are the same thing. Clinging in either direction is still clinging.
I brought the camera on walking meditation, which sounds like a contradiction but isn’t. Walking with a camera is meditation for me. It keeps me present and aware, actually seeing what’s in front of me, with very little room left over for the mind to wander. It’s really why I do it. The process, not the result. The property is quiet and heavily treed, and the afternoon light cut through the forest in long diagonals. Good conditions for the black and white work I’ve been chasing.
