Monday, November 25, we will meet online.
Dear friends,
This week, we will meet Monday evening, November 25th, from 7-8:30PM EST online; Wednesday morning, Nov 27th, from 7-8AM EST in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, Nov 29th, 12-1PM EST online.
Please register here and mark your calendars for our very special guest facilitator leading our ONLINE sangha gathering on Monday November 25.
Katie Loncke (they/them) will be leading our discussion on the First Mindfulness Training, Reverence for Life. Katie has been a Buddhist practitioner for over 15 years. They are a former Buddhist Peace Fellowship co-director, an intimacy coach who holds a Harvard degree in Studies of Women, Gender & Sexuality, and a keeper of mischievous attitude that's part nature, part nurture.
Katie shares:
I invite you to *slowly,* carefully re-read the first Mindfulness Training, Reverence for Life [below], and notice what your reaction is.
Mine was an impulse to laugh. Ruefully. (Laugh to keep from crying, my ancestors might say.)
What a tall order!!!
Even this one little phrase: “Not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life.” How beautiful, how moving, and how deeply, sharply humbling that I am falling so far short of these wonderful aspirations. With every purchase on Amazon; every time I pay US taxes; every time I [*cringe*] massacre the ants who are trying to build a nest in my bathroom sink.
If you want to join a space where it’s ok to feel like a complete fraud and failure with regard to this training, and yet sincerely recommit to staying honest, compassionate, learning, and awakening ~ let’s get into it together.
The First Mindfulness Training: Reverence For Life
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.
After our meditation period, we will read the trainings together and then Katie will offer their reflections on the first training. There will be time for group sharing after Katie.
Katie has been a speaker on our Making-Visible series, you can watch their talk on Protective Presence here. You can read their current bios here and here.
We hope you can join us. Please register here.
Warmly,
Opening Heart