The current series of Thursday night talks are exploring topics related to meditation in more detail, starting with the approaches recommended for developing mindfulness. The talks for the next couple of months will be based on the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s discourse on the foundations of mindfulness. In that discourse the Buddha gave a clear description of many different approaches to mindfulness meditation, beginning with the body, but also including mindfulness meditation of feelings, thoughts and emotions, and other topics. A good resource for this series of talks would be the book “Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide” by Bhikkhu Analayo. However, the talks will be self-contained, so it won’t be necessary to read the book, and we’ll give other resources for the meditation approaches covered in the talks.
Chris will lead a discussion of greed and desire as a hindrance in meditation and daily life this Thursday, 11/17, after the 7:30 pm meditation. The following Thursday, 11/24, is Thanksgiving, so we’ll cancel the online meditation that evening. The Thursday evening meditation meetings will resume on 12/1. That evening, Chris will give a talk on aversion and anger after the 7:30 pm meditation. Chapter VIII in Bhikkhu Analayo’s book, “Satipatthana Meditation: A Practice Guide” would be a good resource for this topic, or see the additional resources below.
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Weekly Meditation Schedule:
We have 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. You’re welcome to join us online for any of the 3 meetings each week.
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.
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.
In addition to our regular online meetings, we also hold in-person meditation sessions on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and Saturdays at 8:00a.m., at All Saints Episcopal Church, 1322 Kimball Avenue in Richland. Please see our Events Calendar for more details. We meditate for half an hour, followed by an optional time for sharing and conversation after meditation. No problem if you want to just meditate and then leave.
Given the lowering temperatures, all of our in-person meetings will now be held indoors. The indoor meeting hall has chairs available. However, if you prefer to use your own chair, blanket, cushion or bench, you are welcome to bring it. We meet in the Parish Hall, through the glass door at the back of the church.
Warm regards,
Insight Meditation of the Mid-Columbia