9 am to 4:30 pm at Nalanda West

In this short retreat there will be sitting and walking meditation and practice writing exercises designed to stimulate the creative juices. The spiritual process can be (and indeed is!) essentially creative, and surprise, intuition, and courage are necessary components. So - whether you work with the arts or not - this retreat should help you to go beyond your normal patterns and see what else may lurk inside you. Be sure to bring writing materials for the day. Register online, by mail or at the door.

Knowing whether our meditation comes from the heart or the mind is essential if it is to progress in accordance with Wise View. The mind uses the meditation to fulfill a purpose and calculates a path toward that defined end. The heart openly embraces all experiences and does not seek outside itself for satisfaction.

This series will explore the different between these two as well as aspects of heart-centered meditation. The series will include 6 classes of 3 talks and 3 discussions plus homework.

Five Consecutive Monday Nights, 7-9pm at Keystone Church

The post-beginning class is intended for practitioners who have completed the SIMS beginning meditation class in the last year or two. The class will continue practitioners’ exploration of dharma and meditation, centering around the question “Why practice?” We’ll look at what the teachings say about the transformative power of mindfulness, and compare with our own experience. What are we learning from practice? Is practice beneficial? What is hard about practice? How can we work with the challenges? The class will include readings, discussion and practice in a variety of insight meditation techniques. Classes will run for five consecutive Mondays November 24 -December 22, 7-9 pm, at Keystone Church, 5019 Keystone Place North, Seattle. Class fee is $25 (to cover space rental) plus dana for the facilitator.

This class will be led by Lyndal Johnson, who has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1995 and completed Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner Program in the Spring of 2007. She has served on the SIMS Board and as a Kalyana Mitta group facilitator.

You may register at the first meeting. For more information, contact Lyndal by email lyndal.johnson@verizon.net.

Please join us at our regular December 9th Tuesday night meeting for an entertaining evening of storytelling and music centered on the Buddhist Jataka Tales. This should be a fun event suitable for the entire family.

The Jataka are the stories of the Buddha’s previous lives. In each one, the Bodhisatta (awakening being) is seen developing those qualities that led to his full enlightenment as the Buddha of our era. These stories, which number more than five hundred, feature the Buddha in many animal and human forms, from elephant and monkey to tree-spirit and outcaste acrobat. Each of the Jataka is set within a frame narrative, in which the Buddha tells the tale of his former birth.

The Jataka reflect the truth that daily life offers us countless opportunities to develop wisdom and compassion, generosity and loving-kindness. Whether born as an elephant, a crow, an outcaste acrobat or a forest-dwelling hermit, we see the Buddha-to-be developing those qualities that led to his full awakening.

Storyteller Margo McLoughlin has been translating and adapting the Jataka (birth stories of the Buddha) for more than ten years. A former cook at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, Margo brings alive the world of Ancient India with her evocative images and occasional use of the original Pali language. In this performance Margo will tell stories of women at the time of the Buddha as well as the story of Kosiya, a miserly treasurer who rivals Scrooge in his stingy ways. Margo will be accompanied by Doug MacKenzie on the mrdangam, a traditional drum of South India.