If you missed the August newsletter, here’s another chance to review it. We have a lot of offerings coming up including a new study group for experienced practitioners, two visiting teachers in September, and opportunities for connecting as a larger sangha. You can read the newsletter here.
This Dharma Thought is offered by Steve Allison-Bunnell with the Joining Rivers Sangha which meets Mondays at 7PM.
As I work with visitors in the STEAMlab at the Montana Science Center, parents will often look at me with combined incredulity and admiration and say, “You are so patient!” The implication is that the attention I gave their child takes a lot of effort and arises from some special talent. I appreciate the compliment, but I experience patience more as a natural fruit of the practice, rather than enforcing a particular discipline on myself. Meeting each kid where they are, being present for them as they struggle a bit, and finding joy in their success, all come from nurturing mindfulness in general. Patience arises from not being in a hurry, and when I have to ask another child to wait while I finish, they can do so because they see I will give them my attention when their turn comes. Do you find yourself being patient when it might seem hard? How might you slow down enough to discover patience with ease?
This Dharma Thought brought to you by Steve Allison-Bunnell of the Joining Rivers Sangha which meets Mondays at 7 PM.
A hike can be a great opportunity to visit with a companion or daydream. It can also be a wonderful walking meditation, easily experiencing presence and increasing our awareness of what is around us. Earlier this month hiking up New World Gulch, I enjoyed friendly silence with my spouse, spreading my attention throughout the forest. Without being able to identify them all, I noticed being surrounded by many birds, all calling back and forth. I began to see green huckleberries plumping on the bushes. This soft immersion, rather than hyper-vigilance (“Is there a bear there?!”) was rewarded when, almost back to the car, a motion in a tree turned out to be a pine marten. This was a first after over 25 years in Montana, and we all stood still, watching each other with curiosity. How do you nourish your immersion in the world around you? Where is your favorite place in nature to experience Interbeing?
This Dharma Thought is brought to you by the Tergar Bozeman: Joy of Living Practice Group which meets Wednesdays at 5:30 PM. This group is currently working with meditations using our senses.
Smells and tastes often go unnoticed in daily life. By bringing awareness to smells and tastes, however, you can transform boring daily routine- like cooking, eating or simply walking down the street or through your office building or home – into practices that calm and strengthen your mind.
Daily activities:
When you wake, form the intention to be mindful of your body, of sights, sounds, or whatever sense object you’ve chose for the day.
Remind yourself of this intention as often as you can?
Pick moments to remind yourself, place reminders like sticky notes around your home or office.
From time to time during the day, pause and rest your awareness on the sights, sounds, smells and feelings moving through your awareness.
Sitting:
Start by finding your meditation posture. Renew your motivation. Rest in open awareness. Leave all your sense doors open, don’t block any aspect of experience.
After a few minutes, rest your attention on an object in your visual field, or whatever sense you have chosen to use as support for your meditation.
You don’t need to change or alter your experience in any way, nor do you need to focus intensely or concentrate the mind. Simply know that you are (seeing/hearing/smelling/feeling).
End by resting again in open awareness, not distracted and not meditating. Eyes open for the last 1-2 min.
Emotions can inform us, but sometimes it feels more like they imprison us. As the great Sufi poet Rumi said they are messengers from beyond. Sometimes, however, the message is garbled or mixed. Here are books that can help us have emotions rather than emotions having us.
Working with the Emotions. Authored by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Jigme Rinpoche and edited by Sylvia Wong, this book shows us Buddhist methods for taking back control from our emotions.
Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames. Buddha recognized that three mind states caused unhappiness: wrong knowing, obsessive desire, and anger. Zen Buddhist monk and Vietnam refugee Thich Nhat Hanh gives tools and advice for transforming relationships, focusing energy, and recovering from the corrosive impact of anger.
Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion
The Dalai Lama, one of the world’s revered spiritual leaders, and the psychologist Paul Ekman, whose work has advanced the science of emotions, examine the nature of emotions in a series of conversations. Their exploration is accompanied by commentaries on emotion research and Buddhist teachings that further contribute to our understanding of emotions.
Did you know that the July issue of Bozeman Magazine has an article on our director, Karen DeCotis and the BDC? Thanks to Marilia Librandi, one of our library volunteers and a Zen student, for writing such a wonderful piece.
This Dharma Thought on True Freedom is brought to you by Steve Allison-Bunnell from the Joining Rivers Sangha.
What is true freedom? The Declaration of Independence claims freedom from government interference and control. Over 250 years, this has morphed into a freedom from responsibility toward anyone. With this view, community and connection are hard to come by.
The Buddha offered a profoundly personal path to freedom. The Dharma offers us liberation from our own dissatisfaction with the world. Being a free person on the Eightfold Path is to live with lightness we nurture for ourselves, rather than demanding that others allow us to do as we please. What is your personal definition of freedom? When do you feel liberated?
When I see someone walking along with their head down, eyes on the ground, I know from personal experience that they are not actually present. As a sighted person, where my gaze goes, so does my attention and awareness. So when I feel my own perception collapsing inward, turning my suffering into the singularity of a psychic black hole, I practice literally looking up and out. Where am I really? What do I see outside of myself, surrounding me? Instead of feeling alone and insignificant, touching the reality of Interbeing in the present moment — the fact that I am not separate from the rest of the universe — brings me connection and calm. What do you do when you find yourself looking down? What do you see when you look out?
This Dharma Thought is brought to you by Steve Allison-Bunnell of the Joining Rivers Sangha. Joining Rivers Sangha practices in the Plum Village Tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh and meets on Mondays at 7pm (in person only).
The MindSpace group’s schedule will change for the summer. They will meet June 27 and then start meeting every other week for July and August. Meeting dates for those months are: July 11 & 25 and August 8 &22. MindSpace is a meditation group for people 40 and younger. Group meetings begin at 6:30 PM. All welcome!
In honor of the July 4 holiday, Joining Rivers will not meet on Monday, July 3 and we will not have a Kindhearted Awareness meeting, noon sit, afternoon sit, Newcomer Orientation nor MindSpace meeting on Tuesday, July 4. Enjoy the holiday and may your dogs get through it with peace and ease.
