Event registration requested
From Separation to Seamless Reality
Buddhist teachings emphasize the link between dukkha, an inner dissatisfaction that keeps us from enjoying life and the delusive view of the self that we are separate from others. During this meditation day, we will explore the conceptual proliferation that generates the sense of self and turn towards the fullness, peace and potential that is our ever-present nature. Ending conceptual proliferation reveals a seamless reality at the heart of everything and fundamentally changes our way of being and living. The day will be informed by mindful investigation of our direct experience, and framed within teachings on emptiness, pervasive awareness and love.
Lunch will be a potluck. Please bring a non-meat dish as well as your own plate, napkin, and eating utensils. Offerings will be made to Amma. (Amma welcomes plenty of vegetables, eggs, cottage cheese and foods low in carbohydrates, low inflammation, and gluten free. She tries to avoid rice or other grains, potatoes and other nightshades, and gluten.)
The daylong will be dana only. We are sharing travel and lodging expenses with SBMG, so cost should be minimal. Your RSVP will help our volunteers plan and setup the event space appropriately.
(Amma) Thanasanti Bhikkhuni was born in California. She was first introduced to Buddhism and insight meditation in 1979 in a class taught by Jack Engler. From that time she consciously committed to awakening and envisioned living her life as a nun. After completing a BA in Biology from UC Santa Cruz, she worked as an analytical chemist. In 1987 she went on a pilgrimage to India, Nepal and Thailand to meet Dipa Ma, HIs Holiness Dalai Lama, Ajahn Chah, and Ajahn Buddhadasa. She joined the comunity of nuns living at both Amaravati and Chithurst Buddhist Monasteries in England. She received ordination in 1991. As part of her monastic life she has spent extensive time in retreat in the remote bush of Australia. She founded Awakening Truth whose mission is to combine Forest traditions teachings with modern teachings on integration to allow greater capacity to meet what is arising in ourselves, our relationships and the world. Eventually, she aims to create a Bhikkhuni training based on these principles. In August 2010, after 19 years of being a nun, she formally joined the Bhikkhuni Sangha at Aranya Bodhi Forest Hermitage, Sonoma CA, in the first Theravada Bhikkhuni ordination to be conducted in North America. Ayya Tathaaloka is her preceptor. She blends rigor with gentle loving encouragement to find your own way – finding a balance between fierce holding of the Dhamma and compassion, tenderness, humor and empowerment. Currently she is based at the Shakti Vihara hermitage in Santa Rosa, California as a solitary alms mendicant nun where her time is interspersed between writing, teaching, time meditating in the nearby Annadale State Park and caring for her elderly Mom, Marley Fein.
