03/18/2021 “Loving-Kindness (Metta)” with Dennis Warren

Loving-Kindness (Metta) – Elaborations & Further Guidance from the Historical Buddha

To download this talk, right-click and select ‘save audio as’ or select the 3-dot menu to the right of the speaker icon.

Our usual understanding of Loving-Kindness (Metta) comes from the Historical Buddha’s Karaniya Metta Sutta. In contrast, the most popular and widely used instructions on how to practice Loving-Kindness were not taught by the Historical Buddha. They were developed by others, and adopted as skillful forms of practice, long after his death.
It turns out the Historical Buddha provided elaboration and further guidance on the experience of Loving-Kindness, what it is and how to develop our capacity to experience it in a number of other talks. These are a value source of help in gaining a fuller, deeper, richer understanding of this pivotal quality of heart and the role it can play in our individual lives, in community and in the larger world. This is what we’ll explore Thursday evening.
You are encouraged to read this Karaniya Metta Sutta – The Metta Sutta several times, s l o w l y, as preparation for this evening. It’s well worth the effort. Topic headings have been added to support reading and understanding the sutta.
The subject matter of this evening is appropriate for all stages of practice. All that is necessary is showing up with an open, curious mind.

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SIM is back at St. John’s

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After a year of isolation, on March 17th Sacramento Insight Meditation volunteers prepared and served dinner to the women and children who are living at St. John’s Program for Real Change. The cooks and servers practice COVID safety by wearing masks. Servers were in close proximity, while cooks were distanced. Most of the volunteers have been fully vaccinated.

We will soon be scheduling shifts for the third Wednesday of April, May, and June. Volunteer opportunities include cooks who prepare the meal from 2:45-4:30 pm, and servers who work from 4:30-6:00 pm. We are welcoming new volunteers as we re-start this chance to practice generosity and compassion in the greater community.

If you are not already on the email list and wish to volunteer or have questions, please contact Mary Howard at mary@sactoinsight.org.

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Protected: STUDENTS – April 2021 – OSOS

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SDC publishes – Winter 2021 Update

Sacramento Dharma Center News Update (Mar 16, 2021). News topics include: Solar Energy System, The North Yard Project, Parking Lot Makeover, and
SDC Re-opening. For details, click here.

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(Remote) Daylong Retreat – Vance Pryor – Skillful Views in Meditation

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Virtual Event

May 29, 2021 @ 8:30 am – 3:00 pm PDT

Skillful Views in Meditation

An Online, Daylong Retreat with visiting Senior Teacher Vance Pryor

At times we can develop views of meditation that hinder the development of wholesome qualities of heart. During this daylong, we will begin to examine some of the most common views that hinder the practice, while exploring skillful views which are invaluable on the path. All are welcome. Tentative schedule: This daylong consists of three 1.5 hour sessions. First session from 8:30 to 10:00 AM. Second session from 10:30 to 12:00 PM. Third session from 1:30 to 3:00 PM.
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.
The Teacher offers the teachings freely in the tradition of the Buddha, and her livelihood is completely sustained by the generosity of the communities she serves. Dana (donation) for these priceless teachings will be gratefully accepted by the teacher, giving participants the opportunity to freely engage in the practice of generosity, the first step toward freedom. You may donate for this event online using a credit card or PayPal account.

Summary of Important Dates

  • 03/09/2021 – Registration opens.
  • 05/29/2021 – Attend and enjoy the wonderful retreat. Registration via this website closes 30 minutes before the start of the retreat on May 29.

Registration Details

Registration is $15.00 per person due before the start of the event. If you are able and interested in further supporting SIM financially, you have the option of a registration fee of either $25 or $35 dollars. To pay the registration fee online, use the “Tickets” section at the bottom of this page. Specify the number of people you are registering to this retreat and click the button “Get Tickets”. You’ll be automatically directed to a secure web-page where your registration payment can be made by credit card as a guest (no PayPal account required) or payment can be made by PayPal after you sign-in to your PayPal account if you have one. For the registration fee, we also accept personal checks. No one will be turned away for lack of funds; please contact the registrar for more information. Before registering to this event, click here to review the terms of use for this website.

Questions for the Registrar?

If you need to contact the retreat registrar with any questions, click here.

How to attend this online retreat

Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive an email “Ticket” that also includes the link to join the Zoom meeting. Use this link at the start of the retreat to participate in the retreat. Additionally, the evening before or the morning of the retreat, the registrar will send you a welcome email that also includes the link to join the Zoom meeting. 
Join online meeting: The hyperlink is included in your emailed "Ticket" and also in the email sent by the retreat registrar.
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( see email sent by retreat registrar for the Meeting ID )
For tips and instructions on how to use Zoom to attend the retreat, click here.
To give a donation after attending this retreat, click here.

Details

  • Date: May 29, 2021
  • Time:
    8:30 am – 3:00 pm PDT
  • Cost: $15.00 – $35.00
  • Event Categories: ,

Remote Meeting Zoom

Tickets

The numbers below include tickets for this event already in your cart. Clicking “Get Tickets” will allow you to edit any existing attendee information as well as change ticket quantities.
Tickets are no longer available

Who's coming?

24 people are attending (Remote) Daylong Retreat – Vance Pryor – Skillful Views in Meditation

VIVIENNE roseby Georgianne Turner Charlesly Joseph Richard Howard Christine Bitonti cedric orange sr Margaret L Buss Chris White Coaching Services Sara Denzler Jim Lerner, Ph.D. rosemary ogrady paula Tusler Tony Pruitt Lisa Shapiro Claire Etcheverry Jon Siiteri Amy Kovak S Steinberg Idris Ahmed Robin Primavera Miriam Greenberg Fernando Valdez Nicholas Sanchez
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(Remote) Sit & Dharma Talk – Vance Pryor – Ethics, Generosity, Mental Cultivation

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The Foundations of Dharma Practice: Ethics, Generosity, and Mental Cultivation

Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Vance Pryor

Join online meeting: https://zoom.us/j/97756803294
Passcode: 921736
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 977 5680 3294 )
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: It has been said that the 3 pillars which support the Dharma as a whole are the practices of ethics, generosity, and mental cultivation. When taken together, these three practices can be applied in our daily lives to further liberate the heart from afflictive emotions, and transform our lives. For the evening talk, each pillar will be discussed in turn, along with exploring the relationships between all three.

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(Remote) Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Senior Teacher Gullu Singh

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Talk Topic: to be announced

Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Senior Teacher Gullu Singh

Join online meeting: https://zoom.us/j/94648551328
Passcode: 425857
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 946 4855 1328 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, check this news blog.

Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a corporate real estate attorney who also a Dharma teacher at InsightLA and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He has taught mindfulness at the University of Southern California, been a guest lecturer at UCLA Law School and has taught mindfulness in law firms, at bar associations and in law firm and corporate settings. Although he was exposed to meditation as a child, he found his own practice when he started his legal career, working at firms where the job was extremely stressful.
Gullu completed InsightLA’s one-year Mindfulness Facilitator Training, Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s 2-year Dedicated Practitioner Program, the training to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and the 4-year Spirit Rock Meditation Center Teacher Training Program which focuses on teaching in the silent retreat setting. Gullu is a core teacher in the Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training as well as the InsightLA Mindfulness Facilitator Training.
Gullu graduated from Duke University in 1990 and got his J.D. from the University of Southern California Law Center in 1993, where he was on Law Review. He then worked at two preeminent BigLaw Firms before founding Landmark Law Group, Inc. in 1998. He was recognized as a California Super Lawyer in 2009.
Gullu is deeply inspired to share meditation as a path to freedom and also as an antidote to stress, a way to cope more effectively with the challenges of work and life and to inject more sanity, compassion and wisdom into this world.

Thursday Night Talk Dana
[give_form id=”16991″ 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 Gullu Singh.

Topic details:
to be announced.

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(Remote) Sit & Dharma Talk – Rich Howard – Nothing or No Thing?

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Nothing or No Thing? Reframing our Experience

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Rich Howard

Join online meeting: https://zoom.us/j/97400928129
Passcode: 539647
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 974 0092 8129 )
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:
The mind tends to solidify experience and to grasp for security in comfort, familiarity, and habitual patterns. This is natural, a long-established pattern to help negotiate a complex world in the face of threats and unknowns. Even our language reinforces this dependence on solid objects versus processes, using nouns to translate words that are verbs in Pali, the original language of the early Buddhist texts. This talk will expand on the theme of investigating the concept of “self” that all three SIM faculty explored in February. Be prepared to share insights you may have received in working with this area of practice.

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(Remote) Sit & Dharma Talk – Heather Sundberg – Between Emptiness and Suchness

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The Relationship Between Emptiness and Suchness.

Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Heather Sundberg

Join online meeting: https://zoom.us/j/91240039951
Passcode: 613745
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 912 4003 9951 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, check this news blog.

Thursday Night Talk Dana
“Generosity is the virtue that leads to peace.” – The Historical Buddha
[give_form id=”4336″ show_title=”false” show_goal=”false” show_content=”none” display_style=”reveal”] 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 this donation will be shared 100% with Heather Sundberg.

This talk will not be recorded.

Topic details:  When we understand that direct experience is not solid/not separate, we can embrace experience in it’s changing conditionality with the heart of compassion and inclusion born of non-clinging. This is the inter-weaving of the teachings of Emptiness and Suchness, and the Talk will explore teachings and practices which support us to live from this Wiser View.

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(Remote) Sit & Dharma Talk – Dennis Warren – “Insight” (Meaning, Importance, Role)

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“Insight” – It’s Meaning, Importance & Role in Practice

Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

Join online meeting: https://zoom.us/j/97305516311
Passcode: 979736
Join by phone: 1-669-900-6833 ( Meeting ID: 973 0551 6311 )
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:
“Insight” is considered the prime motivation and culmination of Buddhist practice because it leads to satisfaction, peace and happiness. It does this through liberating the mind and body from confusion, struggle and suffering. The importance of Insight is illustrated by this fact: if you remove Insight from practice, it is no longer Buddhist practice.
The talk and discussion this evening will focus on the meaning, importance and role of different types of Insight in practice and daily life.
We’ll look at the differences between cognitive, or thought-based, insight and insight that is based on our own, non-conceptual, direct-experience, particularly our experience in day-to-day events and relationships. We’ll explore those insights that are considered conventional, relative, or personal with those traditionally considered universal, non-personal and “liberating.”
The subject matter of this evening is directly relevant and applicable for all stages of practice.

NOTE: Dennis Warren will be hosted by Benicia Insight Meditation, offering a one day retreat Saturday, May 22, 2021 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on Loving-Kindness (Metta) Elaborations & Further Guidance from the Historical Buddha. Click here for details.

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