Thursday evening Info: After the 7:00 pm online meditation on Thursday, 4/4/24, Chris will give a talk on the Buddha’s teachings on awakening. We’ll look at attitudes and practices that can help us to learn to weaken the sense of self-centeredness and to let go of some of the ways in which we experience clinging… Continue reading Sangha News 4/2/24
Author: Jon Swanson
Updated Resources for Meditation and Support
Gil Fronsdal wrote an article on the path to awakening that is very helpful. It lays out the way in which the qualities that arise as one practices naturally lead to awakening. This teaching of the Buddha is known as Liberative Dependent Origination or Transcendental Dependent Origination because it undoes the normal process of Dependent… Continue reading Updated Resources for Meditation and Support
Quote for the Week
The birds have vanished down the sky. Now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains. ~ Li Po Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain
Sangha News 3/19/24
Thursday evening Info: After the 7:00 pm online meditation on Thursday, 3/21/24, Chris will give a talk on the Buddha’s teachings on karma, which follow from dependent origination, the way that everything depends on causes and conditions. Karma can be seen as the causes and conditions that influence our lives, and also as the intentions… Continue reading Sangha News 3/19/24
Proposed Sutta Study Group with Vas Bhardwaj
Hello! One of the exhortations of the Buddha to the Sangha was to discuss the Dhamma amongst themselves. And so, I (Vas) am looking for a few like-minded Sangha members to start a Sutta Study Group. I have a study structure in mind, but exactly how we do it is completely negotiable. I will initially… Continue reading Proposed Sutta Study Group with Vas Bhardwaj
Updated Resources for Meditation and Support
Joseph Goldstein wrote an article on karma and cause and effect that looks at the traditional Buddhist teachings on karma, including discussion of related ideas like rebirth that are not widely accepted in the West. He pointed out that these ideas are not necessary for meditation practice, or even for awakening, but he felt that… Continue reading Updated Resources for Meditation and Support
Quote for the Week
People want karma to explain everything, but the Buddha did not want karma to explain everything. What the Buddha was trying to do was to point to the tremendous impact that our motivations, our intentions, have on our lives. In looking at the choices that we have to make, the Buddha said that it is… Continue reading Quote for the Week
Meditation Support Group Meets at the Tri-Cities Cancer Center 3/21
Meditation Support Group Meets at the Tri-Cities Cancer Center We’ll continue our monthly mindfulness meditation support group meeting at the Tri-Cities Cancer Center, 7350 West Deschutes Avenue, Kennewick. The next meeting will be Thursday, 3/21/2024. The sessions, which are held on the third Thursday of each month, are meant for cancer patients, cancer survivors, and their caregivers. The session will begin at 12:00 pm at the Cancer Center in the Fireside Room.… Continue reading Meditation Support Group Meets at the Tri-Cities Cancer Center 3/21
Sangha News 3/5/24
Thursday evening Info: After the 7:00 pm online meditation on Thursday, 3/7/24, Chris will give a talk on the Buddha’s teachings on emptiness, which follow from dependent origination, the way that everything depends on causes and conditions. Emptiness speaks to the lack of a self that is independent and unchanging. A positive way of examining… Continue reading Sangha News 3/5/24
Updated Resources for Meditation and Support
Emptiness can be a difficult concept to wrap our mind around. Thich Nhat Hanh uses the Heart Sutra to discuss the relationship of emptiness, interbeing, and fullness in an article that you can find here: The Heart Sutra: the Fullness of Emptiness Thanissaro Bhikkhu describes emptiness as a mode of perception that can allow us… Continue reading Updated Resources for Meditation and Support