The BDC will have an information table on Saturday, May 20th from noon to 4 PM during the Pride Stroll Event. Come say hello while supporting the LGBTQI+ community in Bozeman!
Bozeman Pride
Category Archives: Non-denominational
Wesak
Celebrate Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment and Parinirvana (his passing) with the Bozeman Zen Group. Please bring a bouquet or two of flowers and some greenery. We will decorate a flower arbor, offer sweet tea, flowers intentions and end with a chant. Guest teacher, Pamela Weiss will join us for zazen and celebration!
In person only at the Bozeman Dharma Center. Offered freely.
Newcomer Orientation
Not sure how to begin your practice or what the BDC is about? Join us at 5 PM on the first Thursday of each month for an orientation to the Center and basic meditation instruction!
Intro to Meditation
Our Intro to Meditation class will start a few weeks later than we listed in the April newsletter, running on Wednesdays from May 24 – June 7.
Join us to learn practices from the Insight, Zen and Tibetan traditions. Meditation can help to calm the mind, open the heart, and awaken wisdom. It is a means to study ourselves by contacting our inner life. When we know ourselves well, we are better able to relate to others in the world with integrity and confidence. In the Buddhist tradition there are several meditation styles that can aid us in developing the qualities of peacefulness and wisdom. Join us for any or all of this series, if you would like to begin a meditation practice or renew the one you already have.
MindSpace Begins New Book Study
MindSpace, our under-40 meditation group, has just begun studying Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach. You do not need to have read the book beforehand to join; each session is stand-alone with reading and discussion.
Time to Connect
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?
Newcomer Orientation
Not sure how to begin your practice or what the BDC is about? Join us at 5 PM on the first Thursday of each month for an orientation to the Center and basic meditation instruction!
Vance Pryor comes to Bozeman!
We are excited to welcome Vance Pryor to Bozeman in April! Vance will offer several opportunities for practice. First, save the date for Thursday, April 6 when Vance will be the guest speaker at the Bozeman Insight Community.
Get to know Vance as he introduces himself to our community, sharing some stories of his journey in the dharma and taking questions of all sorts.
All are welcome! No prior experience or registration necessary. This will be a hybrid event offered in-person and via Zoom.
When Things Fall Apart– BDC book study group
We’re excited to announce our next book study group led by Katie Arnold beginning Tuesday, April 4th. Each session of this six-week series will focus on a different portion of Pema Chodron’s book, When Things Fall Apart, Heart Advice for Difficult Times. No need to have read any chapters before the first meeting. Great for beginners or for more experienced practitioners. Please pre-register as in-person space is limited.
From the publisher:
In this most beloved and acclaimed work, Pema shows that moving toward painful
situations and becoming intimate with them can open up our hearts in ways we never
before imagined. Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she offers life-changing
tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless
joy.
Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun in the lineage of Chogyam Trungpa and
resident teacher at Campo Abbey in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the first Tibetan
Buddhist monastery in North America.
Thought Experiment
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?
