Beginning Meditation Class (6 Week Course) starts 9/18

This class is part of a six week meditation course offered twice a year. Classes meet Tuesday evenings, September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16, 23, with a daylong retreat Saturday, October 13, 2018 and details for this event are posted on the Course Overview page.

Registration Details

Walk-in registrations are not available since the course registrar provides follow-up information required prior to this first class meeting.

Before making the $35 registration payment, click here to review the terms of use for this website. Note that all registrants will receive an email communication from the course registrar on the following dates: Jun 18, Aug 6, Sep 3.

Pay Now

Use the “Tickets” section at the bottom of this page to pay the registration fee now.  Tickets will be available on Thursday, May 3, 2018 when the course online registration opens. 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.

If there are no tickets available, the course is full but you can still add your name to the waitlist (click here).

Pay Later

If you are not prepared to pay the registration fee online, please contact the course registrar and request your name be added to the class roster. At your earliest convenience

  1. Write a check payable to “SIM” and note in the check memo “Reg Fee – BMC“.  The amount is $35 per person.
  2. If the name of the person(s) registering differs from the name(s) on the check, please include a note indicating whose registration fee the check covers.
  3. Mail the check to
      Sacramento Insight Meditation
      c/o SDC
      3111 Wissemann Dr.
      Sacramento, CA 95826

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04/19/2018 “The Destruction of Craving” with Walt Opie

This talk topic is based on Chapter 24 on Craving in The Dhammapada.

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

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Introduction to Meditation with SIM Community Mentor, Rich Howard

This 45-minute course is suitable for beginners or anyone who would like a refresher. It is offered on the fourth Thursday of every month before the regular sitting and dharma talk. There is no fee.

RICH 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. The pilgrimage and the PDL program led to an interest in establishing the SIM Kalyana Mitta (Pali for spiritual friends) groups. He coordinated SIM’s network of Kalyana Mitta groups until he joined the SIM Board in 2010. 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. He is a past president of the SIM Board. His teachers are Dennis Warren and Steve Armstrong.

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.

At the bottom of this page, you may enter the number of people planning to attend and select the button “Confirm RSVP“.
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Introduction to Meditation with SIM Community Mentor, Diane Wilde

This 45-minute course is suitable for beginners or anyone who would like a refresher. It is offered on the fourth Thursday of every month before the regular sitting and dharma talk. There is no fee.

DIANE 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.

At the bottom of this page, you may enter the number of people planning to attend and select the button “Confirm RSVP“.
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Introduction to Meditation with SIM Community Mentor, Diane Wilde

This 45-minute course is suitable for beginners or anyone who would like a refresher. It is offered on the fourth Thursday of every month before the regular sitting and dharma talk. There is no fee.

DIANE 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.

At the bottom of this page, you may enter the number of people planning to attend and select the button “Confirm RSVP“.
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Introduction to Meditation with SIM Community Mentor, Diane Wilde

This 45-minute course is suitable for beginners or anyone who would like a refresher. It is offered on the fourth Thursday of every month before the regular sitting and dharma talk. There is no fee.

DIANE 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.

At the bottom of this page, you may enter the number of people planning to attend and select the button “Confirm RSVP“.
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Community Discussion Evening – Diane Wilde

Stress due to the state of the world and maintaining ease: Strategies

This Community Discussion Evening will be facilitated by SIM Community Mentor Diane Wilde

Our nation has never been more divided. Fear of the future, anger and confusion over a variety of issues including immigration, climate change, economic and racial inequality — often obliterate our personal sense of ease. After our usual silent sitting practice, the community will discuss strategies for maintaining engagement in the world AND sustaining a sense of ease, happiness and compassion for all sentient beings. including those with whom we strongly disagree. Along with the Buddha’s teachings on this subject, we will share with each other how we can maintain a balanced lifestyle while maintaining our moral compass and cultivate happiness.

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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*Sit & Dharma Talk – Dennis Warren – “Investigation” in Insight Practice (part 3)

“Investigation” in Insight Practice – Part III
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

This evening will be the third in a series examining the purpose and nature of “Investigation” leading to Liberating Insight in meditation practice.
We’ll explore two handout charts as the jumping off point for the presentation and discussion. The first details the actual development stages in the process of Investigation. The second depicts the way that Investigation is a source of resilience in practice and is internally renewing – it sustains and supports itself and every other part of practice.
The evening will include, among other things, a discussion of the distinguishing characteristics of both cognitive and intuitive Insight, a look at the unique quality of effort involved in the investigative process, and an examination of a number of obstacles to investigation producing Insight.
If you have the time, you may want to revisit the two prior talks on June 21 and May 24 in the Audio Dharma section of SIM’s webpage  at  https://sactoinsight.org/category/audio-dharma/ .

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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Sit & Dharma Talk – Rich Howard – What I Learned on Retreat

Topic details to be announced.
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor Rich Howard

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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*Sit & Dharma Talk – Diane Wilde – Legend of Mass-Murderer Angulimala

The Legend of Mass-Murderer Angulimala … and lessons about negative karma
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor Diane Wilde

The redemption of the mass murderer Angulimala, is memorialized in the Pali Canon in Majjhima Nikaya 86. Angulimala’s brutality and his ultimate liberation has long been an inspiring story to Buddhist practitioners.  What is not known is the deeper meaning behind the legend and the various interpretations that have come down to us from both Buddhist and Hindu traditions.  While the acts committed by Angulimala caused unspeakable suffering for his victims and their families, a question which is often ignored is how did he contend with the karma resulting from all he had done?  How was he able to “start over” with a legacy of murder and cruelty? In our own lives, how do we contend with the harm we have caused, both in regards to ourselves and others?  How do we “clear” our own karma?  How do we respond to others who have harmed us? We will look at this legend from a variety of vantage points and how the legend of Angulimala has many lessons to teach.

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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