Journeys – A Humble Road to the Noble Truths in India and Nepal – NYTimes.com

During eight days over New Year’s, my partner, Julia, and I traveled by bus, rickshaw and foot to the four original points of the pilgrimage route, places declared sacred by the Buddha himself: where he was born; where he was enlightened; where he gave his first sermon; and where he died.
via Journeys – A Humble [...]

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Fall Retreat

For those of you who missed the spring retreat, we have our fall retreat scheduled for Halloween weekend at Penuel Ridge Retreat Center, October 30 – November 1. If you’re interested, be sure to mark your calendar. This retreat will be led by Tom Neilson and Lisa Ernst. Perhaps a Halloween theme of “dancing with [...]

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Reading for June 1

This week’s reading is from Ajahn Sumedho:
When one talks about dukkha [suffering], the first noble truth, one is not talking abstractly about dukkha out there, that exists as some sort of nameless thing. I am talking about that very feeling in one, in here [points to himself], that does not feel quite happy or feels [...]

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Monday Meditation, Retreat Recap

For those who have asked, yes, we will be meeting for meditation this Monday, Memorial Day. We will have an abbreviated sit and discussion, starting at 7 p.m. and completing at 8 p.m. Please join us if you can!
We completed our Spring Mediation Retreat at Penuel Ridge last Sunday morning and it turned out to [...]

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Practice Opportunities This Week

Our Yahoo newsgroup is not functioning properly and this post is to confirm this week’s practice opportunities. We will have our regular Monday night meditation tonight at 7, as well as our Thursday practice night starting at 6:30. Our Saturday study group meets on May 23 at 10 a.m. with a continuation of Pema Chodron’s [...]

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Retreat Opportunity

This is information about a meditation and yoga retreat at Southern Dharma Retreat Center near Asheville, NC.  I go to this retreat regularly and have been to retreats with these teachers ten times.  I highly recommend it and would like to pass this information on to the rest of the sangha.   –Tom

Jeff Collins & [...]

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Reading for May 18

Enlightenment
Joan Sutherland
(1997)
So what is your enlightenment? it is the place you came from when you were born and it is the place you will return when you die. It is home. The particular wave that is you rises and falls for such a brief moment from that great ocean of essential nature, and that wave [...]

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Opportunities this week

Thursday Practice Night happens this week, May 7, from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. We meditate for 40 minutes with a bell at 20 minutes for those who wish to stretch their legs. We then chant and have a 15 minute open discussion about practice. This session is appropriate for people with all levels of meditation [...]

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Reading for May 11

Discovering Our Nobility: A Psychology of Original Goodness
By Jack Kornfield
Prominent Buddhist teacher and psychologist Jack Kornfield proposes a new psychology, one based not on a model of sickness but on Buddhism’s belief in the inherent nobility, beauty, and freedom of human nature.
O Nobly Born, O you of glorious origins, remember your radiant true nature, the [...]

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Reading for May 4

“I am not one’s servant.” So said the Buddha. “With what I have gained I wander about in all the world, without being subservient to anyone: therefore, if thou like, rain, O sky!”
– adapted from the Sutta-nipata translated by V. Fausboll

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