Category Archives: Information

Getting various types of information to you

Stories of Stuff

This Dharma Thought about our Stories of Stuff is brought to you by Steve Allison-Bunnell with the Joining Rivers Sangha.

Two elder family members are both confronting their relationship to possessions. One is leaving the home they’ve lived in for 55 years, filled with family treasures and “this might be useful someday,” but has been disappointed that many heirlooms have little monetary value. The other already left a life-long home, but brought everything with them and now struggles with an overflowing apartment. One is being ruthlessly pragmatic, trying to look ahead to a new life. The other is very attached to the memories that even a VHS movie represents. It’s been hard for both of them.

In the Five Remembrances, the Buddha teaches, “All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.” This sounds pretty ruthless, too. But as one of the inconvenient truths of being human, the Buddha invites us to look at this reality directly instead of shying away from it. And, the Buddha does also offer an alternative to clinging to this loss: “My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.” Would you rather voluntarily give up your precious belongings? How do you go about standing on the ground of your actions?

It’s Time to Give Big

From the BoardMichael Palmer

It’s here! Please consider making a donation to support our sanghas today! Give Big Gallatin Valley starts at 6 PM today and goes until 6 PM tomorrow. You can make a donation to us here: https://www.givebiggv.org/organizations/bozeman-dharma-center. We’re trying to raise $10,500 which will support our sanghas in multiple ways– by keeping sangha rent low, providing tea, snacks, and office supplies, help track donations/finances (for sanghas without the means), marketing group events, and supporting teachers when they offer classes.

Time for Practice

Dharma ThoughtsMichael Palmer

This Dharma Thought is brought to you by Karen DeCotis of the Bozeman Zen Group (and the BDC director!).

Our practice is immeasurable and constant; whether on a cushion or chair, washing dishes or paying bills, know that you can always practice. Find your feet, contact your breathing. Practice even when distracted. This way you can maintain a joyful, spacious mind even when confronting difficulty and distress. You are in wonderful company!

BDC Supports Streamline!

From the BoardMichael Palmer

The Gallatin Valley Urban Transportation District creates a new home for Streamline bus, is endorsed by more than 100 businesses and individuals in the valley, and has overwhelming support from our community. It creates a structure that will allow Streamline to continue receiving vital federal transportation funding. There is NO COST to taxpayers to set up the district. Find out more at yesforstreamline.org.

Mail or drop off your ballot to the Gallatin County Elections Office by May 2 at 8 p.m.!

Give Big is Next Week!

From the BoardMichael Palmer

This year we ask you to give in support of our sanghas. We are one of a small number of centers in the US that have multiple lineages practicing together. We now have six groups regularly meeting at the BDC in addition to three drop-in sits during the work week! As the BDC grows, our practice groups need support to offer you their teachings. Your donations benefit the sanghas by:

Keeping sangha rent very low
Providing sanghas a mailing address
Providing tea, candles, meditation and office supplies for sangha use
Providing the means to have online meetings if desired
Providing help tracking donations and finances
Supporting group teachers with
- mentoring
- access to teachings and resources
- access to administrative help and resources
Providing marketing for sangha events and visiting teachers
Having an increased presence in the Greater Gallatin Community

Please consider making a donation during Give Big!

As Thich Nhat Hanh says, “A good community is needed to help us resist the unwholesome ways of our time. Mindful living protects us and helps us go in the direction of peace. With the support of friends in the practice, peace has a chance.”

Time to Connect

Dharma Thoughts, Non-denominationalMichael Palmer

This Dharma Thought is brought to you by Steve Allison-Bunnell with the Joining Rivers Sangha which meets every Monday at 7PM.

A friend I’ve known for 35 years, and haven’t seen in 25, still sends me a handwritten letter on actual stationery once a year. And of course I answer her in kind. It’s a sweet form of connection, acknowledging the depth of our first friendship in college, and our continued mutual respect over the arc of adulthood. Writing with a pen, trying to choose my words to avoid cross outs, I’m able to reflect on the essence of my life in the past year in a way that texts or emails don’t invite. Unlike social media, I don’t have to pretend everything is the best ever, or try to measure up to my friend’s experience. What comes out is unvarnished and from the heart — the way we talked when we were housemates so long ago. And as I continue on the Path of Practice, this pause to write to her feels even more like a sacred space. Who do you maintain a long-term connection with? How is it special and precious?

The Merit of our Practice

Dharma Thoughts, ZenMichael Palmer

This Dharma thought offered by Karen DeCotis of the Bozeman Zen Group.

As I write and you read this, we are still in the midst of Covid, severe partisan politics, the aftermath of mass shootings, the war in Ukraine past the one-year mark, and a most devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey. Difficult indeed to imagine the loss of life, of home, livelihood, security and comfort. And let us not be helpless in the face of tragedy.

May we suffuse love over the entire world, above, below, all around without limit, so let us cultivate an infinite good will toward the whole world.

So encourages the Metta Sutta. Offer the merit of your good practice. May we apply our practice diligently; may we also remember that the catastrophic suffering outlined above does not diminish the good efforts we must make to confront our own lives, our families and workplaces, our joys and difficulties – to cultivate self-compassion, energetic discipline and never turn away from our own suffering.

Thought Experiment

Dharma Thoughts, Non-denominationalMichael Palmer

This Dharma thought brought to you by Steve Allison-Bunnell, leader of Joining Rivers Sangha.

“Could a brain in a vat meditate?” I posed this question to students in the Psychology of Consciousness course at MSU this last week. One thought so, because the brain would still have memories and thoughts to contemplate. Another thought no, because the brain has no body to actually experience the world with. That was my answer. The Buddha understood and taught that for a human at least, meditation is an embodied practice. Coming home to ourselves through Mindfulness is in its essence living in our own body in a particular moment. We now also know that many aspects of our feelings come from our bodies and do not arise only in the brain. When do you feel like a brain in a vat? How to you get back in touch with your body?

Unexpected Calm

Dharma Thoughts, ZenMichael Palmer

A Dharma Thought offered by Steve Allison-Bunnell

Another family medical emergency, another hospital in another city. Last week in Billings, where my wife was successfully treated for a subdural hematoma, I found myself almost strangely calm. Being surrounded with support from health care professionals, family, friends, and adequate insurance took away so many sources of worry. But I also had permission to tell the world, “Sorry, I’m not available to do all the everyday things right now.” With this Practice came the gift to experience that time waiting in that space apart as a form of retreat, as Thay says, “nowhere to go, nothing to do.” It was, perhaps in an odd way, comforting. Where do you find unexpected places of quiet in the midst of stress and uncertainty? Can you find others?