Dharma Thoughts...

Greetings to our community dharma center friends,

I have been thinking over the last several months about gratitude, and how it feels like the natural response of the heart/mind we develop in this practice, the heart that is at peace with life as it manifests. Standing at the front door last night, enjoying the evening twilight, the fragrance of the blooming flowers, appreciating all the people in my life, and thinking, "Wouldn't it be a pity to
miss gratefulness for all this because of wanting something else?" It will change; winter will come, relationships will change in one form or another, the flowers will fade, and right now I am happy that I can be open to appreciating it all instead of missing it by not being present. And my gratitude can be extended, too, for the struggles in life that make me stronger and extend the range of my compassion.

One of the greatest blessings is sangha. Thich Nhat Hanh has said that the next Buddha will be a sangha. One of the beauties of our Center is that we have developed a strong sangha, a practice community together. We gather to support our meditation practice and the development of the
spiritual paramis (qualities of an enlightened one). We strengthen each other through our community life. The Buddha said that for any quality we wish to manifest one of the supporting conditions is noble friendship. When we share the practice together we are being noble friends for eachother.
Such a treasure we have!

I look forward to our Center continuing to grow and deepen as an expression of compassion and wisdom in this world. What next? Community service? Celebrating life passages together? More study of the texts? You get to decide – it's your Center.

Much metta,
Rebecca

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Greetings Dear Friends,

Every Tuesday afternoon at Santi Forest Monastery you would find the community in sutta class upstairs in the rather small meditation room. There is a beautiful cave which we would be using about a 10-15 minute walk from the main house which has been carved out by both the incredible labors of the monks and a backhoe driven by Josh a large and colorful aboriginal except we have been having so much rain we would need to transfigure into fishes to use it.

We have been reading the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, the Majjhima Nikaya and yesterday reached # 50: “The Rebuke to Mara.” It is a sutta about Moggallana who was one of the foremost disciples of the Buddha. He was doing walking meditation outside when he asked himself “Why is my belly so heavy. One would think it was full of beans?” (They had similar digestive problems with beans even then!) He went and sat down so he could pay full attention to what was happening and saw that Mara the evil one had gone into his belly. (Mara can be understood as a way to talk about our internal struggles with ignorance, greed and hatred and/or as a ‘spirit” or energy which lives in a cosmological realm, described by the Buddha, that tries to seduce us into suffering.) When Moggallana saw this he said, “Come out Come out Evil one…Do not harass the Tathagata’s disciple…” Mara couldn't believe he had been seen so quickly and remained inside. So Moggallana responded, “Even thus I know, Evil One. Do not think: “He does not know me.” So Mara fully seen came up through Moggallanas’ mouth. Moggallana then goes onto say he was once a Mara named Dusi many a millennium, and ten millennia ago. What a journey from Mara to Moggallana! I was struck how even in the thick mists of Mara's hellish confusion there was the capacity for healing and transformation which pulled at his heart and into lifetimes of purification ending in Arantship or full awakening.

We are on similar journeys expressed in countless ways. I have found myself on three different continents and four monasteries in the last two years and I am delighted at the turning of this journey towards the US, Massachusetts and Insight Meditation Center of the Pioneer Valley. I look forward to sharing again this journey of awakening with you either in the weekend retreat with Rebecca in February or classes in May, or just around the center.

Blessings,
Arinna

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As I was rushing to begin a two week practice at BCBS (Barre Center for Buddhist Studies)
this past June, I found myself frantically struggling to put a bike rack on my car in an attempt not to be late for a doctor's appointment on the way out of town. It's not that I don't know how to put a bike rack on a car but rushing certainly doesn't help. It is also true that in my household, I'm not the one who usually does this task. In a moment of this fumbling frustration, awareness came to me that we do not live our lives separately.

There are so many small things that we do for and receive from each other that often go unnoticed. Whether it's in a marriage or partnership, friendship, work relationship, or in a community environment, we rely on each other for our well-being: physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Thich Nhat Hahn refers to this as "inter-being".

I have been blessed with the opportunity to receive a variety of formal teachings this past Spring. First, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my long time teacher, Michele in a young adult mentoring program we are a part of. That same month we were graced by the presence of the Dalai Lama right here in our little Northampton, MA. At the Study Center, I received teachings from a wonderful Burmese monk, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, followed by another beloved teacher in the Thai tradition, Ajahn Succitto. Receiving these teachings is purely the result of the generosity in each of these beings.

The life of the Buddha's teachings is dependent on generosity. When I think of the life of our Center here in Easthampton, I recognize that its very existence is based on generosity. Those who offer teachings, those who come to practice, those who donate financially and those who donate many hours of time, energy and skill to keep the Center running are what makes it happen. Without this generous commitment to the Sangha, we would have no Center. We would have no place to support and foster our rare and precious opportunity to hold each other in the wisdom and love of the Dharma. What a tremendous gift.

May all beings be touched by the kindness of generosity.

With Metta,
Jean Esther

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Meeting with the experienced students group yesterday, I was struck by the amount of dukkha we are facing in our lives. Not just our personal stories, but seeing the immensity of ignorance in human minds (including our own!), feeling the stress of living in a country that may not always be headed in a direction we agree with, living at a time when global destruction (whether via the environment, terrorism, or nuclear warfare) seems not just a possibility, but at times likely.

I think often of the importance of wisdom, love and compassion as we hold the darker realities of our lives, of being human, of these times. As our Center continues to grow, I see it blossoming into a refuge where we support each other, search together, and strengthen beautiful qualities of mind together.

Recently we had a ten-hour “Sit-A-Thon” where we came together to practice mindfulness and raise funds for the Center. Sharing the space with people who have dedicated so much time and energy to the Center and newcomers who are feeling drawn to explore their hearts and minds filled my own heart with happiness. May Insight PV continue to be a refuge for the development of wisdom and love in this world.

— Rebecca Bradshaw