After splurging on Black Friday then supporting the community on Small Business Saturday then losing it on Cyber Monday -- after swearing off consumer capitalism -- we arrive at GivingTuesday, a chance to make up for our egocentric lobha ("greedy, passionate, self-seeking" tendencies) and do something in the other direction: letting go. It's good to share, to give, to benefit others. It's enlightened self-interest because helping others -- particularly in terms of promoting the Truth (the Awakened One's Dharma or Doctrine of Liberation, the Path to Complete Freedom from all Suffering, the Dharma-dana) is the greatest giving.
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Keep Wisdom Quarterly and Dharma Buddhist Meditation (threeMeetups) going. Find a way to give. The best way is with a message of encouragement or volunteering or sending in a story or event idea. Monetary help also helps but is harder to give. Remember what the Buddha taught: It's good to give, give with our own hands, give with a mind/heart of generosity (letting go), knowing that karma (deeds leading to results) is real, with clear intention to benefit others, ourselves, and the larger community of living beings.
We're meditating outdoors with old local Park Ranger Tod (trained in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center) in a hidden corner of nature. Mindful walking and gently guided meditation with opportunity to share at Kiwanis Grand Avenue Park, next to Pasadena. Bring a chair, shawl, cushion and an open spirit to sit with a good community nestled, in LA's Foothills. FREE, no donations.
"Poor Jennifer!" It's nicer to meditate in a group than to work. But video conferencing can go wrong. Jen Miles had to use the bathroom on a Zoom conference call. She filmed herself as she pulled down her pants and went at it. Epic fail.
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ZOOM MEDITATION: American Buddhist nun and bestselling author Pema Chodron is the core of Shambhala, so on Sundays we sit with the L.A. group.
What? Short sits of tranquility meditation. This alternates with a gong that signals mindful walking. At 11:00 am we read and discuss Pema's newest book, Welcoming the Unwelcome. Free/by donation. Beginners welcome. Instruction available. Drop in for any part of it, and leave whenever. RSVP.
All eight aspects of yoga work together to effect the nervous system. Mindful movement using yoga poses help us settle down for sitting meditation by energizing and activating the body where it's at and guiding the system toward calm. We'll use open awareness practices to support concentration, collecting attention, directing it toward the expansive field of experience. Addie deHilster, the owner of Spiral Path Yoga Center, leads us in calming poses, Q&A, mindful and loving meditations. Bring a towel or yoga mat and water. Refreshments. Free/by donation.
Bring a loved one or meet someone new at Dharma Buddhist Meditation: Feb. 13, 2020
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I'm feeling worldly energies.
Planet Dharma teacher Catherine Pawasarat shares experiences, case studies, and methodologies from living in conscious community in several international cultures.
Money, Sex, Power
Three energies profoundly affect each of us. Even if we try to minimize their presence in our lives, they are active forces in the world all around us.
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Let's live it up then find enlightenment.
So how can we integrate them so that they’re showing up for us in a healthy way, particularly in our relationships?
How can we make sure we're not repressing parts of our lives we’re uncomfortable with, only to have them blindside us at inopportune times (like our shadow inevitably does)?
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Extreme Spiritual Sports: Awaken in this Life
Catherine Pawasarat Sensei
Are you drawn to intensity and living life to its fullest? The spiritual equivalent is awakening in this very life. Why not? It's possible and accessible to those with the heart and drive to make it happen.
Doug and Catherine share the spiritual landscape: which kind of teachings focus on awakening in this lifetime, what it takes, what other options are there? If it's “Awake or Bust,” this is for you. RSVP:
Doug and Catherine are longtime Dharma and meditation teachers, founders of Clear Sky Meditation Centre near Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, and lineage holders in this teaching.
AchariyaDoug Duncan received lay-ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 1978. Known for his direct, humorous, and compassionate engagement with students, Doug embraces various streams of Buddhism and other wisdom traditions, contemporary psychology, and science which enables him to mentor all beings to a more awakened state. He's renowned for his connection to Zen mind and his understanding of consciousness.
Catherine Pawasarat Sensei started her spiritual path with metaphysics and the ayahuasca sacrament. She has subsequently trained daily with Acariya Duncan since 1998 in an intensive spiritual apprenticeship that's rare in the modern West. She received lay-ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 2003. She gets juiced finding ways to apply Buddhist philosophy and practices to modern daily life, work, and relationships. She's spearheaded Clear Sky's ecological restoration initiative and is an expert in traditional Japanese culture.
Finding Peace in a F*#@ed Up World? How do we find peace in a F*#@ed up World? And how do we make the world better? To find more inner and outer peace, it’s vital to properly align our worldly engagements, transforming our daily activities into a spiritual practice. Public talk at the LA Conscious Life Expo. More Money, Sex, and Power: Making Them Conscious Money, Sex, and Power: three energies, largely unconscious, that affect us profoundly. How do we make them conscious? More
(Sounds True) Introduced by Tami Simon. Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh) offers practical teachings on how to bring love and mindful awareness into daily life. Kind, purposeful, and illuminating, here is a treasure of traditional teachings to unify meditation practice and life challenges (artofmindfulliving).
Letting go of our cages gives us freedom.
"Mindfulness is the opposite of forgetfulness." Come into the present with the breath. Awareness is enlightenment. These are simple teachings from Vietnamese Zen Master Thay.
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a great friend in this Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh -- "Thay" as he is lovingly called at Deer Park Monastery in Southern California.
MLK Jr. nominated Thay for the same honor. They were unified by peace turning their back on war and any government that promotes aggression, which is condemned by both religions, activist Christianity and Engaged Buddhism. What is Thay's style of Zen and practice? Vegan snacks. FREE/by donation. RSVP:
What is the way of Zen? It is having no heroes and no teachers, no authorities and no goal.
It is the art of just being. We are human beings, after all, not human-doings. Spiritual Entertainer/Zen Master Alan Watts pointed out the way, and all the old great storytellers pointed at the Way.
What if we were to say to our monkey mind, "Circle...O, Zen empty spot, there is nothing you are and nothing you are not." For all there is in the end is suchness.
Many Zen stories are humorous because of unexpected twists that reveal our assumptions. Koans (paradoxical riddles) can get us out of our habitual ways of thinking. This free/by donation DMI session has stories, meditation, and Japanese-style vegan refreshments. RSVP
It is the Mexican/Native American DAY OF THE DEAD celebration, when the veil between the Planes of Existence in Buddhist cosmology is thinnest, when the "Realm ofHungry Ghosts" spills over, when the deceased visit relatives and their former lives.
It is also an opportunity to acknowledge our most unsavory qualities, the ones we hide most of the year. Transparency is better. No skeleton can stay hidden. Special remembrance meditation. Bring vegan snacks/drinks to share. Wear a sexy or scary costume (maybe a face mask from the 99 cent store).
We'll serve hot cocoa (chocolatl), sweet chocolate, cookies, candies, desserts, and savory plant-based TACO dishes. Hugs (optional). All welcome. FREE/by donation.
A lama is a Tibetan monk who trains in a lamasery, but what is a "Dalai" lama?
Who is the 14th pope/priest-king of the Yellow Hat school of Vajrayana Buddhism?
We'll get to know his story, his function, the issue he has with China -- which invaded and still occupies the Tibetan Plateau behind Mt. Everest -- and his strange alliance with Washington, DC.
There's a reason we as Americans hear so much about him. He is beloved, and his books are very popular, but he has his detractors even inside of Buddhism.
Moreover, as a reincarnation of Chenrezig Bodhisattva, what form of meditation or practice does he suggest? FREE/RSVP
As fall arrives it's time to celebrate the autumnal equinox. Free/donation-based Buddhist meditation returns to Pasadena. Sessions are now held at the former SRF temple in the Ahiah Center for Spiritual Living. Short talk is followed by serenity meditation and the development of loving-kindness. Wear something comfortable, come as you are. Free parking. Enter gated courtyard from lot in rear. Celebrate our new Pasadena location with us. Hugs (optional), vegan snacks and refreshments.More
Ananda once said to the Buddha, "I think good friendship is half the spiritual life." The Buddha responded strongly, "Do not say so, Ananda, do not say so! Good friendship is the whole of the spiritual life!" The good friend (kalyana mitta) is helpful in many ways, from locating the path to awakening to encouraging one to supporting our efforts. Neuroscientist Dr. Robert Lustig emphasizes the need for actual human "connection" (not virtual and inflated delusions via social media). Dharma Meditation Initiative (Los Angeles) will gather in the spirit of both and support each other on the path. Vegan refreshments served. FREERSVP
We have our senses, and we have pleasure, and we have lust, and so long as we maintain the basic Five Precepts, what about...sex?
What does the Buddha have to say about that? Look at all of the attractive people sitting here. Is Jen the only one thinking about sex? FREE. Vegan refreshments served.
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