December Sangha News
11-26-2024
This is the season of gratitude. The Pali word, Kataññutā, is defined as the state of being grateful. We at IWM are grateful for a warm and welcoming community, wise teachers dedicated to the Buddha’s teaching, and terrific leaders and volunteers that support the sangha. Sadhu (Thank you)!
In December, we're looking forward to:
Looking ahead to January:
Northern Lights Over Western Massachusetts
In December, we're looking forward to:
- Dharma Talks with Carla Brennan, Michael Grady, and Manny Mansbach.
- On December 20, the BIPOC Affinity Group will host Rev. Liên Shutt for a Dharma Evening and Q&R, open to all who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color). We hope to host Rev. Shutt for a sangha-wide Dharma Talk in 2025 – stay tuned!
- Affinity Groups, Open Community Practice sessions, and Saturday Sangha are a great way to join our community or deepen your involvement.
Looking ahead to January:
- We'll begin the new year on January 1st with Rebecca Bradshaw and an evening of meditation exploring her book Down to Earth Dharma.
- Michael Grady will offer a 5 week course mid-January to mid-February: 'Living Dharma: On Sustaining a Life-Long Dharma Practice.'
Northern Lights Over Western Massachusetts
On October 9th, JD Doyle offered a Dharma Talk called 'The Beautiful as a Support for Liberation,' and shared the above words by Robin Wall Kimmerer, from 'Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants.'
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay in connection, and up-to-date on upcoming offerings!
Saturday Sangha Updates
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay in connection, and up-to-date on upcoming offerings!
Saturday Sangha Updates
Led by Sarah Malzone (long-time parents’ sangha member and facilitator) and Bernadine Mellis, Saturday Sangha includes newcomers and regulars of all ages. We have settled into a sweet rhythm of lighting candles, bowing, chanting, and practice – simple meditation plus metta practice. All of which is followed by social time with donuts!
Together, we draw joy and strength from sangha, deepening our practice and community connections. We warmly welcome grownups and children of all ages, and are regularly joined by a lovely range, from elders to very little ones to tweens and teens. As a multigenerational space, Saturday Sangha offers support to incorporate some of the tools for daily life practice into our time on the cushion.
On the first Saturday of the month, if there are newcomers, we take time to share some of the reasons and teachings behind each of our practices. This December we will share a Parami practice, in which each of us gets a chance to adopt a Parami for 2025 that we will set an intention to practice with for the year.
We welcome everyone to join us–whether to check it out once or twice, or to make it part of a nourishing and uplifting weekend routine.
35 & Under Affinity Group Update and 2025 Schedule
Together, we draw joy and strength from sangha, deepening our practice and community connections. We warmly welcome grownups and children of all ages, and are regularly joined by a lovely range, from elders to very little ones to tweens and teens. As a multigenerational space, Saturday Sangha offers support to incorporate some of the tools for daily life practice into our time on the cushion.
On the first Saturday of the month, if there are newcomers, we take time to share some of the reasons and teachings behind each of our practices. This December we will share a Parami practice, in which each of us gets a chance to adopt a Parami for 2025 that we will set an intention to practice with for the year.
We welcome everyone to join us–whether to check it out once or twice, or to make it part of a nourishing and uplifting weekend routine.
35 & Under Affinity Group Update and 2025 Schedule
We took a hike to Lake Fitzgerald and couldn't resist taking a selfie in front of the "Middle Way" sign! It was a lovely outing, and we got to sit together out in nature. We hope to do more of this sort of thing in the future.
In January, the 35 & Under Group will start meeting twice a month, on 2nd and 4th Sundays from 5-6:30pm. We're currently meeting in-person only. If you’re interested in volunteering to hybrid host so we can include people joining us via Zoom, reach out to Doug Kremm at [email protected].
In January, the 35 & Under Group will start meeting twice a month, on 2nd and 4th Sundays from 5-6:30pm. We're currently meeting in-person only. If you’re interested in volunteering to hybrid host so we can include people joining us via Zoom, reach out to Doug Kremm at [email protected].
Dharma Dialogue: How My Meditation Practice Brings Me Joy
For me, there is a strong need, want and desire to meditate, in whatever position I find most comfortable, to see what I can discover about ending my own suffering. I am a human being, living with other creatures on our planet Earth. And yet, to me, it seems like a monumental task to take on participating in ending my own suffering much less the suffering of others. Do I even have the right to say that no matter how “good” of a meditator I am? I have a necklace which has a saying on the front from Thich Nhat Hanh,” Peace In Oneself, Peace In The World.” When I lived at a Residential Retreat Center we used as part of our practice the phrase, “Inner Peace, World Peace.”
What does all that mean? For me, it doesn’t mean that I will be able to provide Peace to those who are suffering in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in the community-at-large, in their country and in the world. There are those so much less fortunate than I am – they have no or little food, no clean water to drink, no or little shelter, much less a comfortable place to lay down their head at night. They are in the midst of wars which seem to have no end, poverty from which they cannot end, and the list could go on and on.
And to say that I am “more fortunate” than people who live in such horrific situations is so large of an understatement I cannot, to be honest, hold it in my being for long.
But I can open my heart as much as possible to offer myself and my life as an example of what Peace can look like. Again, I am a human being who makes mistakes, deeply offends others without even realizing it, forgets to practice, falls asleep on the cushion, and countless other examples where I fall short of being that “good” meditator I talked about earlier.
And yet the Joy in it all is that I have the ability to express love and compassion which I benefit from and hopefully others do as well.
Thank you for listening.
Gratefully,
Jennifer D.
Community Dharma Steward
If you would like to participate in this ongoing dialogue, please send an email to: [email protected]
Downloadable Flyers
We're trying out a new style for our newsletters -- feel free to write us at [email protected] and let us know what you think!
For me, there is a strong need, want and desire to meditate, in whatever position I find most comfortable, to see what I can discover about ending my own suffering. I am a human being, living with other creatures on our planet Earth. And yet, to me, it seems like a monumental task to take on participating in ending my own suffering much less the suffering of others. Do I even have the right to say that no matter how “good” of a meditator I am? I have a necklace which has a saying on the front from Thich Nhat Hanh,” Peace In Oneself, Peace In The World.” When I lived at a Residential Retreat Center we used as part of our practice the phrase, “Inner Peace, World Peace.”
What does all that mean? For me, it doesn’t mean that I will be able to provide Peace to those who are suffering in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in the community-at-large, in their country and in the world. There are those so much less fortunate than I am – they have no or little food, no clean water to drink, no or little shelter, much less a comfortable place to lay down their head at night. They are in the midst of wars which seem to have no end, poverty from which they cannot end, and the list could go on and on.
And to say that I am “more fortunate” than people who live in such horrific situations is so large of an understatement I cannot, to be honest, hold it in my being for long.
But I can open my heart as much as possible to offer myself and my life as an example of what Peace can look like. Again, I am a human being who makes mistakes, deeply offends others without even realizing it, forgets to practice, falls asleep on the cushion, and countless other examples where I fall short of being that “good” meditator I talked about earlier.
And yet the Joy in it all is that I have the ability to express love and compassion which I benefit from and hopefully others do as well.
Thank you for listening.
Gratefully,
Jennifer D.
Community Dharma Steward
If you would like to participate in this ongoing dialogue, please send an email to: [email protected]
Downloadable Flyers
- December Offerings
- Rev. Liên Shutt, hosted by the BIPOC Affinity Sangha
- January-February Course with Michael Grady
- March Course with Bernadine Mellis
We're trying out a new style for our newsletters -- feel free to write us at [email protected] and let us know what you think!