A collection of insightful reflections from Buddhist practitioners.
About 108 Aha Moments
The Aim of the Project
The aim is to collect and publish the personal spiritual reflections of Buddhist practitioners from around the world. These golden nuggets of insight are 'Aha' moments of realisation that have shifted their understanding from the head to a KNOWING in the heart, and profoundly changed the way they live their lives for the better. It's the moment when the penny drops!
The aim is to publish these insights for both practising and non-practising Buddhists to help all human beings to be happier and more connected within themselves, with each other and with the world.
Background
Recently, on my ordination retreat, I was in the middle of an early morning meditation - when an errant thought popped into my head. Even though we are supposed to let stray thoughts float away like clouds in the sky - I couldn't put this one down! That was the genesis of this book.
I had been practising Buddhism for over a decade, and in that time it was always the personal stories related to the Buddhist teachings that were most powerful and influential in my understanding. The stories sometimes came from both teachers and fellow practitioners sharing how their lives had been affected by the Buddha's teachings. What I loved about these shared insights was that they were not just lived, personal, relatable experiences that touched the felt sense, but an understanding beyond words. At times it helped me relate to the Buddhist teachings on another level, and at other times, it was a reminder that I too have had that insight - I just needed a reminder.
My errant thought during my meditation was, 'wouldn't it be great to capture all these insights from around the world where people were going Aha'! ?
What is an Aha moment?
It seems that the universal human quest is to strive to be happy, more content, more aligned to the truth of existence and to be more you. For Buddhists, this quest is to seek Enlightenment or Freedom from suffering along the Spiritual path through Buddhist teachings and practices. In exploring the Spiritual path, perhaps you may have experienced :
- Moments of insight in your life that has shifted your understanding from the head to a KNOWING in your heart;
- An insight that has profoundly changed the way you live your life for the better;
- Moments of insight that have brought joy, expansion and understanding of the Dharma;
- Perhaps, the insight relates to your understanding about the nature of reality or ways of living or about your meditative practice;
- Something on reflection which may have strengthened your Sraddha (Faith).
- These moments may have been life changing moments but could also have occurred performing a mundane task such as washing the dishes!
Refer to the following page for some examples:
Why 108?
The inspiration for 108 came from the number of beads on a mala, a string of beads used by Buddhists to count mantras while meditating. Some say that 108 represents the number of worldly desires or passions or human defilements that one must overcome to attain enlightenment. There are other known meanings of 108 in Hinduism, astrology and yoga - but ultimately it's a very big number, and along with meaning, it's a good starting point for 'Aha' moments!
Source of Aha Moments
At this stage I am aiming to collect 'Aha' moments from those involved with the Triratna movement including:
- Order members;
- Mitras and
- Friends (Non-mitras).
With the help of Triratna Centre Managers, I am hoping that you can spread this within your Triratna community. There are some resources to help spread the project, including an introductory email, a flyer as well as talking points for centre announcements. Please click Promotional Resources button below..
The project is open to Non-Triratna Buddhists, but it's not the focus at this stage - although that may be opened up in the future.
Publication
I'm aiming to publish 108 of the collected Aha moments in a book. Each Aha moment to fit on 1-2 pages of no more than 350 words each. The insight would begin with a headline, followed by a more detailed narrative of the Aha moment.
With the aim of spreading the lived experience of the Dharma, I hope to also share these insights across a variety of digital platforms, including: this website, Instagram and Facebook. If there is interest and engagement, I would look to use this content as the basis for interviews and podcasts on Spotify and YouTube, as well as other social media channels.
Unfortunately, depending on the volume of submissions, not all of the aha moments will be included in the initial 108. However, if we receive enough submissions, we may have enough material for a future publication.