Our Practice of Mindfulness Meditation
Meditation, Dharma talks, and RecitationsSundays 9 - 10:30 AMNEW LOCATIONconvenient to Navan, Cumberland, Vars
areas of Ottawa ON
Please email for directions
Days of Mindfulness
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What happens at the Sangha?
We follow a theme from September to June highlighted each week by dharma talks, sutra recitations, specific Buddhist practices such as Touchings of the Earth, and Sangha as a Council. In July and August, we practice in a freestyle way, enjoying the Summer.
Each weekly session begins with a sequence of 25 minutes sitting, 10 minutes walking, and a second 25 minutes sitting meditation. The meditation may be silent or guided by a facilitator. The scheduled talk and sharing (discussion) follows the meditation.
Recitation of the Five and Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings is conducted each month.
Sangha as a Council
The decision-making process that guides Sangha Arana, Sangha Council, is a format through which the aspirations of all members are brought forward to support and develop the sangha.
The principle of a community circle format is to organize the Sangha in a way that is most enjoyable for everyone. Thây offers this insight: "You will never find a perfect Sangha. An imperfect Sangha is good enough. Rather than complain too much about the Sangha, do your best to transform yourself into a good element of the Sangha. Accept the Sangha and build on it".
For more on Council, please read The Way of Council by Jack Zimmerman and Virgina Coyle. Bramble Books 2009.
The Five and Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings
The Five Mindfulness Trainings are five ways to cultivate mindfulness. They are the heart and soul of a practice inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh and form the ethical base for living skillfully. Through the practice of the Five Mindfulness Trainings we aspire to transform the obstacles to our development: craving/greed, sloth & torpor, restless & agitation, doubt, and anger. As we become wise about the ways in which these unhealthy habits create dukkha (dissatisfaction), we prepare the ground of our being for the practice of the brahma-viharas: loving-kindness, appreciative joy, compassion and equanimity so that all beings may be free from suffering.
Sangha also recites the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings which are the precepts of the Order of Interbeing (OI). Sangha facilitators Frank Musten and Lynette Genju Monteiro are ordained members of the OI.
