Category Archives: Insight

Class: Dependent Origination

Wheel of Dependent Origination

This Dependent Origination class, designed for meditators with some experience, will be offered over five weeks in the weekly Bozeman Insight Community‘s Thursday meetings on a drop-in basis beginning April 4. We welcome anyone who’d like to explore the nuances of these intricate teachings of the Buddha’s.

There’s an essential paradox at the heart of Buddhist practice: We must get exquisitely intimate with the moment-to-moment mind-body experience of the (small, relative) self in order to transcend it. The boat to ‘the far shore’ is built of our messy, frustrating stuff of life on this shore. The way beyond our reactivity, our back pain, our nagging inner commentary is to equanimously and compassionately embrace it. This is Alan Watts’ “backwards law” and the meaning of Dogen’s Genjo Koan.

This class will begin with the teachings on the Five Aggregates and build up to an understanding of the chain of Dependent Origination – the Buddha’s map for what’s going on in human experience, how we get caught and why we suffer. We will explore the practices that intimately “study the self” and how those lead to “forgetting the self.” The chain becomes a liberative cycle of expanding wisdom and freedom.

Each week there will be a suggested home practice to deepen our experiential knowledge of the concepts. The series is designed to be sequential but anyone is welcome to attend sporadically or singly as their schedule and interests allow.


Class Schedule

April 4: The Five Aggregates and the Importance of Vedana (feeling tone)
April 11: Perception, Mis-perception, Mental Formations and the mind’s reactivity
April 18: Further links in the chain: how we get hooked and how we can unhook
April 25: The Chain of Dependent Origination and how it illustrates the Four Noble Truths
May 2: The Liberative chain spiraling toward wisdom, insight, compassion and freedom


Drop in to one, some or all five sessions of the series. No prior registration is necessary.

Zoom connection will be available as per usual on our Thursday evenings.

This course is offered on a dana basis, meaning it is our gift to you, freely offered. We gratefully accept support and gratitude to pay the bills and keep the sangha going. (For those that want it: the suggestion donation would be  $5-15 per session)

Class: Dependent Origination

Designed for meditators with some experience, this class, taught by Suzanne Colón, will begin with the teachings on the Five Aggregates and build up to an understanding of the chain of Dependent Origination – the Buddha’s map for what’s going on in human experience, how we get caught and why we suffer. The series is designed to be sequential but anyone is welcome to attend sporadically or singly as their schedule and interests allow. No registration necessary.

  • March 14: The Five Aggregates and the Importance of Vedana (feeling tone)
  • March 21: With guest Pamela Weiss: the Genjo Koan exploring paradox and different ways to view this whole enterprise (Zen vs Insight perspectives)
  • March 28: Perception and Mental Formations/Reactivity
  • April 4: The Chain of Dependent Origination, how we get hooked and how we can unhook
  • April 11: The Liberative chain spiraling toward wisdom, insight, compassion and freedom

Half-Day: Inner Critic Workshop

Hosted by Bozeman Insight Community and led by Suzanne Colón, this Inner Critic workshop on Saturday, March 2, will clarify the difference between Wise Discernment and Self-Judgement. We can motivate ourselves, work toward behavior change, and hold ourselves accountable with an Inner Compassionate Voice rather than by beating up on ourselves. Register here.

Event: Resolutions & Intentions

Join Suzanne Colón for a workshop on New Year’s Resolutions, Intentions, and New Beginnings on Saturday, January 6 from 9AM – 1PM.

This workshop will include guided meditations, journal exercises and a meditative inquiry from Tara Brach’s book Radical Compassion. The day will be held in companionable silence to allow us to each stay tucked into our own experience. Please bring a journal. 

Designed for all levels of meditation experience and all persons, identities, sizes, genders, ages, races and abilities are very welcome. 

Retreat: Dave Smith

On Saturday, October 21 from 10 AM – 4 PM, visiting Insight teacher, Dave Smith, will offer a daylong retreat in person and via Zoom. Dave will reflect on both the early traditions of Buddhism and secular practices based on happiness research. How can we use our practice of the Dharma to create genuine happiness for ourselves, for others and for this world?

Class: Core Skills of Meditation

Reminder that you can still join our Core Skills of Meditation class with Guest Insight teacher, Melissa McKay. Everyone is welcome to join for as many sessions as they like! The class is on Wednesdays from 7:15 – 8:45 PM through October 11. Designed to be both an intro for beginners and a tune-up for those with experience, this course will clarify your home practice. Re-fuel and get inspired. Scholarships available.

photo of woman ringing a meditation bell

Class: Developing the Qualities of the Heart

Visiting Insight teacher, Melissa, McKay will be offering four weeks of teaching on Developing the Qualities of the Heart on Thursdays at 7PM starting September 21.

Melissa will guide a meditation, offer teachings and take questions on these four consecutive Thursdays. Each week will explore one of the four Brahma Viharas or “noble abodes of the heart.”

Sept 21: Metta, kind-hearted warmth and friendliness
Sept 28: Compassion, for self and world
Oct 5: Resonant Joy, being available for Delight
Oct 12: Equanimity; staying balanced, present and wise through life’s ups and downs.

No registration needed. Drop in, in person or over zoom as per usual on Thursdays

Photo of a lotus blossom to represent the Qualities of the Heart

Retreat: Metta-Infused Insight Practice

Register now for this transformative retreat led by visiting Insight teacher, Melissa McKay! The retreat will be held 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM on Saturday, September 30. 

This retreat is designed to develop our essential kindness, hone our mindfulness skills and guide us to an open-hearted equanimity with all experience. Join us for a nourishing journey that combines the power of Metta (loving-kindness) with the clarity of Insight Meditation.