Sunday, May 1

Tree will facilitate on the Five Remembrances, which the Buddha recommends we recite every day. The Five Remembrances help us make friends with our fear of growing old, getting sick, being abandoned and dying. We will practice a guided meditation on impermanence.

Sunday, April 17

Loretta will be facilitating this Sunday on the topic of "practicing engaged Buddhism as a path to creating an enlightened society."

Sunday, April 10

Dear Sangha,

Our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, known as Thay, said there is nothing which causes more suffering than the untrained mind. He said there is nothing which brings more wellbeing and happiness than the well trained mind. Our practice is training our minds to be awake to the fullness of the present moment, to behold the beauty, truth and goodness of the here and now, and to know and transform suffering by being open to it, seeing its causes and taking care of it. We cultivate the mind of love, the mind of enlightenment through mindfulness, concentration and insight, through meditation, which is the exercise of our big mind, primarily through silence. Through our practice we grow a much larger perspective.

In our practice we use thought to point our attention to what is not thought. This is an example of right thinking, the second step of the 8 Fold Noble Path, after Right View.

Right thought is thought which does not distract from the silence

Rather it enhances it

Right thought points to our essential wonderfulness

To the many causes and conditions for our happiness which exist right now

The Buddha taught the businessmen brought to him by his chief lay disciple, Anathapindika, that it is possible to be happy in the here and now because he knew they were too busy to appreciate the present moment.

This Sunday we will practice opening our heart-minds and training ourselves to be here now, savoring reality as a whole, in the present moment. Our practice is to open our hearts and minds to all the wonders of life that are present here and now and discover for ourselves the source of wellbeing, joy and happiness right here and now in ourselves and in the world.

Keith