Meditation & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher Dennis Warren

For biographical details of the teacher Dennis Warren, click here.

* The teacher will present in-person at the Dharma Center.
Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or onsite at the Sacramento Dharma Center.

The Qualities That Reshape Daily Life & Lead to Buddhahood
The Paramis – A Special Three Month Series of Talks (March 14 – May 16, 2024)

The Paramis or “Perfections” are considered essential qualities of mind and heart that reshape our daily lives and lead to Buddhahood and awakening. The constitute a comprehensive path of practice which parallels and supports each of the practices of the Historical Buddha’s Eight-Fold Path.

The Paramis are: Ethics/Virtue, Generosity, Patience, Energy, Restraint/Renunciation, Resolve, Equanimity, Loving Kindness, Truthfulness and Wisdom.

SIM’s teachers will be presenting a 10-week series of coordinated talks exploring the Paramis and their application in practice and daily life. We invite you to this special opportunity to deepen your practice in community with others on Thursday evenings.

March 21                Generosity           Dennis Warren

Generosity: A Mirror, A Doorway, A Path
The Historical Buddha considered Generosity the first and foundational parami (or essential quality of mind & heart that leads to awakening.) While the possibilities for giving and sharing are endless, we frequently not only miss the opportunity to be generous, but fail even to see the opportunities.

This evening will explore Generosity as a practice of spiritual development, rather than isolated and disconnected acts of giving or sharing. It will examine a model of doing this where Generosity serves as a mirror, a doorway and a path moving from a sense of separation to connectedness and inter-relationship. It will include discussion of the Historical Buddha’s advice that we should be generous in the way we think, and by thinking, create the world we live in.

The subject matter of this evening will be appropriate for all stages of practice. You can attend in person or by ZOOM. Dennis will be presenting in person and encourages you to be there in person as well.

Offer a Teacher Donation

How to Attend Remotely

Join online meeting: https://zoom.us/join or join by phone at 1-669-900-6833
( Meeting ID: 820 8055 1704 and Passcode: 254668 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, click here to check this news blog.

Meditation & Dharma Talk with Visiting Teacher Rick Maddock

For biographical details of the teacher Rick Maddock, click here.

* The teacher will present in-person at the Dharma Center.
Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or onsite at the Sacramento Dharma Center.

Offer a Teacher Donation

How to Attend Remotely

Join online meeting: https://zoom.us/join or join by phone at 1-669-900-6833
( Meeting ID: 820 8055 1704 and Passcode: 254668 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, click here to check this news blog.

Meditation & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Teacher Rich Howard

For biographical details of the teacher Rich Howard, click here.

* The teacher will in-person at the Dharma Center.
Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or onsite at the Sacramento Dharma Center.

Three Truths and One Path
Community Teacher Rich Howard will combine Thursday 2/22 and Saturday 2/24 into an extended exploration of the four noble truths. You may attend either session or both. Rich will be in person for both.

In his latest book, “Noble Truths, Noble Path” (Wisdom Publications, 2023), American monk and translator Bhikkhu Bodhi describes the four noble truths as “the matrix of the teachings” and “not merely as one Buddhist doctrine among others, but more broadly as the implicit framework of the whole teaching.” The Thursday talk and discussion will address the first three Truths: 1) Dukkha (unsatisfactoriness/vulnerability/suffering), 2) the Cause of Dukkha (tanha, or craving/leaning in/turning away), and 3) the Cessation of Dukkha (nirodha, extinction, liberation). We will look at each Truth in detail, discuss how they are “ennobling,” and see how understanding them can be found in formal practice and daily life. This evening will lead us into the February 24 daylong retreat, where we will explore the fourth truth, the noble eightfold path, in both theory and practice.

Offer a Teacher Donation

How to Attend Remotely

Join online meeting: https://zoom.us/join or join by phone at 1-669-900-6833
( Meeting ID: 820 8055 1704 and Passcode: 254668 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, click here to check this news blog.

Meditation & Dharma Talk with SIM Legacy Project Teacher Walt Opie

For biographical details of the teacher Walt Opie, click here.

* The teacher will present in-person at the Dharma Center.
Hybrid events can be attended via Zoom or onsite at the Sacramento Dharma Center.

Cultivating Sympathetic Joy (& Gratitude) Despite Ourselves

The main person who gets in the way of allowing us to feel sympathetic joy (mudita in Pali) and gratitude is you know who. Often we compare ourselves to others and find we don’t measure up in some way. Envy and jealousy are the opposites of sympathetic joy. The Buddha encouraged us to challenge our assumptions and to cultivate this capacity to find joy in the good fortune of others. Ajahn Pasanno says, “Cutting through self-view is the Buddha’s unique contribution to spiritual practice. Mudita is antithetical to the self-view that we carry around with us and leads us to a place of boundless and immeasurable joy.”

Offer a Teacher Donation

How to Attend Remotely

Join online meeting: https://zoom.us/join or join by phone at 1-669-900-6833
( Meeting ID: 820 8055 1704 and Passcode: 254668 )
For tips and instructions to join the meeting, click here to check this news blog.