Thursday evening, 4/20, Chris will give a talk after the 7:30 pm meditation that will look at concentration as a factor of awakening. The following week, 4/27, we’ll have a discussion of the ways in which concentration and focus can be helpful in meditation and daily life. Chapter IX in Bhikkhu Analayo’s book, “Satipatthana Meditation: Practice Guide” would be a good resource for these topics. Here are some additional resources you may find useful.
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.
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Volunteers at Coyote Ridge Correctional Center
The Insight Meditation group has supported Buddhist meditation groups at the state prison in Connell, WA since 2003. Those visits were on hold during the height of the pandemic but resumed last year. Currently we have one volunteer visiting the medium-security prison on Monday afternoons and we are seeking additional volunteers to support that effort, especially when our lead volunteer isn’t available.
There are several requirements for those volunteering at the prison. All volunteers need to have completed the initial vaccination series against COVID-19. Orientation and training are required. Applicants also need to undergo a background investigation. Applicants with a criminal background need to be off of supervision or parole for a year before applying.
Those applying to volunteer should have a regular meditation practice and at least some knowledge of Buddhist teachings and be willing to learn more so that you can discuss Buddhist practice with the inmates. If you’re interested, please contact Chris Murray for more information about volunteering at Coyote Ridge.
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Insight Meditation Retreat with Dori Langevin
Registration is now open for an Insight Meditation retreat with Dori Langevin on May 13, 2023 from 9:00 am – 4:30 pm. The topic for the retreat is “Seeing the Goodness: The Wellspring of Unconditional Friendliness.” This online retreat will consist of a mix of stationary meditation and movement meditation with instruction and a Dharma talk and will be suitable for beginners and experienced meditators. It will be our first in-person retreat since 2019, and will be held at Shalom UCC, 505 McMurray Street in Richland, WA. To register for the retreat, please send an email to Tim Barbour
Fee for the retreat will be $10. Please use our online donation form to pay the retreat fee and leave a comment indicating that the donation is for the retreat on May 13. The fee will be waived for those who can’t afford it, please send an email to Tim Barbour if that’s an issue for you. Those who are registered for the retreat will receive an email the week of the retreat with additional information.
Dori will also give a talk and lead meditation on Friday, May 12, from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm PT with the same topic. That event will also be held at Shalom in the Fellowship Hall. There is no fee for the Friday evening event, and registration will not be required for it. Please visit our Events Calendar for a more complete description of the theme for the retreat and Friday evenings talk.
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Weekly Meditation Schedule:
In-Person Meetings:
Those who regularly attend the in-person meetings have developed a masking policy for the time we are meeting indoors. The community levels of Covid will be checked each time we publish a newsletter. When community levels are low; masks will be optional. When community levels are medium or high, masks will be required.
Currently, the Covid community levels are low in Benton County so masks are optional.
However, please bring a mask to all of the in-person meditation sessions in case there is an attending member with greater vulnerability. If there is any attending member that feels more comfortable with everyone masking, we will all mask in support of the most vulnerable among us.
The Covid Community levels are posted on the following website: https://covid19.bfhd.wa.gov/cases-and-roadmap-to-recovery/
We hold twoin-person meditation sessions each week on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and Saturday morning at 8:00a.m., at All Saints Episcopal Church, 1322 Kimball Avenue in Richland. Please see the 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.
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.
We’re looking forward to welcoming some of you in person and being there online for others.
Online Meetings:
In addition to our in-person meetings 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.
We’re looking forward to welcoming some of you in person and being there online for others.
Warm regards,
Insight Meditation of the Mid-Columbia