“Three Spiritual Practices for Realizing Connection” - Ben Thacker-Gwaltney & John Chowning, Guest Worship Leaders, Williamsburg Buddhist Sangha

In the spiritual life of the Williamsburg Buddhist Sangha, we regularly make use of 3 ancient mediation practices built on the teaching of The Four Immeasurables: loving-friendliness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.  These help us realize in ourselves the mind states of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, states based on love, kindness and compassion for all beings.  In this election season, it's a good time to work with these practices of connection for those we like and dislike, those we support and oppose, and those we understand and misunderstand.  In this way, we realize the deep interdependence of all sentient beings that we can quickly forget in our daily life.