Sea of Faith Christchurch Group

Our meetings got off to a wonderful start this year with the visit of the Ven. Bhante Kovida, a Buddhist monk. He began by leading us in a breath meditation, followed by a Mahasati meditation, a particular form of mindfulness meditation developed by a Thai Buddhist. This lead smoothly into a very down-to-earth, understandable yet profound explanation of the Buddhist path of overcoming suffering. He described Buddhism as “spiritual psychotherapy”, which fits very well, I think. After answering questions, he closed the meeting with a compassion meditation.

His website, www.bhantikovida.com, has a brief biography and several books in PDF format for free download. These combine accounts of his travels with the way he has applied Buddhist teaching and practice in his day-to-day living.