Not sure how to begin or what the BDC is all about? Join us for a newcomer orientation on Tuesday June 3, from 5-6 PM to learn about the Center, get your questions answered, and receive basic meditation instruction. No registration required. Free!
On Saturday May 17 the BDC will host an Intro to Meditation class from 9 AM to 12:30 PM. This class will focus on what to do when you get stuck in your practice and ways to expand your “meditation toolkit.” Bring your questions and spend the morning learning and exploring how to bring curiosity and compassion to your practice.
This class will be offered in person and via Zoom.
The Bozeman Dharma Center will host a Mahasangha Half-Day Retreat on Saturday May 10 from 9 am to noon. This even allows you to get a feel for the different groups that practice at the BDC and practice in a community. Make connections with dharma friends old and new. In addition to sitting and walking meditation, chanting, and tea, we will perform a Wesak Ceremony celebrating the Buddha’s birthday, enlightenment, and passing! The Wesak Ceremony will begin at 11:10 and is child-friendly. Offered in person and via Zoom. Please bring flowers if you can!
Tentative Schedule
9:00 Welcome
9:05 Insight Group –
9:25 Palyul – The Four Immeasurables
9:45 Stretch/Walking Meditation
10:00 Mindspace –
10:20 Tergar – Tonglen
10:40 Stretch/Walking Meditation
10:50 Joining Rivers –
11:10 Zen Group – Wesak celebration
12:00 End (Stay for tea and cake!)
Join Ann Gregoire for a low key, informal book club/discussion group on the first Monday of each month–starting on May 5th at 1 pm. No leader, no study questions, no pressure if you didn’t have time to read the book. Or didn’t finish it. Show up anyway. All are welcome.
The first book will be: The Art of Living: A Guide to Mindfulness, Personal Growth and Peace with Transformative Meditations for Understanding Life’s Deepest Questions and Experiencing Happiness and Freedom by Thich Naht Hanh. After that, the group will choose books a couple months in advance.
Contact ann.gregoire@gmail.com if you’d like to join!
In times of profound change and uncertainty, we are often presented with unique opportunities to explore our true nature. The pressures of the external world can lead us to inner shifts that elevate our awareness beyond the ordinary.
On Saturday April 26 from 9 am to noon, Elaine Huang will lead participants through guided practices, meditations, and insightful talks designed to help participants uncover and draw from their deeper essence. Attendees will learn about psychological and neuroscience based concepts, along with somatic and mindfulness practices that both foster resilience and stabilize their recognition of fundamental nature. By the end of the session, participants will leave empowered with practical tools that nourish this renewed clarity and resilience in their everyday lives.
Elaine is a seasoned mindfulness teacher and guide, recognized for her extensive experience and skill in the field. She is a dedicated meditator and a certified mindfulness instructor. Elaine adeptly facilitates mindfulness retreats in various settings as well as leadership trainings in corporate environments. With two master’s degrees—one in social work and another in clinical psychology—she brings a rich educational background to her practice. Elaine’s expertise lies in supporting individuals on their journeys of personal growth and spiritual transformation.
Join us on Saturday April 5 from 9 AM to noon for a Koan Salon.
Koans can be offered in multiple ways. They can be healing stories, conversations, poems, fragments of song. Technically, koan is a Japanese term that refers to a legal public case. In Zen, koans are designed to give us pause, to enter deeply our own “case”, revealing how we look at the world. During several short periods of meditation, we will sit with a phrase, a story, a poem. There will be walking meditation and time after each koan to consider together. All are welcome, no previous experience with koans is necessary. In person and online.
On Wednesday March 26 from 5:30 – 7 PM, Tergar Bozeman welcomes Tim Olmsted via Zoom to give a teaching and to host a Q&A session.
Tim is a skilled Senior Tergar International Instructor and co- founder of Tergar International. He spent 11 years in Nepal studying with Tulku Urygen Rinpoche, father of Tergar’s guiding teacher Mingyur Rinpoche. Tim is the spiritual guide of the Buddhist Center of Steamboat Springs, CO. Tim’s teaching style is warm and inviting and very heart felt. Please join us for this wonderful opportunity. In person or online.
Saturday, March 15 from 11 AM – 4:30 PM
While myths and legends abound surrounding the life of the historical Buddha (Pāli: Siddhattha Gotama; Skt: Siddhārtha Gautama), much of the traditional folklore began appearing only centuries after the Buddha’s lifetime. Yet the earliest Buddhist discourses (as collected in the Pāli Canon and its Chinese and Sanskrit parallels), focused as they are on the content of his teachings, contain no comprehensive biography of the Buddha.
Rather, scattered throughout these many thousands of discourses, we find numerous snippets of autobiographical narrative attributed to the Buddha himself. In these first-person accounts, often shared with his audiences for didactic purposes, the Buddha recounts a number of his own early-life experiences on his path to awakening, as a means of imparting some of the hard-won lessons and insights he gained over the course of his personal struggles and breakthroughs.
During this daylong study and practice program, we will examine a number of these ancient texts, explore their practical lessons and insights, and discuss and reflect upon their relevance and application to our own lives.
To enhance our exploration of the texts, the day will also incorporate short dharma talks and guided meditation practices, as well as periods of group discussion, peer-based dialogue, and personal reflection.
*Please note that all participants will receive a collection of the relevant texts we will be exploring. Hard copies of the material will be available to those attending in-person at the Bozeman Dharma Center, while those joining online will receive a digital PDF copy via email.
Join us on Friday March 7 from 7-8 pm for an evening of deep vibrational rejuvenation for the mind, body, and spirit! Jessie Solon facilitates relaxation through the use of sound healing instruments including crystal and Himalayan singing bowls, a symphonic gong, bells, & chimes, wave, and monochord. No registration necessary. Donations welcome. Any funds collected will be split equally between the BDC and the artist.
For most of my life, I always smiled when I saw the bumper sticker that says, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”
Righteous anger in the face of the parade of injustices near and far was an essential part of my identity as someone who cared about the world and whose brain wiring includes an extreme sensitivity to unfairness.
So today, when the opportunities for outrage come by the hour, I can only be grateful for Thay’s teachings on nurturing compassion when we would rather take comfort in the energy of anger. Instead of telling us to simply not be angry, Thay invites us to look at the causes and impacts of anger within ourselves. It is not easy, but, Thay offers, it is the path of peace.
What do you see when you look more closely at your anger? What happens when you befriend it?
