*Sit & Dharma Talk – Meg Gawler – Conditions that give rise to Liberation

Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Meg Gawler

The Buddha’s Teaching on the Conditions that give rise to Liberation

Meg Gawler began practicing Buddhism in 1968 as a disciple of the Zen Master, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, including over three years of monastic training. She earned a Master’s in Applied Ecology, moved to Europe, pursued an international career in nature conservation and human development, and began practicing in the Theravāda tradition. She has trained with Gil Fronsdal, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, and others. Authorized as a Dharma teacher by Jack Kornfield and then by Gil Fronsdal, Meg teaches retreats in both English and French in Switzerland, and serves as a guest teacher at the Insight Meditation Center and elsewhere. Meg also holds a Master’s in Buddhist Studies, specializing in early Theravāda studies. In addition, she teaches Radiant Heart Qigong in the tradition of Teja Bell.

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.

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*Daylong Retreat with SIM Community Teacher Rich Howard

Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Gratitude

Daylong Retreat with SIM Community Teacher Rich Howard

“Gratitude is thankfulness taken to the next level” says Betsy Henry, aka Zen Mama. In this day combining silent practice with group discussion, we will begin and end by cultivating gratitude in the context of our awareness practice. In between, we will use guided meditations developed by Dennis Warren to move through forgiveness for ourselves and others. This practice allows us to be fully human and to let go of old holding patterns. We may even find a way to be grateful for past hurts.

Please bring your lunch and dress in layers for outside walking.

Rich HowardRICH HOWARD has been an active practitioner and volunteer at SIM since 2004. His area of interest is bringing meditative awareness into everyday life. He participated in SIM’s 2007 India Pilgrimage and is a graduate of SIM’s second Practice Development and Leadership (PDL) program. He served on the Board from 2010 until 2015, the last two years as president. He was one of the SIM representatives to the Inter-Sangha Coordinating Committee, predecessor to the Sacramento Dharma Center Board, which now runs our shared space for Buddhist sanghas in Sacramento. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in southern Africa in the 1970s and is fluent in Spanish. His teachers are Dennis Warren, Tony Bernhard, and Steve Armstrong. Rich completed online courses with Steve on the Abhidhamma (the Buddhist psychology) and the Manual of Insight. He took Gil Fronsdal’s online course on the Majjhima Nikaya (Middle-length Discourses of the Buddha). His interest in the environment led him to the One Small Planet training with Kerry Nelson and the Ecosattva training with One Earth Sangha. In 2018, he completed a 10-month Dhamma Awareness Training with Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters called Touching the Earth. He is currently enrolled in Meg Gawler’s 8-month course Preparing the Ground for Samadhi.

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.

Summary of Important Dates

  • 10/19/2018 – Registration opens.
  • 11/23/2018 – Registration via this website closed at 6:30 pm.
  • 11/24/2018 – Attend and enjoy the wonderful retreat.

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. It’s not necessary to Log in before purchasing and you won’t need to print the ticket on paper. On the left side, specify the number of people you are registering to this course. On the right side, click the button “Buy now” and you’ll be automatically directed to a secure webpage 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. Day-of registration will be on a first-come first-serve basis, contingent on availability of space.

Before registering to this event, click here to review the terms of use for this website.

Volunteer Opportunities

It “takes a village” to put on a large event for our community. If you would be available to assist in set-up, take-down, tea service, providing flowers or other duties for the event, please contact the retreat registrar for more information..

Questions for the Registrar?

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

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*Daylong Retreat with SIM Community Teacher Diane Wilde

Be A Lamp Unto Yourselves
Daylong Retreat with SIM Community Teacher Diane Wilde

“Be a lamp unto yourselves” were the last words the Buddha uttered to his grieving disciples as he achieved paranibbana, or complete liberation. He left no heirs — no recommended teachers, but rather advised those gathered around him to depend on the Dhamma itself.

Because of this last teaching, practitioners read, study, attend retreats, come to regular weekly sittings and attempt to understand the Dharma in order to cultivate that inner, wise compassionate teacher. We hope that our “inner-teacher” is the one who always takes the right action, in thought word and deed. And yet, for most of us, we continually question ourselves, our practice and our motives. Today we will have a conversation about becoming our own teacher, and methods for assessing how we are doing and how to begin trusting ourselves and our practice… no matter where we are on the path.

Please bring your lunch.

Diane WildeDIANE WILDE has studied meditation in various traditions since 1990. In 2001 she was a founding member of Sacramento Insight Meditation. She founded Buddhist Pathways Prison Project (BP3) in 2010. Since 2003, she has been a BP3 prison chaplain and aids in coordination of 75 volunteers who offer Buddhist services at numerous California prisons and jails. She is a graduate of Sati Center’s Buddhist Chaplaincy program and graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Community Dharma Leadership Training Program. She is a board member of Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, Sacramento Dharma Center, Buddhist Pathways Prison Project and California Dept. of Corrections Volunteer Advisory Board. In 2015 she was lay-ordained as a Buddhist minister by her teacher Gil Fronsdal.

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.

Summary of Important Dates

  • 08/29/2018 – Registration opens.
  • 10/26/2018 – Registration via this website closed at 8:00 pm. You may register in person the morning of the event.
  • 10/27/2018 – Attend and enjoy the wonderful retreat.

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. It’s not necessary to Log in before purchasing and you won’t need to print the ticket on paper. On the left side, specify the number of people you are registering to this course. On the right side, click the button “Buy now” and you’ll be automatically directed to a secure webpage 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. Day-of registration will be on a first-come first-serve basis, contingent on availability of space.

Before registering to this event, click here to review the terms of use for this website.

Volunteer Opportunities

It “takes a village” to put on a large event for our community. If you would be available to assist in set-up, take-down, tea service, providing flowers or other duties for the event, please contact the retreat registrar for more information..

Questions for the Registrar?

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

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08/25/2018 “The Art & Science of Letting It Be” with Ayya Santacitta and Diane Wilde

Daylong Retreat with Ayya Santacitta and Rev. Diane Wilde; Four audio files:

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

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

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

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

Grasping is not something done by the self, but rather the self is something created by grasping.
“What” are we letting be? What does it mean when we just let things be? Do we accept without concern the state of the world, cruelty, climate change, misogyny, racism, etc? Perhaps we are more precise when we say “letting it be” means not adding onto the already cumbersome, suffering self-identity that we carry around.
Today’s daylong will address the issues that present themselves when we practice “letting it be”, along with periods of meditation and mindful movement.

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08/23/2018 “Abiding Independent” with Rich Howard

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

The Satipattahana Sutta (the Discourse on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness) is at the center of our practice of meditation in the Vipassana (Insight) tradition. The refrain of the Sutta includes this phrase: the practictioner “abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world.” Other suttas use “knowledge independent of others” as a sign of a mature practice and of right view. Yet we understand from the teaching on dependent origination that all phenomena are dependent on causes and conditions, that “no thing” exists on its own. This evening we will explore the idea of “abiding independent” as an inspiration for practice and study of the dhamma.

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Morning Meditation with Terri Townsend

Morning Meditation with Terri Townsend

All are welcome to this open sitting for anyone interested in starting their morning out by sitting with others. The session involves a 40-45 minute sitting, a limited about of meditation guidance, and a few comments at the end of the sitting to set a theme for moving into the world and your daily activities.

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Morning Meditation with Rich Howard

Morning Meditation with Rich Howard

All are welcome to this open sitting for anyone interested in starting their morning out by sitting with others. The session involves a 40-45 minute sitting, a limited about of meditation guidance, and a few comments at the end of the sitting to set a theme for moving into the world and your daily activities.

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Morning Meditation with Michael Paddy

Morning Meditation with Rich Howard

All are welcome to this open sitting for anyone interested in starting their morning out by sitting with others. The session involves a 40-45 minute sitting, a limited about of meditation guidance, and a few comments at the end of the sitting to set a theme for moving into the world and your daily activities.

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08/16/2018 “Taking Refuge … in the sangha” with Diane Wilde

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

As Buddhist practitioners, we take refuge in the Buddha (and our own potential for Buddhahood), the Dharma (how life unfolds) and the sangha, (a supportive community of practitioners.) On this evening we take a closer look at sangha.
There are activities going on “behind the scenes” at SIM that you most likely don’t know about, as well as other supportive programs which will be offered in the future. We will also discuss what YOU would like to see offered at YOUR sangha.
Cookies and other treats were featured during the break.

The entire talk was very interesting and because it relates to our Sangha, we have also posted this talk to the SIM “News” blog. Some highlights of Sangha members who contributed to the discussion are summarized below noting the audio time marker, name, and discussion topic. This is not a comprehensive list. Listen to the entire talk so you won’t miss out on anything of interest to you.

  • 10:28 Margaret (house on fire)
  • 20:22 Robin (dharma hikers)
  • 31:13 Tom (Friday morning sits)
  • 31:44 Teri (book club)
  • 38:43 Jith (Family Sangha) 
  • 45:12 Sara/Bob (building landscaping)
  • 47:31 Mary (St. John’s Shelter)
  • 49:42 Barb (Alter design)
  • 51:12 Michael (Alter design)
  • 57:52 Jim (Climate Sanhga)
  • 1:00:39 Rich (Wednesday morning sits)
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08/09/2018 “Present Moment” with Diane Wilde

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

What’s so great about the present moment anyway?
“Be mindful.” “Stay in the present.” “Bare attention.” We’ve all heard one of these phrases. And if you’re more experienced in insight practice, these may be the watchwords that chime in the back of consciousness from morning till night, reminding you that everything genuine in the spiritual path is to be found in the now. So, if this is such an important practice, why is it so hard to stay present and what’s so great about it anyhow? We’ll discuss the reasons for staying present according to Buddhist teachings, and offer some practical techniques for staying present that you will find helpful.

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