We currently hold three online meditations a week, on Wednesday morning, Thursday evening, and Saturday morning. The Zoom links for those meetings can be found on the Events Calendar and you will also find more detailed information below. You’re welcome to join us online for any of the 3 meetings each week.
In addition to our regular online meetings, we are now meeting for outdoor in-person meditation sessions every Wednesday morning (9:30am) and Saturday morning (8:00am) at All Saints Episcopal Church in Richland. Bring whatever you would like to sit on and join us in the beautiful outdoors. Please see the Events Calendar for specific details.
During the Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday online meetings, we “sit together” for meditation for half an hour. Meditations include guided meditations, meditations with some initial guidance and instruction, and silent meditations. The Wednesday morning meditation starts at 9:30 am, with half an hour of meditation, followed by half an hour of sharing. On Thursday evenings there is a talk or discussion and sharing following meditation. Meditation is from 7:30 until 8:00 pm, with the talk and discussion ending at about 9:00 pm. The Saturday morning meditation starts at 8:00 am, with half an hour of meditation followed by half an hour of sharing.
The current Thursday night series of talks is focused on Buddha’s first and most basic teachings, the Four Noble Truths, which describe stress and suffering, their causes, and the path that can lead to the end of suffering. Starting in early 2022, the emphasis will be on the last noble truth, the path to freedom from stress and suffering. In addition to meditation, that path, known as the Eightfold Path, includes suggestions for living a wise and ethical life filled with kindness and compassion. Chris will emphasize the interpersonal and social aspects of the Eightfold Path as he continues this series of talks. Excellent resources for the talks will be Gregory Kramer’s books, Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom. and A Whole Life Path.
This Thursday, 6/30/2022, Chris will give the first of two talks on wise samadhi, usually translated as wise concentration. This is the aspect of meditation in which the mind can become calm and focused. We’ll talk about some of the characteristics of a calm and unified mind and some of the misconceptions about how it can arise. The following week we’ll have a discussion of the topic. Chapter 11 in Greg Kramer’s book “A Whole Life Path” would be a good introduction to the topic of wise samadhi, or you can see the additional resources below.
If you can’t or don’t wish to join the online sessions you can just meditate at the same time as we’re meeting and know that there are others from the group who are meditating with you.
Warm regards,
Insight Meditation of the Mid-Columbia