Dear sangha,

Don’t forget that tomorrow is the first Sunday of the month, so we’ll be sitting from 2:30-6:30 at UU in the sanctuary. Please join us for any portion of that you can!
Joy and Fleda

I just got this in the mail and thought some of you who are practicing Vipassana might be interested:

Dear Buddhist Community,

 Registration is now open for the Yellow Springs Dharma Center’s seven day Vipassana retreat with Rebecca Bradshaw from the Insight Meditation Society.  Retreat dates are May 3-10, 2019.  Rebecca will be assisted by Candace Cassin and Robert Pryor, both experienced practitioners and teachers.  The retreat will take place at the Jesuit Spiritual Center in Milford, Ohio (just north of Cincinnati).  We will also be offering a weekend option from May 3-5.  We hope you can share this information with your community, as it is an opportunity to sit with a well-known and respected teacher here in the Midwest.  This retreat is suitable for both beginners and experienced meditators.

 We are attaching our registration packet.  For any questions or additional information, please contact us at vipassana@ysdharma.org.  Also, please visit us at http://www.ysdharma.org/.

Dear Sangha,
Joy will be leading the four-hour, first Sunday of the month, sitting at UU this Sunday, 2:30-6:30. Please join her for whatever time you can, to support your sangha and to support your practice.
Fleda

Dear all,
There will be no four-hour sitting this Sunday at UU. See you next week for the regular sitting and discussion.
Joy

Dear Sangha,
If you’re looking for additional opportunities to practice, you may be interested in what’s going on in the local SokokoJi Buddhist community. Even if this isn’t your preferred form of practice, you might like to meet other TC meditators.

Check out their website, sokukojitc.org for new and local possibilities.

Dear sangha,
This is just a reminder that this coming Sunday is the four-hour open sitting. You may come and go as you can. This is such a valuable time–a place and companions to practice with. Come support others plus yourself.
Led by Joy on these First Sundays

Dear ones,
We are cancelling UU meditation tomorrow. Our tradition has been that if the church itself is cancelled, we also cancel evening meditation. However, you can join us by sitting at home from 5-6, if you’re able.
Love,
Fleda

Dear ones,
Hard to believe, but we may need to cancel meditation at UU on Sunday night because of a snowstorm. Let’s see, it’s mid-April, right? Check here before noon on Sunday. I’ll check with Janet to see what it looks like to her and I’ll post.
Love,
Fleda

Dear sangha,
The group at UU on Sunday nights is studying Stepping Out of Self Deception, by Rodney Smith.  Smith in the first chapter talks a lot about patience. He says that “anticipation is actually counterproductive to the practice because by waiting to be fulfilled in the future, we drift away from what is immediately present.”

He goes on later to say, “The most important understanding for a lay Buddhist is the immediate availability of awakening. Awakening need not arrive after a long, protracted practice history unless we believe this is necessary. We deliberately delay our readiness because we are divided about what we really want. We practice until we are tired of preparing for what has always existed here and now, then we become quiet and surrender.”

You’d think that would be easy.

Join the group next Sunday to continue the conversation.

And–since I’ll be gone next week, I’ll mention this now–remember that on the first Sunday of every month, (April 1 this time) there is a four-hour block sitting–a perfect opportunity to sit with no interruption for as long as you can.
Love,
Fleda

Dear sangha,

The group at UU is going strong. Last Sunday was the four-hour block sitting.  A number of people came and went during that time. Coming up this Sunday, the discussion continues from Stepping Out of Self-deception, by Rodney Smith. Next week will begin page 7.

As you know, this is a very slow reading, passing a book around, if necessary, so that there’s plenty of time for reflecting, discussing, questioning.

Here’s a quotation (edited) from the first chapter that explains how the author will be approaching the practice:
“If we are looking for peace of mind, we will assume that our intruding thoughts are in opposition to the tranquility we seek, and we will look for peace in a mind that’s free from thinking. But if your destination is to understand what the mind is and who we are within it, then we will want to observe the nature of thought, what it is, and how it drives us.”

Please join the group on Sunday night from 5-7. You’ll be a welcome addition.
Love,
Fleda