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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*Sit & Dharma Talk – Diane Wilde – Starting Over AGAIN

Starting Over AGAIN
No blame. No shame.  Let’s start again.
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor Diane Wilde

Frequently, we need to remind ourselves about this practice; what we are doing and why are we doing it.  It is so easy to slip into the stress and demands of everyday life, and put meditation and mindfulness WAY in the background… “When I have time.” By the time we get back to it, if we ever do, we may have lost our way.  Where should we start, AGAIN?  What do I need to do now?  Am I failure as a Buddhist practitioner?  Have my previous efforts been lost?

Tonight we will discuss the basics of this practice… the Three Trainings of virtuous behavior (sila), meditation or concentration (samadhi) and discernment or wisdom (panna), which make up the map that the Buddha encourages us to follow.  Whether we follow a linear path or determine an area which needs more attention, we are practicing mindfulness and meditation and we are starting over again.  The wonderful thing about the Dharma is when we focus on one aspect of the path, it automatically brings in the others.  Tonight, let’s start again.

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 – Heather Sundberg – Deep Refuge

Deep Refuge:  What does it really mean to be alright?
Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Senior Teacher, Heather Sundberg

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 – Reflections on old age, sickness, and death

Reflections on old age, sickness, and death
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor, Rich Howard

It is said that the historical Buddha started his journey to awakening after being shaken by encountering the “heavenly messengers” old age, sickness and death. He recommended reflecting on these life experiences often. We will take this evening to reflect on and discuss our relationship to these messengers and how they might enliven our practice.

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 – John Travis – Dependent Origination

Dependent Origination

 Sit & Dharma Talk with Senior Teacher, John Travis

Examining this core teaching of the historical Buddha. We’ll look, specifically, at how the past creates the present, and the present creates the future, in our daily lives. And we’ll focus on how a good hear, with clear thinking, creates a positive future.

JOHN TRAVIS is the founding teacher of Mountain Stream Meditation Center and a member of the Senior Teachers Council of Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He studied in Asia for many years with many of the Buddhist masters who have influenced a generation of American meditation teachers—Thubten Yeshe, Kalu Rinpoche, Anagarika Munidra, S.N. Goenka, and Traungpula. He has also trained with and received teaching authorization from Jack Kornfield.
John was a critical force in the early growth of the Sacramento meditation community through his regular presence, guidance, and teachings during the 1990s. His sound and thoughtful advice has been instrumental to the development of Sacramento Insight Meditation. He now teaches regularly in various meditation centers in the United States and overseas. His teachings are characterized by his kindness, compassion, the depth of his meditation experience, and his ability to see deeply into the minds and hearts of those with whom he is working.

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 – Walt Opie – The Destruction of Craving

The Destruction of Craving
Sit & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Walt Opie

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

WALT OPIE was first introduced to insight meditation in 1993 at Spirit Rock and began attending regular residential retreats in 2005. He is a graduate of both the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders’ (CDL4) training program and the Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy program. He has led sitting groups for people in recovery since 2011. Walt also serves as a volunteer chaplain with Buddhist Pathways Prison Project (BP3) at Solano state prison in Vacaville, CA. In addition, he is currently a trainee in the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) Teacher Training program based in Barre, MA.

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 – We are trained to fear each other, but not trained to hear each other

The topic of the talk is “We are trained to fear each other, but not trained to hear each other“ Pastor Les Simmons of Sacramento Congregations Together, commenting after the shooting of Stephon Clark LEARNING TO LISTEN
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor Diane Wilde

Perhaps now, more than ever, with societal polarization leaving us fearful and taking refuge in our “tribes” — those who think and look like us — we need to consciously develop the skill to listen. We will discuss the Buddha’s advise on how to do this. Anguttura Nikaya 5.202 is a deceptively simple, very short exhortation on how to skillfully listen to the Dharma. Yet its simple formula can easily be expanded beyond the few hours a week we come together to listen to a Dharma talk. This sutta also serves as a template on the skills we need to develop as we listen to other people — family and friends as well as strangers and people outside our ‘tribe’ — and perhaps most importantly, how we listen to our own hearts and our inner wisdom.

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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02/01/2018 “Refinement of the Mind” with Rich Howard

Sometimes we forget that this path of awareness has been described as a “gradual training.” We get impatient or expect our progress to look a certain way and are disappointed when it doesn’t turn out that way. Tonight we will discuss a discourse that likens the refinement of the mind to the purification of gold. The Pansadhovaka Sutta (Anguttara Nikaya 3:100 1-10) makes it clear that this is a gradual training with many steps. We will look at how these steps relate to our householder practice and offer reassurance (if we can avoid comparing mind!) to keep on practicing without expecting results.

Please read the introduction to Text VIII,4 on page 260 of “In the Buddha’s Words” (ed. Bhikkhu Bodhi) and the sutta on pages 273-275. You may find a different translation online at Access to Insight (Pansadhovaka Sutta: The Dirt-washer).
If you would like to download this talk, please right click and select “save as” here.

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01/25/2018 “Awareness, Insight & Liberation” with Steve Armstrong

Steve’s talk this evening with focus on the meditation instructions of Mahasi Sayadaw and Sayadaw U Tejaniya.

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

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01/18/2018 “Resolving Conflicting, Contradictory or Paradoxical Teachings” with Dennis Warren

It is easy to view our perception that one teaching conflicts with, contradicts or is paradoxical to another teaching as an obstacle to our understanding, insight and progress on the path of practice. This perception is frequently a mis-perception based on uncertainty, confusion and doubt. When properly understood, the skillful resolution of such misunderstandings act as a doorway, rather than an obstacles, to the next level, stage or dimension of practice.

This will be the first in a series of talks and discussions about fundamental issues that shape our understanding of the dharma and practice, and have practical, profound implications for our awakening. This evening will focus on the process, the how, of resolving uncertainty, confusion & doubt regarding teachings that seem to be in conflict, contradictory or paradoxical.

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

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