Weekly Meditation

“Just let it go!” Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Diane Wilde   Where have you heard that before? These words have become as ubiquitous a phrase as “Have a nice day!” How seriously should we take it, and is this directive even possible OR desirable? This rather prosaic statement is stating in colloquial […]

The Role Of “Framing Experience” In Performance, Satisfaction and Happiness Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren Every day we are presented with circumstances that can be opportunities, challenges or problems depending on how our mind frames the experience that is taking place. The way our mind frames an experience has enormous influence […]

Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Tony Bernhard The topic of the talk is to be announced. Tony Bernhard is a Buddhist chaplain and teacher. He maintains an active practice with inmates in Folsom Prison and hosts sitting groups in Davis. He sits on the board of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies and teaches regularly […]

Talk topic: Wisdom Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Sue Taylor The talk will be a short "dharmette" on Wisdom (anchored in the paramis).   Sue Taylor, PhD, MSW, is a member of the Sacramento Dharma Center Board, an ordained Theravada Minister, and an Environmental Chaplain. She is a professor at CSU Sacramento in […]

Talk topic: Feminine Perspectives in Buddhism Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Monastic Ayya Santacitta AYYA SANTACITTA was born in Austria and has a multifaceted background in hotel management, ethnology and avant-garde dance theater. Her first teacher was Ajahn Buddhadasa, who sparked her interest in Buddhist monastic life. She has practiced meditation for 30 years and […]

The Essential Role of Context or Framing in Buddhist Practice Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren Context – the set of ideas, beliefs and principles which guide our understanding of ourselves, others, our relationships and how the world works – shapes our experience, our assessment of our experience and the choices we […]

Talk topic and date to be announced Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Neesha Patel.   NEESHA PATEL, PhD is deeply grateful for the liberative teachings of the Buddha. She has been fortunate to have practiced in both Asia and the US. Her practice has been influenced by the guidance of many wonderful teachers […]

Waking Up in Perilous Times Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Diane Wilde The times they are a-changing! This could be stated by every generation and each new epoch in our human and natural history. But the unimaginable changes taking place now — the climate emergency as well as “alternative” political realities — have […]

A Lump of Foam: The Five Aggregates Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Rich Howard The five Aggregates of Clinging are an excellent means for seeing the three universal characteristics: impermanence, conditionality/insubstantiality and suffering/stress. This phrase is repeated like a mantra in the many suttas about the aggregates: “This is not mine, this I […]