(Remote) Introduction to Meditation with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

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To join this remote meeting, note the following:

Join Online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82438173964
Passcode: 648082
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 824 3817 3964 )
For instructions on how to join the meeting, click here.

This 45-minute course is suitable for beginners or anyone who would like a refresher. It is offered on the fourth Thursday of every month before the regular sitting and dharma talk. There is no fee.

DENNIS WARREN is SIM’s Founding Teacher and has been teaching mindfulness, meditation and contemplative practices since 1998. He recently completed his 11th year as a Volunteer Clinical Professor in Mindfulness in the Division of Pain Medicine at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center. He is certified as a Mindfulness Teacher, Professional Level (CMT-P), by the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. He is a graduate of the professional trainings in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression. He also is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Medication Center’s Dharma leaders training program. You can learn more about Dennis’ background and activities at https://www.denniswarren.net/ .
Dennis has been participating in residential meditation retreats, and has maintained a daily meditation practice, in the Theravadan Buddhist tradition for over 30 years. 2018 was his 20th year of teaching Insight Meditation and mindfulness practices in residential, retreat, educational, medical, corporate and community settings. In 2007 and 2014, Dennis led month long pilgrimages and moving retreats in Thailand, India and Nepal. A third is being planned for late 2021.

Sacramento Insight Meditation events are sustained by the generosity of instructors in offering teachings freely and on the generosity of students and members of the meditative community in the form of financial support, service and participation in events. With our practice of dana, we support our Sangha. If you wish to make a donation, click here.

At the bottom of this page, you may enter the number of people planning to attend and select the button “Confirm RSVP“.
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(Hybrid) Sit & Dharma Talk – Vance Pryor – Mindfulness of the Body

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Talk topic: Mindfulness of the Body

Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Vance Pryor

* Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or onsite at the Sacramento Dharma Center.

Join online meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82426058742
Passcode: 091813
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 824 2605 8742 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, check this news blog.

Thursday Night Talk Dana
[give_form id=”19397″ show_title=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”] “Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
For remote meetings, please use the form above to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give and 100% of your donation will be shared with Vance Pryor.

VANCE PRYOR, PsyD, began insight meditation in 1998. He has been deeply influenced by the teachings of Sayadaw U Pandita and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. His training to become a teacher has been supported by the mentorship of Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters. He is currently participating in IMS’s 2017-2021 Teacher Training Program.

 

Topic Details:

Tonight’s talk will emphasize working with the first foundation of mindfulness, the body. Skillfully incorporating this aspect of our experience into our meditation practice is invaluable in leading the mind to greater understandings of impermanence. This, in turn, reduces the mental forces of craving and clinging.

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(Hybrid) Sit & Dharma Talk – Tony Bernhard – Precept Practice

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Precept Practice as the Path of Awakening…

Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Tony Bernhard

* Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or in-person at the Sacramento Dharma Center

Join online meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85182284181
Passcode:  512697
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 851 8228 4181 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, check this news blog.

Thursday Night Talk Dana

[give_form id=”15406″ show_title=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”] “Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
We recognize that donating by cash or check at the time you attend this event may not always be convenient for you. If that’s the case, please use this form to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give and 75% of your donation will be shared with Tony Bernhard.

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 around the bay area and central valley. His practice is non-traditional, guided by his chaplaincy work in prison, his teaching and by his study of the early Pali scriptures.

Topic details:
to be announced

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(Hybrid) Sit & Dharma Talk – Tony Bernhard – Understanding Emptiness

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Understanding Emptiness: Action Without Actors

Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Tony Bernhard

* Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or onsite at the Sacramento Dharma Center.

Join online meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82830214750
Passcode: 584861
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 828 3021 4750 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, check this news blog.

Thursday Night Talk Dana

[give_form id=”15406″ show_title=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”] “Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
We recognize that donating by cash or check at the time you attend this event may not always be convenient for you. If that’s the case, please use this form to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give and 75% of your donation will be shared with Tony Bernhard.

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 around the bay area and central valley. His practice is non-traditional, guided by his chaplaincy work in prison, his teaching and by his study of the early Pali scriptures.

Topic details:
to be announced

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(Hybrid) Sit & Dharma Talk – Dennis Warren – Establishing Mindfulness

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The Historical Buddha’s Guidance on Establishing Mindfulness In Meditation

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

* Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or in-person at the Sacramento Dharma Center.

Join online meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85067961606
Passcode: 970006
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 850 6796 1606 )
For tips and instructions on how to participate, check this news blog.

Thursday Night Talk Dana
[give_form id=”10310″ show_title=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”] “Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
For remote meetings, please use the form above to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give and 75% of your donation will be shared with Dennis Warren.

Topic details:
The Historical Buddha’s formula for being skillful in meditation starts with “establishing Mindfulness” as a foundational element. This guidance points to the fact that the kind of Mindfulness needed in meditation does not just happen or appear by itself. It is something that needs to be intentionally established, monitored and sustained every time we meditate in order for our meditation practices to be skillful.
During this evening we’ll take a hands-on-look at: What does it mean to “establish Mindfulness” in our meditation practices? What does one do to establish Mindfulness? How do we know if it has been established? If established, how is it sustained?
These are basic, practical, experiential questions that provide a framework for helping us evaluate the soundness and quality of our meditation practice.

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(Hybrid) Sit & Dharma Talk – Dennis Warren – Beginner’s Mind

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Virtual Event

December 16, 2021 @ 7:00 pm – 9:15 pm PST

Establishing the Wonderful Quality of “Beginner’s Mind”

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren 
* Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or in-person at the Sacramento Dharma Center. The teacher will present via Zoom.
Join online meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82802511823 Passcode: 627511 Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 828 0251 1823 ) For tips and instructions on how to participate, check this news blog.
Thursday Night Talk Dana [give_form id=”10310″ show_title=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”] “Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha For remote meetings, please use the form above to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give and 75% of your donation will be shared with Dennis Warren.
Topic details: “Beginner’s Mind” is a wonderful quality of mind. It has the potential to significantly improve our practice of meditation and the quality of our mindfulness and experience in daily life. Despite the wide spread (and often confusing) coverage it receives in Buddhist, business, athletic, therapeutic and pop culture publications, it is something that remains elusive for many of us. This evening will explore the following practical questions:
  • What is Beginner’s Mind, really?
  • Why is it considered so valuable?
  • Why does it seem elusive?
  • How do we establish it in meditation practice? And in daily life?
The subject matter of this evening is appropriate for all stages of practice.

Details

Hybrid (in-person and online)

3111 Wissemann Drive (or *ZOOM)
Sacramento, CA 95826 United States
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(Hybrid) Sit & Dharma Talk – Dennis Warren – Reconsidering Sitting Meditation

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Reconsidering Sitting Meditation: An Experiment & Exploration

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

* Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or in-person at the Sacramento Dharma Center. Dennis will be presenting by ZOOM.

Join online meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82992020067
Passcode: 055014
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 829 9202 0067 )
For tips and instructions on how to participate, check this news blog.

Thursday Night Talk Dana
[give_form id=”10310″ show_title=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”] “Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
For remote meetings, please use the form above to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give and 75% of your donation will be shared with Dennis Warren.

Topic details:
Sitting Insight Meditation is one essential element of a purposeful and intentional life. It is, at its core, about laying the foundation for a rich, full, satisfying life. It points our mind, heart and body towards a conscious and awake relationship with ourselves, with others and the world around us.
Several preconditions must be in place in order for sitting meditation to play these defining and guiding roles. Specifically, we need to develop a combined conceptual and experience model of what we are doing in meditation, how we are doing it and why we are doing it. If this is not present, our sitting meditation will be unfocused and misdirected. More importantly, it will not direct, support and sustain us on the path to a more satisfying life or a practice with the potential of being release from the constant and punishing management and control of the self or ego.
This evening will involve a reconsideration of several fundamental elements of Sitting Insight Meditation. It will include an experiment during the 700 pm hour.

You will need to have a straight back chair available to use during the meditation

– the kind that would normally be part of a kitchen or dining room set. We will use the sitting experiment during the first hour as part of our exploration of sitting fundamentals during the 800 pm hour.

The subject matter of this evening is appropriate for all stages of practice.

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(Hybrid) Sit & Dharma Talk – Diane Wilde – Equanimity

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EQUANIMITY: It’s complicated! Early Buddhism Taught Three Different Types

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Rev. Diane Wilde
* Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or in-person at the Sacramento Dharma Center. Tonight the teacher will present in-person.

Join online meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86396082826
Passcode: 836892
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 863 9608 2826 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, check this news blog.

Thursday Night Talk Dana

[give_form id=”9758″ show_title=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”]

“Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
We recognize that donating by cash or check at the time you attend this event may not always be convenient for you. If that’s the case, please use the form below to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give and 75% of your donation will be shared with Rev. Diane Wilde.

Topic details:

According to Bhikkhu Analayo, early Buddhist teachings suggest that “equanimity” as a practice, is not monolithic. In fact, in the earliest teachings, there are three types of equanimity, and one of them (as defined in a particular instance) should NOT be developed but abandoned. This may be surprising as equanimity is often referred to as the “crown jewel” of Buddhist practice. The person who develops equanimity (as it is normally defined) is said to be in balance, not clinging to greed or aversion, and sees clearly. It is viewed as a necessary mental state for anyone who wishes to abandon suffering. A recent research paper by Bhikkhu Analayo suggests that equanimity is much more nuanced than most of us have realized. We will discuss the various modes of equanimity and how they relate to our practice in today’s world.

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(Hybrid) Sit & Dharma Talk – Rich Howard – The 3 Trainings

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The Three Trainings: A Question, a Dialogue, and a Choice

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Rich Howard

* Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or in-person at the Sacramento Dharma Center

Join online meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84726026792  Passcode: 448799
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID:  847 2602 6792 )

The three trainings of the eightfold path are the training in moral integrity (sila), the training in meditation (bhavana), and the training in wisdom (pañña). They are taught in many places in the Pali Canon, nowhere more powerfully than in the Samaññaphala Sutta (Digha Nikaya 2). This sutta, the story of an encounter between the historical Buddha and King Ajatasattu, contains a survey of the other philosophical traditions of the Buddha’s time, a summary of the essence of the Buddha’s teachings illustrated with beautiful similes, and (spoiler alert!) a sad refusal by the King to accept this teaching as the basis for transforming his life. Inspired by two chapters on this sutta (characterized as “almost a Greek tragedy”) in Krishnan Venkatesh’s book “Do You Know Who You Are?” and a book-length essay by Mu Soeng “The Question of King Ajatasattu” (“rightly called one of the most important texts in the Pali Canon”), we will explore in depth how we might answer the King’s question reframed for ourselves: what is the fruit of practice, and what are we willing to do to attain it? This evening’s introduction will help prepare for the SIM daylong on October 30, although both events will stand alone as opportunities to look at the teachings, our practice, and our lives.

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(Hybrid) Sit & Dharma Talk – Rich Howard – Retreat Practice

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Retreat Practice: At Home Again

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Rich Howard

* Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or in-person at the Sacramento Dharma Center

Join online meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82189292270
Passcode:  067445
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID:  821 8929 2270 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, check this news blog.

Thursday Night Talk Dana
[give_form id=”10304″ show_title=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”] “Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
For remote meetings, please use the form above to donate by credit card or your PayPal account. Enter the amount you’d like to give and 75% of your donation will be shared with Rich Howard.

Topic details:
On the eve of SIM’s second online annual retreat, let us consider retreat practice in general and online retreat practice in particular. What is unique about online retreat? Are there distinct advantages to in-person retreats? What can we do to make the most of an online retreat? Please be prepared to share your retreat experience – online or in person – in the era of pandemic isolation.

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