September Sangha News
8/31/23
September 17: Benefit and Celebration
Dharma Practice in Daily Life & The Path of Liberation
An afternoon of Question & Response with Joseph Goldstein
facilitated by Devin Berry
2-4 PM
Registration is open!
for in-person, click here
for livestream/recording, click here
Sign up soon; we expect to reach capacity!
The sangha leadership has been imagining visions of our future, including changes in our structure, ways to increase inclusivity, and what kinds of teacher offerings will best serve all of us. This fundraiser is an exciting and fruitful first step in accomplishing many of our goals! Please consider giving at whatever level is right for you – together we can shepherd IWM into a sangha that supports all of our learning and deepening practice.
We are deeply grateful that Joseph Goldstein is coming to Northampton to offer a benefit program for Insight Meditation Community of Western Massachusetts (IWM) in honor of our 25th year of offering the Dharma. In keeping with the spirit of dana, our goal is to raise $25,000. These funds will serve to strengthen our sangha through diversifying our teaching pool along with our offerings. If you register by September 10th, you’ll have a chance to submit a question for Joseph.
This Month at IWM
In September we will continue Monday night open practice sessions focused on the paramis; some will be in person at IWM at Eastworks. See below for more details. As part of our reopening of Affinity Groups, on Sunday Sept 10 the Parents and Families Sangha will hold a Fall Gathering, a half-day retreat in person at Eastworks, with a picnic to follow; September 28 will be the next meeting of the Queer/Trans Sangha. On five Tuesday evenings beginning Sept 19, Michael Grady will teach an online course titled Living Dharma: Working with Difficult Emotions. Finally, every Wed evening for our Dharma Talk or Discussion and practice period, we are so happy to welcome this month both IWM teachers Manny Mansbach and Michael Grady and guest teacher Kristina Baré. See below for more details.
Dharma Practice in Daily Life & The Path of Liberation
An afternoon of Question & Response with Joseph Goldstein
facilitated by Devin Berry
2-4 PM
Registration is open!
for in-person, click here
for livestream/recording, click here
Sign up soon; we expect to reach capacity!
The sangha leadership has been imagining visions of our future, including changes in our structure, ways to increase inclusivity, and what kinds of teacher offerings will best serve all of us. This fundraiser is an exciting and fruitful first step in accomplishing many of our goals! Please consider giving at whatever level is right for you – together we can shepherd IWM into a sangha that supports all of our learning and deepening practice.
We are deeply grateful that Joseph Goldstein is coming to Northampton to offer a benefit program for Insight Meditation Community of Western Massachusetts (IWM) in honor of our 25th year of offering the Dharma. In keeping with the spirit of dana, our goal is to raise $25,000. These funds will serve to strengthen our sangha through diversifying our teaching pool along with our offerings. If you register by September 10th, you’ll have a chance to submit a question for Joseph.
This Month at IWM
In September we will continue Monday night open practice sessions focused on the paramis; some will be in person at IWM at Eastworks. See below for more details. As part of our reopening of Affinity Groups, on Sunday Sept 10 the Parents and Families Sangha will hold a Fall Gathering, a half-day retreat in person at Eastworks, with a picnic to follow; September 28 will be the next meeting of the Queer/Trans Sangha. On five Tuesday evenings beginning Sept 19, Michael Grady will teach an online course titled Living Dharma: Working with Difficult Emotions. Finally, every Wed evening for our Dharma Talk or Discussion and practice period, we are so happy to welcome this month both IWM teachers Manny Mansbach and Michael Grady and guest teacher Kristina Baré. See below for more details.
Dharma Dialogue with Jennifer D.
Why It is Important For Me to Have a Spiritual Teacher
When I take the time to stop and look around me, the whole universe is available for teaching. What small pieces of that I can grasp at any given moment, allow my heart to continue to gently open and learn. When my heart is closed, for whatever reason, all I can experience is that shut down feeling. I feel stuck. Life looks like a solid, immovable, blank slate of nothingness, and remembering to breathe is the only lifesaver I have, literally and figuratively.
Sometimes it feels like I can’t focus on my breath long enough to get out of that impenetrable nothingness. At that point, and at other difficult moments in my spiritual practice, I need help. It is not that the universe has failed me, but more that it seems I have failed myself.
Having a spiritual teacher, a real live human being, can assist me in getting out of the muck and the mire. She rarely gives advice, except in the form of reminders.
Reading what I have written so far in this offering, I can hear her voice, on Zoom for now, pointing out acceptance and being present with All That Is. It brings me back, maybe right back into my closed heart for a moment, but I know now the guidance is to just notice and see what is happening. With acceptance.
So my understanding this far in my practice is that nothing is to be excluded from this “just noticing.” It releases the attachment from the physical and mental discord that can lure me into what seems like an oblivious state of being.
Mindfulness becomes the key to continuous insight about life, internal and external. I’m not saying I can always be there. I am saying that, for me, having a teacher provides a connection and support to practicing that mindfulness in formal meditation and when I am up and around in the world. Having a teacher helps me deepen my understanding of suffering and how that manifests in my life, internally and externally. And then how to pursue, as an aspiration not a goal, freedom from that suffering using the teachings of the Buddha: the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
I think I remember reading somewhere that of the Three Jewels - Buddha, Dharma and Sangha - the Buddha thought that the most important of these is Sangha. My cohorts, my fellow meditators, my Dharma companions and my teacher. It is important to me to have a spiritual teacher who brings me back, through sharing her experience, training and life’s journey, to help me continue on this Path that we have chosen.
Please feel free to join in with your own offering; anonymously if desired. You don’t have to be a great writer to participate. I certainly am not. If you would like to contribute, about this or any practice topic, please send what you have written in an email to [email protected].
With Metta,
Jennifer D.
Community Dharma Steward
Justice and Belonging
Affinity Sangha Updates
Please contact Bernadine at [email protected] with questions or comments.
BIPOC Sangha
We are exploring avenues for creating supportive BIPOC affinity space at IWM. If you identify as BIPOC and are interested in being part of an affinity sangha, please let us know. We want to hear from you! For more information write to: [email protected].
Queer & Trans Sangha
All LGBTQIA2S+ identities are welcome! Our Q / T sangha meets the fourth Thursday of every month from 7:15-8:45 in person. When possible, we offer a hybrid option. If you have questions or would like to be added to the Q/T mailing list, write to: [email protected]
Disability/Chronic Illness Sangha
We would very much like to re-launch this group in whatever format is most supportive to the community. If you are interested in a group like this, or would like to be involved in helping to form it, please contact us at [email protected].
Parents & Families Sangha - Fall Gathering
Sunday, September 10 from 10AM-12PM with a picnic to follow
In person at the sangha at Eastworks! Please note we have an air purifier in the space - and we are happy to say we now have air conditioning as well. We welcome those who have participated in our children and families programming in the past as well as new parents, caregivers, and families to come together.
White & Awakening in the Dhamma
We are happy to share that we will be offering the 6-month White & Awakening in the Dhamma (WAD) curriculum again this year, starting in the Fall. WAD is designed to afford people who identify as white the opportunity to turn with mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion towards racism, white supremacy culture, and privilege, as they manifest externally and internally. With the course, we will provide a guided exploration of the racial conditioning of white-identified people with the support of Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Registration for the group will open soon; please keep an eye out!
Downloadable Flyers
Below are downloadable flyers in case you want to share them with a friend or post them on a public bulletin board:
Feedback
If you have comments, questions, or ideas you’d like to share, please contact us: [email protected].
With much care and metta,
IWM Board
Why It is Important For Me to Have a Spiritual Teacher
When I take the time to stop and look around me, the whole universe is available for teaching. What small pieces of that I can grasp at any given moment, allow my heart to continue to gently open and learn. When my heart is closed, for whatever reason, all I can experience is that shut down feeling. I feel stuck. Life looks like a solid, immovable, blank slate of nothingness, and remembering to breathe is the only lifesaver I have, literally and figuratively.
Sometimes it feels like I can’t focus on my breath long enough to get out of that impenetrable nothingness. At that point, and at other difficult moments in my spiritual practice, I need help. It is not that the universe has failed me, but more that it seems I have failed myself.
Having a spiritual teacher, a real live human being, can assist me in getting out of the muck and the mire. She rarely gives advice, except in the form of reminders.
Reading what I have written so far in this offering, I can hear her voice, on Zoom for now, pointing out acceptance and being present with All That Is. It brings me back, maybe right back into my closed heart for a moment, but I know now the guidance is to just notice and see what is happening. With acceptance.
So my understanding this far in my practice is that nothing is to be excluded from this “just noticing.” It releases the attachment from the physical and mental discord that can lure me into what seems like an oblivious state of being.
Mindfulness becomes the key to continuous insight about life, internal and external. I’m not saying I can always be there. I am saying that, for me, having a teacher provides a connection and support to practicing that mindfulness in formal meditation and when I am up and around in the world. Having a teacher helps me deepen my understanding of suffering and how that manifests in my life, internally and externally. And then how to pursue, as an aspiration not a goal, freedom from that suffering using the teachings of the Buddha: the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
I think I remember reading somewhere that of the Three Jewels - Buddha, Dharma and Sangha - the Buddha thought that the most important of these is Sangha. My cohorts, my fellow meditators, my Dharma companions and my teacher. It is important to me to have a spiritual teacher who brings me back, through sharing her experience, training and life’s journey, to help me continue on this Path that we have chosen.
Please feel free to join in with your own offering; anonymously if desired. You don’t have to be a great writer to participate. I certainly am not. If you would like to contribute, about this or any practice topic, please send what you have written in an email to [email protected].
With Metta,
Jennifer D.
Community Dharma Steward
Justice and Belonging
Affinity Sangha Updates
Please contact Bernadine at [email protected] with questions or comments.
BIPOC Sangha
We are exploring avenues for creating supportive BIPOC affinity space at IWM. If you identify as BIPOC and are interested in being part of an affinity sangha, please let us know. We want to hear from you! For more information write to: [email protected].
Queer & Trans Sangha
All LGBTQIA2S+ identities are welcome! Our Q / T sangha meets the fourth Thursday of every month from 7:15-8:45 in person. When possible, we offer a hybrid option. If you have questions or would like to be added to the Q/T mailing list, write to: [email protected]
Disability/Chronic Illness Sangha
We would very much like to re-launch this group in whatever format is most supportive to the community. If you are interested in a group like this, or would like to be involved in helping to form it, please contact us at [email protected].
Parents & Families Sangha - Fall Gathering
Sunday, September 10 from 10AM-12PM with a picnic to follow
In person at the sangha at Eastworks! Please note we have an air purifier in the space - and we are happy to say we now have air conditioning as well. We welcome those who have participated in our children and families programming in the past as well as new parents, caregivers, and families to come together.
White & Awakening in the Dhamma
We are happy to share that we will be offering the 6-month White & Awakening in the Dhamma (WAD) curriculum again this year, starting in the Fall. WAD is designed to afford people who identify as white the opportunity to turn with mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion towards racism, white supremacy culture, and privilege, as they manifest externally and internally. With the course, we will provide a guided exploration of the racial conditioning of white-identified people with the support of Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. Registration for the group will open soon; please keep an eye out!
Downloadable Flyers
Below are downloadable flyers in case you want to share them with a friend or post them on a public bulletin board:
- September Offerings: click here
- Upcoming Courses & Retreats:
Feedback
If you have comments, questions, or ideas you’d like to share, please contact us: [email protected].
With much care and metta,
IWM Board