What happens during a sangha session?

For those thinking about joining us some Thursday evening, this is what an average meeting looks like:

- We meditate for a half hour
- We recite the prayer of refuge and mindfulness and short mandala offering, in English
- We read a section of the text we're currently studying and discuss it, for about 50 minutes
- If we're mindful (!), we try to leave enough time to chant the Heart Sutra 27 times
- We finish by reciting dedication prayers in English

Hope that sounds interesting enough that you join us!

Prayers in Tibetan
A brief introduction to Buddhism (see the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and meditation)

A cornucopia of ideas

Don provided a handout on Tantric Buddhism

A lecture at Northeastern on Friday 6/25 on Jainism and Non-Violence

John Bush's video trilogy, the third of which is on Tibetan Buddhism

Tara Brach's book, Radical Acceptance

Ho'oponopono (forgive me, I'm sorry, thank you, I love you)

Dr. Emoto and water crystals

We're working our way through Pema Chodron's Comfortable with Uncertainty and having some good discussions!

8/15/10: Field trip to hear Nawang Khecong

Last week's gathering decided to go to this free event in lieu of meeting at First Parish:

Universal Sounds of Love: Nawang Khechong
Thursday, April 15, 7:00 pm
Multifaith Center, Houghton Chapel, Wellesley College
Sponsored by the Wellesley Buddhist community

Flyer below, directions to the college can be found here: http://www.wellesley.edu/Admin/travel.html

I've also attached a map below, showing Houghton Chapel; the Multifaith Center is on the lower level. Parking is in the first lot (Founders) you'll see on the left (closer than the garage), about halfway through campus. The chapel is behind the parking lot. The main entrance to the Multifaith Center is on the right as you face the front of the building.

If folks want to carpool, please post. Hope to see you there!

Still at it!

We talked a bit about anusara yoga (more about that here, if you're interested).

We're finishing up Thich Nhat Hanh's book on the heart sutra and will be discussing what to tackle next.

We're talking about adding a short discussion of mudras and their meaning, and we've also thought about periodically increasing the amount of time we either meditate or chant.

Join us!

In honor of Martin Luther King Day...

Last week, Martin Luther King's nomination of Thich Nhat Hanh came up; here is the letter Mr. King sent: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/025.html

As a sign of the times, there is now a Facebook campaign for Thich Nhat Hanh to receive the prize.

In this week's discussion, Matthieu Ricard came up. Here is a Speaking of Faith interview that might be of interest: http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/2009/ricard/

This week, photonic emissions, interbeing and the transcendentalists, and the relationship with Vedic traditions and Buddhism came up. Always interesting!

Beginning Thich Nhat Hanh's text on the Heart Sutra

Happy new year!

We had a good turnout and discussion of the first pages of Thich Nhat Hanh's commentary on the Heart Sutra, immediately delving into the concept of "inter-being" and the distinction between understanding and wisdom or knowledge.

As always, auxiliary materials are referenced during our discussions and I thought I'd list them here:

Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the West? (Korean film, Dharmaga tongjoguro kan kkadalgun, 1989), also on Netflix.

Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha, by Tara Brach.

and

My Stroke of Insight, Jill Bolte Taylor 19 min. video on TED: a brain scientist experiences her own massive stroke.


Finally, courtesy of Sandra and The New Yorker:

Moving onto a new text in 2010!

On Thursday, January 8, 2010, we'll begin reading Thich Nhat Hanh's The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra. [link to the book on amazon.com]

Please join us -- we dipped into this book a bit this summer, before focusing our efforts on His Holiness commentary on the Heart Sutra, and it was a delight!

Best wishes for the new year,
Veronica

Miscellany for 5/5

Looking for a nice tanka? Check out exoticindia.com.

We're on page 35...the disciplined mind.

Quote offered by a sangha member: "If you are facing in the right direction, all you have to do is keep walking."

Don will be practicing kyudo at his home on the weekends, outside, from 2-4PM -- if you're interested, please contact him.


Photo from the talk by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama on May 2nd.

4/21 session at Jacky's

Thanks to another generous sangha member, we were able to meet most comfortably while KS was closed. We're back in the usual digs next week.

I've put together a draft presentation in Google docs and invited you all to add to it.

Marilyn still has a spare ticket to see His Holiness -- if you're interested, email me, and I'll forward it to her.

Other topics:

MIT Mandala, April 24 - May 2, 2009

2012 movie trailer

Proof movie trailer and blog post

And from Renee:

Last night I mentioned 2 events that were happening in the area that may be of interest. There is an all day retreat at the Shambhala Meditation center in Brookline entitled, The Healing Power of Loving Kindness by Tulku Thondup Rimpoche. Also there's a documentary film festival playing "The Unmistaken Child" shot in Nepal about finding a reincarnate of Geshe Lama Konchog. Looks beautiful, plays in Somerville.

4/14 session at Don's

We enjoyed Don's beautiful indoor garden and ginger cake (okay, and sake too) while discussing the Heart Sutra.

We read first turning of the wheel of dharma, which includes the 37 aspects/steps of the path. We discussed two major types of meditation: shamata (calm abiding) and vipassana (insight). One analogy to describe the two types is carrying a cup of hot tea through a room. One is akin to the awareness necessary to balance the cup, the other to the awareness of the surrounding room.

One can ask whether conditioned phenomena
1. are impermanent
2. will cause suffering if grasped onto
3. are empty of inherent existence

If so, why cling to them?

One explanation of the Pali Canon

Recommended film: Enlightenment Guaranteed
Recommended book: Breakfast with the Buddha

Next week we are meeting at Jacky's; see email for address/directions.