Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor, Rich Howard

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The Greatest Blessing: Reflecting on the Maha-Mangala Sutta

Seeing things as they are requires opening both to life’s pain and to life’s gifts. For his first presentation in our new home at Sacramento Dharma Center this Thursday, Rich will bring reflections on the blessings listed in the Maha-Mangala Sutta. This beloved sutta reminds us that our ordinary lives contain so many sources of happiness, many of which we may overlook. Bringing awareness to these blessings provides a balance to our daily life practice and and a motivation for skillful action in the world.

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Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor, Diane Wilde

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From Chaos to Opportunity and Reflections by Leonard Cohen

Chaos is a time of upheaval and confusion… not exactly a fun state of mind for the individual or society.  The reality of the Buddha’s profound teaching on impermanence is brought clearly into view when the ground we stand on is no longer stable.   Yet this is also a time which offers a unique opportunity to mindfully adjust how we think, act and speak due to our suddenly shifted reality.  Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet and song-writer who died November 7, 2016, delved into the chaos of his own life as well as society, through his unique artistic expression. His genius was ultimately embracing it all.  Here we’ll discuss chaos and  opportunity along with some reflections by Leonard Cohen.

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Day-long with SIM Community Mentor, Diane Wilde

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Gratitude: the easiest practice of all!

Gratitude is the sweetest of all the practices for living the dharma in daily life and the most easily cultivated, requiring the least effort for what is gained in return. It is a very powerful form of mindfulness practice, particularly for those who habitually look for what is wrong in a situation or person.  We will investigate the causes and conditions that cause gratitude and gratitude’s healing qualities.

We will start the day with gentle mindful movement, with periods of sitting and walking leaving time for discussion.

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Thanksgiving — no SIM events

No SIM events

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Introduction to Meditation with SIM Founding Teacher, Dennis Warren

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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.

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Sit & Dharma Talk, with SIM Founding Teacher, Dennis Warren

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CHANGE AND KARMA

What is the relationship between the constant element of change in our lives and what is called “Karma” in Buddhist practice? These two realities can act as powerful resources for understanding Buddhist psychology; informing our meditation practice; and helping us live more satisfying and meaningful lives. How does the Buddhist understanding of these issues differ from that of other spiritual traditions?

This evening with SIM’s Founding Teacher, Dennis Warren, will explore these topics from both a short and long term perspective. As background for this evening, you may find it helpful to review Dennis’  presentation from Oct 20, 2016 on the nature of change.

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Sit & Community Discussion, led by SIM Community Mentor, Diane Wilde

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Diane will give an overview on Right Speech and Skillful Listening and then invite the community to share what they found out about themselves and others with the home practice exercises offered at the 11-3-16 meeting.
If you are one of the sangha members who resist talking to a group, please investigate your own response.  This is a great area of practice!  Consider that an entire community benefits from the shared experiences of all who are following the Buddha’s path to freedom.
Coming together as a community to share topics that are normally not discussed in “ordinary” society is one of the gifts of sangha and spiritual friends.  Please take part!
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Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor, Diane Wilde

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Friendship… the friend we are to others and the friendships we cultivate

Our new home and the first SIM Dharma sitting practice and discussion at the Sacramento Dharma Center is a wonderful opportunity to look at friendship in this new, expansive and beautiful venue… our new home. What kind of friends do we cultivate? What kind of friend are we to others? What hinders us from being a friend and why do some of us shy away from developing friendships? What can we learn from those whom we consider “difficult”? With three sanghas coming together in our shared space, it is a timely topic.

All of us who practice and study the Buddha’s teachings at the Sacramento Dharma Center will all be asked to help and support our new home. This is a wonderful opportunity to deepen old friendships and cultivate new ones. The Buddha offered wise and compassionate advise which couldn’t be more relevant then right now.

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Day-long with Visiting Teacher, Heather Sundberg

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Topic:  Equanimity: Freedom from Hope & Fear

** This is daylong one of two, which can be attended separately or together. The second daylong is scheduled for November 19th, hosted by SBMG.

“How do I respond wisely to the changing conditions of my life and the world?

“How do I find Equanimity in the middle of hoping things will be OK & fearing they won’t be OK?”

Equanimity is the Balance of the Non-Reactive mind & heart, grounded in Wisdom, which supports a deep Caring and leads to an Appropriate Response. The quality of Equanimity allows us to be less reactive, more compassionate and wise in the face of the underlying conditioned patterns of Hope & Fear. In this daylong we will identify and investigate these underlying patterns, how they manifest in our minds/lives, and examine what it means to have a heart open in the midst of all things. Teachings and practices will focus on developing the qualities of embodied groundedness, spaciousness, mindfulness, equanimity, and lovingkindness.

Enjoy a day of quiet sitting and walking meditation, which allow our minds to settle down, and our hearts to open to an inner wisdom. In addition to insight meditation practice, Heather will guide Equanimity Practices through sitting meditation, somatic practices to help settle and discharge reactivity, teachings, simple movement practice and plenty of discussion about how to live with increasing wisdom based on the teachings.

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 almost 20 years. Between 2010- 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 also teaches nationally, especially at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. For more information about Heather visit heathersundberg.com or www.mtstream.org.  

Dana (donation) 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.

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Introduction to Meditation with Long-time SIM Community Member, Laura Rosenthal

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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.

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