Category Archives: Classes

Class Series: Intro to Meditation

The class series: Intro to Meditation, will be led by Karen DeCotis over the course of three Wednesdays beginning April 24.

In the Buddhist tradition there are several meditation styles that can aid us in developing the qualities of peacefulness and wisdom. This series will teach meditation styles 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. Join us for any or all of this series. Register here.

Class Series: Intro to Meditation begins April 24

About Karen

Karen DeCotis is a Zen student and teacher who received priest ordination in the Soto Lineage in 2016 and Dharma transmission in 2019. She has taught the Bozeman Zen Group for almost 20 years and practiced at the Berkeley Zen Center and San Francisco Zen Center beginning in 1986. Devoted to service and engaged learning, Karen brings knowledge of and experience with the Buddhist traditions along with a clear-eyed view of human life, suffering and transformation. She is known for her humor and warmth, bringing her intelligence, wit and humility to every teaching opportunity.

All contributions will be split evenly between the Dharma Center and the teacher. Thank you for your support, which sustains the center and enables us to offer the teachings as freely as possible.

Class: Writing Meditation

Classes, Non-denominationalMichael Palmer

We’re excited to have Dr. Marilia Librandi host a writing meditation workshop for our Mindful Creativity series on April 14. Marilia excels at creating a space to create freely, to experiment with forms and content, to discover our spontaneous mind, to let our inner critic speak but not to stop us, to express ourselves effortlessly and to surprise ourselves with the energy of our listening words.

It’s a workshop inspired by the encounter between Allen Ginsberg and Trungpa Rinpoche, carried on by Natalie Goldberg’s writing practice, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s spiritual writings and Brazilian Clarice Lispector’s “writing by ear.”

Marília Librandi has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She taught Brazilian Literature and Culture at Stanford University and at Princeton University. She is the author of Writing by Ear (Univ.of Toronto Press, 2018) and co-editor of Transpoetic Exchange (Bucknell Press, 2020). Learn more on her website: https://mywritinglab.org/

Here’s what past participants have said about Marilia’s workshops:

“Marilla’s writing lab spurs my daily creativity in ways I never expected. I’m delighted to have more clarity about my intentions, with fresh ideas on how to live and work. Most of all, the rich exchange of sharing spontaneous writing is a treasure. Kind listening and warm encouragement ‘ go a long way to make writing both joyful and rewarding.” -Margaret Kachadurian

“I really appreciate how Marilia makes the Writing Lab a group experience where it feels safe to write from a place of freedom and vulnerability. She offers inspiring prompts for our writing and maintains a structure that supports good conversation and writing time. I thoroughly enjoy my time at the Writing Lab!” -Travis Burdick

Registration fees will be split between the BDC and the facilitator. No need to bring extra dana.

Class: Dependent Origination

Classes, InsightMichael Palmer

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

Classes, InsightMichael Palmer

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

Class: Mindful Flower Arranging

ClassesMichael Palmer

This month’s Mindful Creativity class is on Mindful Flower Arranging. Join Erin Strickland on Sunday, March 10 from 1-2:30 PM for a workshop on flower care and maintenance. Learn some simple floral design basics and how to practice mindfulness through the experience of flower arranging. Flowers provided. Please bring shears if you have them and a vase if you want to take your arrangement home. Space is limited; please register here.

Class: Buddhism Basics

ClassesMichael Palmer

Buddhism Basics offers some of the core fundamental teachings in the Buddhist tradition. Great for those new to meditation and Buddhist practice. Join us for one class or the whole series! Register here.

Schedule

Week 1: Buddha’s story, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path
Week 2: What are these different lineages? The three poisons, three refuges, and three marks of existence
Week 3: Precepts, Brahmaviharas

Big Buddha statue at Po Lin monastery Lantau island Hong Kong.

Class: Visual Haiku

ClassesMichael Palmer

This month’s Mindful Creativity class is Visual Haiku. We will use color and mark making to capture the essence of our present moment experiences. Just as traditional Japanese haiku evokes a moment in time using just a few words, we will practice bringing forth feelings and sense impressions onto paper. You don’t need to know how to draw or consider yourself an artist to participate. Paper and art materials will be provided. There will be crayons, colored pencils and watercolor pencils to play with. Bring an open mind and your good practice! Register here.

Event: Poetry from Emptiness

ClassesMichael Palmer

Join MindSpace co-leader, Kerry Neal, for the reboot of our Mindful Creativity program on Sunday, January 14. Poetry from Emptiness is a technique from the Daoist literary tradition of China. It promotes creative friendship through shared verbal images and the pleasure of just quietly sitting in tranquility.

You do not have to think of yourself as a poet to enjoy Poetry from Emptiness. You only need to be open, curious, contemplative and spontaneous. Poetry from Emptiness is not based on a philosophy or religion. It only requires a mind empty of preconceptions.

Event: Intro to Meditation

ClassesMichael Palmer

Come learn the essentials of a meditation practice. (It’s more than just mindfulness).

During three Wednesday evenings (Jan 10-24), Suzanne Colón will introduce three basic styles of meditation that make up the meditator’s toolkit:

Anchoring for calm, and tranquility of body and mind
Flowing with the changing sensory experience
Developing the heart’s innate Kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity

Whether you’re just starting out or honing your skills, this class will clarify and motivate your practice. Register here.

Event: Intro to Meditation

Classes, Non-denominationalMichael Palmer

Come learn the essentials of a meditation practice. (It’s more than just mindfulness).

During three Wednesday evenings (Jan 10-24), Suzanne Colón will introduce the three basic styles of meditation that make up the meditator’s toolkit:

Anchoring for calm, and tranquility of body and mind
Flowing with the changing sensory experience
Developing the heart’s innate Kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity

Whether you’re just starting out or honing your skills, this class will clarify and motivate your practice.