Category Archives: Lineage

Time to Connect

Dharma Thoughts, Non-denominational

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?

Vance Pryor visits MindSpace

Insight

On Tuesday, April 11, Vance Pryor will visit MindSpace, our younger adult group to share practice, take questions and have informal conversation. All (40 and under) are welcome to drop-in.
In person only at the Bozeman Dharma Center. Offered freely.

Vance Pryor BIC Guest Speaker

Insight

Help BIC welcome Vance Pryor, our visiting guest teacher from IMS and Spirit Rock meditation centers. Vance will introduce himself to our community by sharing some stories of his journey in the dharma and taking questions of all sorts. He will give some short instructions for practice and lead a sit, followed by discussion.

All are welcome. In person or join by the regular, drop-in zoom channel.

No prior experience or registration necessary.

Awareness, Kindness, & Community

Insight

Join us for this daylong retreat led by visiting teacher, Vance Pryor on Saturday April 8. Cultivate qualities of awareness and metta and explore how they work together to deepen feelings of belonging and community. Learn more here. As physical space is limited, please try to register soon!

Creating Calm Within Chaos

Insight

Vance Pryor gives a Dharma talk on Friday, April 7 from 7-9 PM. Discover mindfulness meditation and how it helps us develop greater resilience in the face of adversity, equanimity and ease in the face of change, and calm in the midst of chaos.

Learn more here. As physical space is limited, please register soon!

Image: Javardh on Unsplash.com

Zen Half-Day Moved to ONLINE Only

Zen

Due to the snow and extreme driving conditions, the Bozeman Zen Group has moved the half-day sit for tomorrow, March 26 to online only. Please use the regular BDC Zoom link to participate from 9 AM – 1 PM.

From Karen: Let’s sit together in our homes and bring forth the dharma. You may arrange yourself so that you can practice with your whole life. It’s great if you can keep your camera on, but you don’t need to face forward toward the camera. Do your best to sit each scheduled period fully, AND take breaks as you need either in between or for a full period (meaning, try not to move or decide to stop meditating in the middle of a period).

Half-Day Schedule:

9:00               Welcome, robe chant + zazen
9:30               kinhin
9:40               zazen
10:10 Break/stretch and have tea
10:25  Dharma talk 
Open lecture chant
Bodhisatttva vows at end
10:50  zazen
11:20 kinhin or stretch
11:30 zazen
12:00 break
12:15 zazen
12:45 Gather, questions, reflections
12:55 Recite the Metta Sutta and dedicate merit
1:00 End

Please contact info@bozemanzengroup.org for questions or copies of the chants.

Vance Pryor comes to Bozeman!

Non-denominational

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

Non-denominational, Tibetan

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.

The Merit of our Practice

Dharma Thoughts, Zen

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.