Vesak… and looking at “Nibbana”
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Diane Wilde
The most important holiday in the Buddhist calendar is Vesak. This year for many Buddhists Vesak is celebrated on Sunday, May 19. It celebrates the important events in the Buddha’s life… his birth, enlightenment and reaching a final state of no suffering… paranibbana.
Enlightenment or Nibbana has a host of definitions, mostly consisting of what it isn’t. The Buddha never explicitly said what it is, or for that matter, even exactly “who” gets enlightened. Due to the inability to speak about “Nibbana, the“goal” of eliminating suffering is either impossibly vague or has disappeared entirely from view.
What Western Buddhists are left with is the “path” and perfecting the path now appears to be the goal rather than actual enlightenment. Why is that? Is Nibbana the same in 2019 as 2,600 years ago when the world was so radically different? We’ll investigate the traditional attempts at explaining Nibbana and also some new ideas emanating from the challenges of our times.
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.
Thursday Night Talk Dana
“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 your donation will be shared with Rev. Diane Wilde and SIM.
Climate Sangha
Climate Sangha, SDCMeeting the 3rd Wednesday of each month, the Sacramento Climate Sangha provides dharmic support and a refuge for exploration of our hopes and fears about climate change.
Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Tony Bernhard
Weekly MeditationSit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Tony Bernhard
The topic of the talk is to be announced.
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.
*Sit & Dharma Talk – Dennis Warren – Difficult, Problematic, Obsessive Thinking
Weekly MeditationDifficult, Problematic and Obsessive Thinking – Part II
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren
This will be the second talk, in a series of two, on working with difficult, problematic and obsessive thinking. A four page handout accompanied Dennis’ first talk on this topic on March 7th. It would be helpful to review that handout. It would also be helpful to try the strategy for working with thought as well as the exercise on Thought and Listening, contained in the handout, in preparation for this evening.
The discussion this evening will look at the differences between working with thought during meditation and working with thought during daily lives. These are two different approaches.
For example, the traditional instruction is to “not go into the content of thought” during meditation. Is that the whole instruction? Doesn’t the Insight Meditation process involve some form of evaluation of thought while one is meditating? How does this basic meditation instruction apply to thought in daily life?
Among other thing, the evening will explore the five strategies the historical Buddha recommended for dealing with difficult, problematic and/or obsessive thoughts that distract us for seeing into their implications or true nature of being either harmful or unhealthy nature.
(Note: This talk will not cover the same materials present in the talk on the “Two Types of Thinking” presented earlier this month on April 18 by Community Teacher Diane Wilde.)
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.
(Remote) *Sit & Dharma Talk – Walt Opie- Two Kinds of Thought
Online Remote, Weekly MeditationTwo Kinds of Thought
Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Walt Opie
Join online meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81647363243
Passcode: 200897
Join by phone: 1-669-900-9128 ( Meeting ID: 816 4736 3243 )
For tips and instructions on how to participate, check this news blog.
*Sit & Dharma Talk – Walt Opie – Developing Right Effort in Our Practice
Weekly MeditationDeveloping Right Effort in Our Practice
Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Walt Opie
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.
*Sit & Dharma Talk – Diane Wilde – Vesak and looking at Nibbana
Weekly MeditationVesak… and looking at “Nibbana”
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Diane Wilde
The most important holiday in the Buddhist calendar is Vesak. This year for many Buddhists Vesak is celebrated on Sunday, May 19. It celebrates the important events in the Buddha’s life… his birth, enlightenment and reaching a final state of no suffering… paranibbana.
Enlightenment or Nibbana has a host of definitions, mostly consisting of what it isn’t. The Buddha never explicitly said what it is, or for that matter, even exactly “who” gets enlightened. Due to the inability to speak about “Nibbana, the“goal” of eliminating suffering is either impossibly vague or has disappeared entirely from view.
What Western Buddhists are left with is the “path” and perfecting the path now appears to be the goal rather than actual enlightenment. Why is that? Is Nibbana the same in 2019 as 2,600 years ago when the world was so radically different? We’ll investigate the traditional attempts at explaining Nibbana and also some new ideas emanating from the challenges of our times.
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.
*Sit & Dharma Talk – Diane Wilde – Two Types of Thinking
Weekly MeditationTwo Types of Thinking
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Rev. Diane Wilde
Thoughts… what a random mess! They come uninvited, stick around for a bit and then they are off. Thoughts that we enjoy as well as thoughts that we would prefer to ignore. Thoughts that are inspirational and others which bring out our worst nature. The Buddha explains in the “Dvedhavitakka Sutta” that he too wrestled with uninvited thoughts. Using mindfulness practice, he categorized arising thoughts into skillful and unskillful, i.e. which of his thoughts alleviated suffering and which made things worse. In our contemporary lives, we are unfortunately, mostly unaware of the harm we needlessly cause ourselves because we rarely monitor our own thought processes. This is true for the dramatic “big issues”, but it is also relevant for thoughts that arise from seemingly innocent and often mundane daily activities. Tonight we will discuss strategies for elevating our “thought experience” both on and off the cushion.
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.
Researching the Impacts of Meditation
NewsA research team at the University of Colorado Boulder is conducting an online survey of meditators. They hope to understand meditators’ perspectives and how they differ from non-meditators. They would like to invite you to participate!
The survey can be completed from your computer and should take no more than 15 minutes to complete. If you are interested in participating or want to learn more about the study, check out https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5sx0NqNLjw45z7L.
03/21/2019 “Communicating with the ‘Other'” with Diane Wilde
Audio DharmaIf you would like to download this talk, please right click and select “save as” here.
Our polarized society has caused many of us to not only avoid speaking to those who don’t share our political, spiritual or cultural views, but to avoid them altogether. Social scientists state that the animosity towards the “other” is as extreme as it was in the 60s and 70s during the Vietnam war. And yet, it has never been as critical to speak about the perilous issues that effect everyone. Speaking to each other is a task we all must undertake because we now have no choice. Avoidance has been creating its own downward trajectory… the climate crisis worsens, and political polarity has resulted in societal paralysis.
Tonight we will discuss steps we might consider taking in communicating with the “other.” The Buddha offered advise in many suttas, and contemporary social scientists have weighed in on how to begin a conversation eliminating rigidly held dogma or self-righteous anger.
Tea with Vance Pryor March 29th
News