Your generosity helps SIM thrive!

Dear SIM Friends,

We hope this letter finds you well. As we approach the end of the year, we want to share an update from the SIM Board, including milestones from this year and our goals for the coming year. We look forward to working with you to strengthen our community through a renewed focus on expanding opportunities for learning, teaching and practice.

In 2018, SIM hosted two 6-week Beginning Meditation courses, a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course, several new teachers on Thursdays and Saturdays, and a successful Fall Residential Retreat with 36 retreatants. We also encouraged opportunities for community building within the Sangha, such as monthly group dinners, hiking outings and book groups. We are so grateful to each of you for being part of our community and the role you play in making all of this possible.

In 2019, we look forward to building on this strong foundation by increasing support for our teachers. Our goal is to fulfill our mission of offering the best support possible to those in Sacramento practicing in the Insight/Vipassana tradition. To this end, we are expanding our budget to include a Teaching and Development Initiative. This will provide:

  • Increased support for our existing faculty, including additional dana for their ongoing commitment and teaching, and resources to support them in their practice; as well as
  • Dedicated funding to host new teachers for Thursday evenings, one-day retreats and new courses.

We need your help to accomplish this goal. Our projected budget for 2019, with the addition of the Teaching and Development Initiative, will be more than $65,000. As you plan your year-end giving, please consider supporting SIM by:

  • Making a one-time, year-end contribution to support our Teaching and Development Initiative (any amount will help and be appreciated); and/or
  • Signing up for a monthly, automatic on-line contribution to SIM. Monthly contributions are key to our long-term financial health, covering basic operating expenses as well as sustaining our Teaching and Development Initiative. If you are already giving through monthly donations, we sincerely thank you!

You can make a donation of any kind at https://sactoinsight.org/what-is-dana/. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our Board members at https://sactoinsight.org/contact-us/.

We look forward to continuing to strengthen our community and our practice together in the coming year.

Warmly,

Sara Denzler
Treasurer, SIM Board of Directors

/by

11/15/2018 “Talking on the Toll-free Line” with Laura Rosenthal

If you would like to download this talk, please right click and select “save as” here.

Wise speech – refraining from false speech, malicious or divisive speech, harsh speech and idle speech – is one of the “folds” of the eightfold path toward awakening. For may of us, talking on the phone with consumer service folks – an internet provider or bank, a government agency, or a host of others – can challenge our intention to speak kindly and wisely. What is this all about? And how can we use these frequent, ordinary interactions to hone our awareness and our ethical practice? Join Laura Rosenthal for a talk and group conversation on the topic “Talking on the Toll-free Line“.

/by

New Teaching and Development Initiative

Update from the SIM Board of Directors: New Teaching and Development Initiative

Building on the strong foundation we have established together over the last two years, the SIM Board is adding a Teaching and Development Initiative as part of SIM’s general budget for 2019.
This portion of our budget will provide:

  • Additional dana for our current teachers,
  • Support for bringing new teachers to our community, which will include travel and accommodation expenses as well as dana,
  • Possible training opportunities for our teachers as well as community members who might be interested in teaching, as recommended by our faculty.

Dana given to SIM’s general fund in the form of monthly donations or a year-end donation will now go directly to supporting current and future teachers, as well as paying for the infrastructure needed to support teaching and practice.

We also continue to encourage you to give from your heart in the dana bowl in gratitude for the teachings and are glad to inform you that we’ve increased the percentage of your gifts that go directly to our teachers as dana.

If you’d like additional information about this initiative, please contact Sara Denzler, SIM Treasurer, or another SIM Board Member.

/by

Our Annual Potluck Dec 13th

We are looking forward to seeing all of you at our Annual Holiday Event Thursday evening, December 13th at our Sacramento Dharma Center at 3111 Wissemann Dr, Sacramento, CA 95826. Please go our calendar page for details and to RSVP for yourself and guest(s).

As in our past celebrations, we will enjoy together our vegetarian potluck dinner and, afterwards, contributions of “personal dana”.  Do you have a favorite poem or reading, whether one you’ve written or one you just love?  Do you play a musical instrument, paint, sing, write, dance?  Do you have a special travel experience with photos you might share a few of?  We would love you to offer your passion, skill, or art to our group.

“Personal dana” performances/contributions can be no more than 3 to 5 minutes long.  You must pre-register in order to assure yourself a space.  “Personal dana” contributions do not have to be strictly Buddhist in nature, just whatever comes from your heart. This is a great way to get to know and enjoy each other.  It is also a generous act to share yourself with our sangha community in this way. We have room for only about a dozen performances in all, so please respond soon.

/by

Nurturing Sangha Over Dinner

Nurturing Sangha Over Dinner meets informally at six o’clock on the second Thursday of the month, before the regular dharma talk and sit. Please bring your dinner and something extra to share, if you would like. We can continue to get to know one another and talk more about how SIM can support us in our practice. We’ll try this out for a few months and see if it is something we want to continue.

/by

Nurturing Sangha Over Dinner

Nurturing Sangha Over Dinner meets informally at six o’clock on the second Thursday of the month, before the regular dharma talk and sit. Please bring your dinner and something extra to share, if you would like. We can continue to get to know one another and talk more about how SIM can support us in our practice. We’ll try this out for a few months and see if it is something we want to continue.

/by

Nurturing Sangha Over Dinner

Nurturing Sangha Over Dinner meets informally at six o’clock on the second Thursday of the month, before the regular dharma talk and sit. Please bring your dinner and something extra to share, if you would like. We can continue to get to know one another and talk more about how SIM can support us in our practice. We’ll try this out for a few months and see if it is something we want to continue.

/by

SDC Anniversary Celebration Nov 10th

We closed escrow on the wonderful property on Wissemann Drive on June 13, 2016. The site was ready for occupancy by the three sustaining Sanghas in the fall. On 11/6/2016 the three sustaining Sanghas joined together to dedicate the Center as a sanctuary for Buddha’s teaching and meditation practice. Now it’s 2018 and time to celebrate so please stop by the SDC on Saturday,  –

https://sacdharma.org/event/sdc-anniversary-celebration/

/by

*Sit & Dharma Talk – Rich Howard – Four Elements, Suffering, End of Suffering

Four Elements, Suffering, and the End of Suffering
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Rich Howard

Fire, water, earth, and air have all been conditions for suffering of humans and other beings in 2018. They have also been the basis of inspiring compassionate actions. Let us take time this evening to reflect on the role of the Four Elements in our lives and how we might use them to find a middle way toward the end of suffering.

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.

/by

*Sit & Dharma Talk – Dennis Warren – Working With Doubt

Investigation Leading to Liberating Insight – A Practical Model For Working With Doubt
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

How can doubt based experiences be investigated in a way that leads to liberating insight? This is one of the fundamental skills of a good practice. This evening will be devoted to examining a practical, experiential and hands-on model of working with doubt.
While doubt can appear in many different places in our practice and our life, it usually acts as an undermining factor in our confidence, decision making and behavior. What is doubt? What is its experiential origin? What causes it to be present? What causes it to diminish and no longer be present? What can we do to work with it skillfully while it is present? A helpful handout of the model will be used as the outline for the evening.
As preparation for this evening, reflect on how doubt has influenced your experience and decision making in the last year, and come prepared with questions you have regarding your experiences.

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.

/by