Our Sangha supports its members through weekly group meetings when we meditate and the share wisdom from various Buddhist traditions.
We meet at the Unitarian House every Monday from 7:15 to 8:45pm.
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For more information about our sangha or any questions you might have, feel free to contact us and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
We are an open and welcoming group of people that values the innate wisdom of the sangha. Teachings are offered through facilitations by members of the sangha. We draw from different Buddhist literature, excerpts from recorded dharma talks, and our own experience. We also share wisdom by exploring questions or topics posed by members and in general discussions of the insights and difficulties of practice.
We meet in person, but we also offer the online option. For the link to our Zoom meeting, please subscribe to receive our newsletter.
[Aug 05]
Alan will facilitate this meeting on the topic of the "Poetry Night"
[Aug 12]
Dan will facilitate this meeting on the topic of "Reflecting on Laughing"
[Aug 19]
Al & Jared will facilitate this meeting on the topic of "TBD"
[Aug 26]
Richard will facilitate this meeting on the topic of "Karaniya Metta Sutta: The Path to Peace"
Meditation, daily mindfulness, and following the teachings of the Buddha are our focus. We welcome both traditional and contemporary versions of Buddhism, and we open the embrace of Buddhism to include complementary insights from other spiritual traditions that emphasize mindfulness, awakening, and compassion.
Our Sangha is not a formal Buddhist community in the traditional sense. We have no ordained teacher, master, or monks.
The sangha is intensely practice-based, drawing on different Buddhist traditions—Mahayana, Zen, Vajrayana, Theravada—rather than being formally aligned with one particular tradition.
Some members also participate in more formal communities, such as Thich Nhat Hanh's community and the Big Mind Zen Center of Salt Lake City, or are actively working under teachers in traditions such as Tibetan Buddhism and the Vedanta tradition.
In addition, we have members active in local churches--Catholic, Mormon, and Unitarian Universalist, for example. Many members also participate in the general community through work with local spiritual and charitable programs which are consistent with the teachings of the Buddha.
We also, whenever possible, invite formal teachers to present at our Monday evening meetings and mindfulness retreats that occur two to three times per year.
We meet to deepen our understanding and practice of Buddhism, meditation, and mindfulness.
Our focus is on the insights of evolving Buddhist traditions and exploring other teachings of mindfulness practice.
The Buddha’s first and most basic teachings are that:
There is suffering.
There are reasons for suffering.
There is an end to suffering.
There is a path to the end of suffering.
Our path is to embrace every part of our lives – the joy, the sadness, and every experience in between.
Our path is to let go of cravings and aversions, and thereby experience the enlightenment possible in each moment.
Our path is to live in alignment with our values.
The Buddha taught that we awaken and transcend suffering through a combination of ethics, meditation, and wisdom.
In our practice, we aspire to cultivate the Four Limitless Qualities:
Lovingkindness
Compassion
Joy
Equanimity
We approach all teachings in the spirit of the Buddha’s advice:
Do not believe anything:
just because it has been handed down for many generations,
just because it is spoken and rumored by many,
just because it is found written in religious books,
just on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Only accept what passes the test by proving useful and beneficial in your life.
We welcome all who would join us in this journey.
Our leadership group is composed of members of the sangha who organize the meetings, teachings, and events we offer. Any regular member of the sangha is welcome to join the leadership group. Leadership meetings are announced during our gathering on Monday evenings. For more information, please contact Tim Slocum.
For any comments or suggestions on the website or the newsletter, please contact their caretaker, Dhanna.
One of our missions is to support sangha members who may be facing challenges or sorrows. We can sit with you, help problem solve, or rally the resources of the larger sangha in times of need. Please contact one of the following people if you or someone else in the sangha might need our support.
For information, contact any of our committee members: Al Carlson, Anne Shiffer, Marianne Christian, or Dan Judd.
Here is a link to an excellent beginning meditation course produced by the Insight Meditation Center. It includes (1) Instruction on how to meditate, (2) Guided meditations you can listen to, and (3) “Homework” – recommendations for creating a regular mediation practice.
Below is a video of Ayya Anandabodhi's talk when she virtually visited our sangha on July 2020. You can also download the audio here.
If you have interest in mindfulness meditation, below is a great resource to learn from and practice. Jon Kabat-Zinn shares his view of the nine attitudes to be cultivated in mindfulness meditation.
