03/05/2020 “Suburban Arhats” with Tony Bernhard

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

Suburban Arhats — exploring the possibilities of full awakening for those of us living a lay lifestyle

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02/27/2020 “Awareness, Effort, and Right View” with Rich Howard

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

Google “mindfulness” and you’ll find this definition (from Psychology Today): “Mindfulness is a state of active, open attention to the present.” On the other hand, Burmese monk and meditation teacher Sayadaw U Tejaniya titled one of his books “Awareness Alone is Not Enough.” What else is needed? Won’t it be complicated? With all the approaches to mindfulness floating around, it may be a challenge to know how to practice a simple yet effective form of awareness that leads to insight and eventually freedom. With reminders from Sayadaw’s two most recent books, “Collecting Gold Dust” and “Relax and Be Aware” as well as his classics, we will look at the wider context of Awareness/Mindfulness/Attention: how it might differ from some of the popular notions, how it fits in the Noble Eightfold Path, and how it supports our search for freedom. This evening will be a good preparation for the retreat on February 29*.

* The daylong retreat on February 29 was themed “Awareness Practice and Inquiry”. Although the retreat talks were not recorded, here are a couple of related handouts that Rich Howard wanted to share with this post.

HANDOUT: Right Attitude for MeditationDownload
HANDOUT: Collecting Gold DustDownload
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02/20/2020 “The Truth About Lying” with Diane Wilde

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

Do you lie? Yes you do. Research shows we all lie on a daily basis… often many times a day! Yet, truthfulness, and the avoidance of falsehood is emphasized over and over again in the Buddha’s teachings. Truthfulness is the first factor of Right Speech with specific guidelines on how to evaluate when, and how, to speak truthfully. Speaking truthfully is also the fourth of the Five Training Precepts, which are the basic virtues to be cultivated on our path to ease and happiness. Yet, we lie so frequently and for such a variety of reasons, that lying becomes an acceptable “necessity.” We maintain that we have plausible reasoning for our lies. Did the Buddha mean we must always be truthful? Let’s find out!

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(Cancelled) Eco-Crisis Public Talk with David Loy

In-person events will not be meeting at SDC through 4/15/20. SIM is working with David Loy to see when we can schedule this retreat in the future.

The Ecological Crisis: The Encounter Between Personal and Social Transformation

– with David Loy, PhD

This public talk with David Loy is offered to all who care about the earth and covers how we might find the strength and resilience to face challenges with deepening wisdom and compassion for all beings.


DAVID LOY, PhD, is an international Buddhist teacher whose focus is on Buddhism and the environment.  On April 17 he will open his Sacramento Dharma Center visit with a Friday night public talk.  His emphasis is on personal transformation which in turn transforms society. His latest book is “EcoDharma: Buddhist Teaching for the Ecological Crisis.”  Copies of the book will be made available at this event.

Registration Details

  • 02/22/2020 – Online registration opens.
  • 03/19/2020 – Registration via this website will closed. In-person events will not be meeting at SDC through 4/15/20.

The registration fee is a sliding scale of $20 to $40 however NO ONE IS TURNED AWAY DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS!  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 the talk 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. On the evening of the talk, you may pay in person with cash or a check.

Before registering, click here to review the terms of use for this website. If you need to contact the event registrar with any questions, click here.

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(Remote) Daylong Retreat – Heather Sundberg – Support of Compassion & more

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An Online, Daylong Retreat with visiting Senior Teacher Heather Sundberg

The Support of Compassion & Equanimity, Resilience & Patience

Developing the qualities of Compassion, Equanimity, Resilience & Patience are an important basic toolkit to nurture ourselves & others in today’s world. As we connect with our experience from a place of spacious stillness and steadiness, we learn to meet the changing and challenging conditions we encounter with greater caring, patience and balance of mind.

Enjoy a day of quiet sitting and walking meditation, which allow our body & mind to settle down and our hearts to open to an inner wisdom. In addition to insight meditation practice, Heather will offer teachings & guided meditations on the theme, as well as optional Qi Gong practice & discussion about how to live these teachings in our daily lives.

In this daylong retreat, we will:

  • Open the mind & heart to our natural capacity for caring in a balanced way through Compassion practice.
  • Find balance within reactivity through Equanimity practice.
  • Deepen inner Resiliency through somatic practices.
  • Rediscover the gifts within the quality of Patience.

Note there will be a lunch break from Noon to 1:00 pm.

HEATHER SUNDBERG Heather Sundberg has taught insight meditation since 1999 and has completed the Spirit Rock/IMS Teacher Training. Beginning her own meditation practice in her late teens, for the last 25 years Heather has studied with senior teachers in the Insight Meditation (Vipassana) and Tibetan (Vajrayana) traditions and has sat 1-3 months of retreat a year for the last 25 years. She was the Spirit Rock Family & Teen Program Teacher & Manager for a decade. Between 2010 and 2015 she spent a cumulative one-year in study, practice, and pilgrimage in Asia. Since 2011, she has been a Teacher at Mountain Stream Meditation Center and sister communities in the Sierra Foothills, and teaches retreats nationally & internationally. Her teaching emphasizes embodiment, compassion, awareness, and practical wisdom. For more information about Heather visit heathersundberg.com.

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

  • 02/15/2020 – Registration opens.
  • 05/29/2020 – Registration via this website has closed. Before 9:00 pm, the registrar will send you an email with details on how to join the online retreat.
  • 05/30/2020 – Attend and enjoy the wonderful retreat. (There will be a lunch break from Noon to 1:00 pm.)

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 accept checks and cash. 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 the evening before the retreat.

Join online meeting: see email sent by retreat registrar for the hyperlink.
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 the access methods listed above, click here.
To give a donation after attending the retreat, click here.

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SIM Board of Directors Meeting

The SIM Board of Directors meets every month and all are welcome. If you can’t attend this meeting, please join us for one of our other up-coming meetings. For details on contacting any of the board members, click here.

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SIM Board of Directors Meeting

The SIM Board of Directors meets every month and all are welcome. If you can’t attend this meeting, please join us for one of our other up-coming meetings. For details on contacting any of the board members, click here.

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SIM Board of Directors Meeting

The SIM Board of Directors meets every month and all are welcome. If you can’t attend this meeting, please join us for one of our other up-coming meetings. For details on contacting any of the board members, click here.

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SIM Board of Directors Meeting

The SIM Board of Directors meets every month and all are welcome. If you can’t attend this meeting, please join us for one of our other up-coming meetings. For details on contacting any of the board members, click here.

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02/06/2020 “Cross The River of Suffering” with Dennis Warren

What Does It Mean To Cross The River of Suffering

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

The Historical Buddha used the image of our making our way across “the River of Suffering,” then leaving the boat we arrived in at the water’s edge, once we are safely on “the other shore.” What does it mean to “cross the river of suffering?” and to reach “the other shore?” Was the Buddha implying that it is our fate to continuously suffer until we have crossed the River?

Handout (.pdf): Path of the Community PractitionerDownload

This evening will examination the Buddha’s guidance for community level practitioners – non-monastics – about the pleasures of community life and practice in the context of the responsibilities and obligations of community life.
This guidance clearly points to the idea that the teachings are designed to support and create ease in our life, not to foster a sense of struggle, and an over-emphasis & self-indulgence, on suffering that may be present. This guidance, for those living full community lives, is a necessary and important element in creating a balanced practice, and a satisfying & happy life.

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