A Map of Practice.

The Triratna system of meditation can be seen as a consecutive set of meditations that you progress along, or as a ‘mandala’ a circle or spiral of practices, which you go around in order to approach the centre. In fact, this system reflects the two main approaches to meditation found in virtually all Buddhist schools: samatha (‘calming’) and vipassana (‘insight’), plus Just Sitting, which in a sense isn’t a practice at all but is simply allowing whatever happens to happen, in awareness.

In the Triratna system, the calming approaches are described as ‘integration’ and ‘positive emotion’ (most often put into practice as, respectively, Mindfulness of Breathing and Metta Bhavana), while the insight approaches are ‘spiritual death’ and ‘spiritual rebirth’. A fifth aspect of practice is ‘spiritual receptivity’. This facilitates absorption of calming and insight, and allows for spontaneous unfolding of practice.

While this can be described as a “system” it is not systematic, but highly individuated, dynamic and creative. Many of our teachers have developed particular approaches of their own to this framework which is nevertheless widely shared. Listen to some full explorations of the System of Meditation.