IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
Passed Hands
As Buddhist practitioners we are fortunate to live in an age when the authentic Buddhist teachings have “passed hands” from distant cultures through generous teachers directly into our lives. Buddhism has a storied history of such wisdom transmission from culture to culture, and we are indeed carrying on such a tradition in how we translate, practice, study and communicate the teachings that we have been handed.
And as history has shown, passing these teachings from culture to culture has never
gone smoothly. Traveling harsh geography, facing political opposition, adapting to
unknown cultural customs, overcoming language barriers - the list is long, and the
history is rich in stories of heartbreak and triumph.
And here we are in the 21st century inheriting teachings cultivated by generations of monks and nuns, forest dwellers & cave ascetics - handing these teachings to us - schoolteachers and engineers; artists and data scientists; psychologists and physicians; moms and dads. Culture to culture - person to person - teacher to student. And, just as history has shown, circumstances have not always gone as smoothly as we would have liked. Yet, the transmission has indeed happened, the noble Buddhist teachings have “passed hands” and Buddhist wisdom is flourishing in today’s modern world.
And while there are monastics and wandering ascetics among us in these modern times - fortunate for us, indeed - the tradition of the householder as Buddhist practitioner and teacher is taking root. Here, in this householder tradition, the challenges of everyday life are seen not as obstacles to practice, but opportunities to do so. Arranging our homes and lifestyles graciously; contributing to our world generously through livelihood; offering kindness and compassion to our neighbors and realizing the noble wisdom of our path through regular practice - this is what “passed hands” feels like for so many of us. It is here in the blending of profound wisdom with the details of everyday life that we inherit this 2,647-year tradition.
May we always recall with joyful gratitude the many lineages and great teachers with whom we have “passed hands” and may our householder tradition continue to grow and flourish, fostering sanity and kindness in this remarkable and perplexing world.
With a deep bow and smile to you all,
Michael Carroll
Notes from Bill
Hello all,
Wednesday Meditation resumes this week. You can find the Zoom link in your profile when you login to this site, or get it emailed to you by signing up here https://www.thewisdomseat.org/wednesday-meditation
There is a new one-day program in November with Laura Kaufman titled "An Introduction to the Practice of Mahamudra." Find it below in The Wisdom Seat Events.
We will be having our September Mindful Gathering, titled "Exploring the Bardos through Life," on Tuesday, Sept 17 with Alison Driscoll. Please join us: https://www.thewisdomseat.org/event-details/exploring-the-bardos-through-life
Our most recent Mindful Gathering, titled "Elements of a Shrine" was recorded and is available for you to watch below.
We had an surprise message from Matt DiRodio, who reached out to share this picture from his "Day of temporary ordination."
There were no podcast episodes published in July or August, but we will be back on track this month.
thanks and take care,
Bill Moriarty
We would like to remind you to take some time and visit our Instagram page, @wisdomseat_stevemccurry. Here, you will find an array of enlightening teachings and breathtaking images that are bound to inspire and awaken your mind and spirit. We have curated these posts with utmost care and diligence to provide you with a source of inspiration and learning.
We are thrilled about our collaboration with Steve McCurry Studios, a partnership we believe will bridge our communities. Through the combined power of beauty and wisdom, we aim to create deep and meaningful connections among us all. We look forward to your continued support and engagement with our content.
Exploring the Bardos through Life with Alison Driscoll - A Mindful Gathering
Tuesday, September 17th 7pm-8pm EST
Online
In September, Bill talks with Alison Driscoll, discussing how starting a meditation practice in the early '80s evolved into Alison's life journey in health, healing, & hospice. We will explore how bardos can be tiny gaps with the potential for realization.
Alison is one of the elders on The Wisdom Seat Lerwa Council, and has been practicing & studying in the Kagyu-Nyingma Buddhist lineage since the early 1980s and her principal teacher/vajra guru is Her Eminence Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche in the Mindrolling lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
This is our September event in a monthly series called “A Wisdom Seat Mindful Gathering.” These gatherings are intended to be discussions about a specific topic, with Q&A sessions with the community. Please join us, and bring your curiosity and your questions!
An Introduction to the Practice of Mahamudra
With Laura Kaufman
Saturday, November 9th 9:45am-4:45pm EST
In-Person
Please join us for this introduction to Mahamudra, the cherished living meditation lineage of the Karma Kagyu tradition. Though Mahamudra practice is simplicity itself, preparation is essential. We will explore the warm heart and open mind of the Mahamudra practitioner and the essential points of practice.
All are welcome to this in-person program. An established shamatha meditation practice will provide the foundation for connecting with these precious teachings. You are asked to support the container by arriving on time and bringing a bag lunch for our silent midday meal.
Laura Kaufman has been studying and practicing Buddhist
meditation for over 50 years and studied Mahamudra with
Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and Dzogchen Ponlop
Rinpoche. After completing the traditional three-year retreat
at Sopa Choling, Gampo Abbey in 2010 and with the guidance
and encouragement of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Laura has
been instructing practitioners in Mahamudra meditative
disciplines since 2000.
Wednesday Meditation
Ongoing offering: Online meditation every Wednesday evening 6:15 to 7:30 PM EST
Worldwide Wednesday evening online sitting meditation practice.
We, at The Wisdom Seat, invite you to meet on Wednesday evenings from 6:15 – 7:30 PM Eastern Time to practice the sitting meditation discipline as taught in the Buddhist & Shambhala tradition of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Nyinthun: Everyone is welcome!
Ongoing offering: Nyinthun (in-person and online) The first Sunday of every month. All day sitting interspersed with walking meditation. The word nyinthun*, is Tibetan for “day session.”
In understanding dharma, Trungpa Rinpoche placed a strong emphasis on mindfulness/awareness meditation practice. This community practice of Nyinthun - all day sitting interspersed with walking meditation - gives us the opportunity to experience the full spectrum of our mind, make friends with our immediate experience and rediscover our natural sanity.
Please take a look, and sign up to join us for some nyinthun retreat days. It is ok to join for as much of the day as you can.
The Wisdom Seat Retreat
October 12 - 20, 2024
We invite you to join us for this in-person Autumn retreat at the Karma TriyanaDharmachakra monastery in the delightful upstate New York Catskill Mountains. Michael Carroll, cofounder of The Wisdom Seat will be leading this 8-day practice intensive, supported by members of The Wisdom Seat staff. This retreat is designed to help us deepen our mindfulness-awareness meditation and integrate it into our daily life. The retreat will include:
6 - 7 hours of daily shrine room meditation alternating sitting and walking during each session
Breath and body relaxation practices
Outdoor walking meditation
Periodic group meditation instruction
Readings from Buddhist texts
Dharma talks and discussion
Individual meditation instruction upon request
An hour+ of helping hands
Participants will be asked to observe “functional silence” throughout most of the retreat, limiting verbal communication to a minimum.
Vegetarian breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be offered, with access to snacks, coffee, and tea throughout the retreat.
Since the retreat will be limited to 30 participants, those attending will be expected to participate in all 8 days of the retreat.
Local Commuters may participate 8 days or less.
Location: Karma Triyana Dharmachakra
Woodstock, NY
Collaborative practice undertaking with The Wisdom Seat & The Profound Treasury Retreat
The Wisdom Seat encourages as many opportunities for practitioners to engage in the discipline of mindfulness/awareness (shamatha/vipashyana) as one can engage in. We are happy to invite the Profound Treasury Retreat (PTR) with their offering of Sunday sitting.
PTR community is hosting a 2-hour sitting session from 9:30am to 11:30 am EST
There will be meditation instruction every third Sunday of the month, given by a qualified meditation instructor.
Dates: September 8th, 15th, 22nd, & 29th
Here is the Zoom link for this session: Sunday Sitting Zoom Link
All are welcome to attend.
KARMÊ CHÖLING
Sons & Daughters of Noble Family-Speaker Series
May 12th - October 20th
Sundays 1pm - 3pm EST
Online
Join more than twenty individuals who began their Buddhist path as students of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, or within the Vajradhatu / Shambhala community, and who have continued walking the path of dharma in an extraordinary variety of ways.Speakers and participants will together, explore the richness of our greater Vajradhatu/Shambhala extended dharma family, as well as have an opportunity to cross-pollinate our understanding of each other’s lineages and paths.
BONUS: Sept. 29 - Join Michael Carroll for a discussion on The Wisdom Seat and Meeting the Spiritual Challenge of Modern Materialism
VAJRA REGENT OSEL TENDZIN LIBRARY
Vajrayogini Teachings by Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin
Class will meet once/month
September 22nd, October 20th, November 17th, December 15th
Online
The course is based on the Vajrayogini teachings of Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin from the new book, The Indestructible Path: The Sadhana of the Coemergent Mother. At each class we will listen to and discuss the audio recordings of the talks from the two Vajrayogini ATS programs taught by the Vajra Regent with the Dorje Loppön in 1984 and 1985.
You may attend any or all classes. There is no charge for participation, but the course is only for sadhakas.
NOTE: If you are unable to attend one of the classes, they will all be recorded and posted on the Timeline.
TO REGISTER
If you have already registered with us as an empowered Vajrayogini practitioner, please let us know if you would like to pursue this course, click jackiesaunders10@gmail.com
If you are a Vajrayogini practitioner but have not registered that classification with us, please email the date of your abhisheka, where, and by whom. We will be happy to add you to the list. That will also enable you to access sadhaka-level teachings on the Timeline, whether or not you can take this course. If you would like to take this course, include that in your email to us.
WESTCHESTER MEDITATION CENTER
The Way of the Buddha:
Waking Up through the Path of Meditation
WMC Foundation Level Course – Semester One
Wednesdays 7 – 8:30 PM
September 11 – December 18, 2024
at the Aligned Center, Irvington
Hybrid Class also on Zoom
Join us as we explore the authentic path of meditation and insight as originally described by the Buddha and skillfully transmitted to the West by one of the great Tibetan masters of our time, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. We will explore such topics as the life of the Buddha; the birth of confusion and suffering; karma; and the path to sanity, insight and compassion. We’ll focus on the techniques and stages of meditation, as well as bringing meditation into our daily lives. Our study will be presented in talks and group discussion.
Readings have been compiled from a wide variety of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s writings and provided in a sourcebook, available in both printed and digital versions. In-person attendance is encouraged, but the course will be 'hybrid' format, with the option to attend via Zoom.
Taught by Gene Bobker & Tom Pantaleoni
Suggested* offering: $125 (or $15 per class)
DORJE DENMA LING
Mahamudra Retreat: Discovering the Nature of Mind
with Scott Wellenbach and Kristine McCutcheon
September 27 - October 20, 2024
Dorje Denma Ling, Canada
We are delighted to invite you to a vajrayana program this autumn, restricted to tantrikas and sadhakas who have received pointing out instruction.
Kristine McCutcheon and Scott Wellenbach will lead the group in this three-week, mostly silent retreat following Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje’s shamatha and vipashyana mahamudra meditation instructions.
An opportunity for a supported deep retreat. A chance to be alone in a group. A time to simplify, enjoy and meditate.
The retreat generally follow the format as practiced in the Sopa Choling Retreat. Our practice will be both inside the shrine room and outside in nature, both still and moving. Each retreatant will have options for interviews. Everyone will support the container with shared care of the environment.
Link: https://dorjedenmaling.org/programs-listing/2107/mahamudra-retreat-discovering-the-nature-of-mind/
PROFOUND TREASURY RETREAT
The Colorado Retreat: Everything is Connected
October 4 – 13, 2024
Drala Mountain Center, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado
The topic of this year’s retreat is the mandala principle. Mandalas present Buddhist teachings in the form of a circular diagram, as a dynamic and interconnected system. Mandala teachings encourage us to think more holistically and to relate to experience in terms of energies, systems, relationships, and patterns of interconnection. Mandalas display the intersecting webs of connection between all experiences and all beings. They help us to place our personal experiences within a broader context, a context in which every experience is welcomed and included.
Throughout the retreat, our focus will be on cultivating a direct visceral connection with the five basic elements—earth, water, fire, wind, and space— as a way to go more deeply into Buddhist teachings on working with emotions.
KATOG CHOLING GON
Nyingtik Yabzhi
November 8th – 12th
Nyingtik Tsapod
November 14th – 17th
Katog Choling Gön (Katog Rit’hröd) Retreat Center
Parthenon, Arkansas
On the occasion of the consecration of the new temple and representations, Khentrul Lodrö T’hayé Rinpoche offers this special event at the Katog Choling Gön retreat center in Parthenon, Arkansas.
You may attend just the Nyingtik Yabzhi or just the Nyingtik Tsapod or both, but full attendance of either section is mandatory. The Nyingtik Yabzhi will be from the morning of the 8th to the evening of 12th. The 13th serves as a rest and travel day. The Nyingtik Tsapod will be from the morning of the 14th to the evening of the 17th. You must arrive the day before and depart the day after these dates for either both or one of the teachings.
The cost for attending both events is a sliding scale $560-800. The amount is reduced if you are attending only one of the empowerments. Katog-provided accommodations are an extra charge. Full cost and accommodation details are provided during the registration process below.
Link for Registration & Questionnaire: https://katog.org/event/2024-11-8-katogrithrodgon/
Consciousness is the root of cyclic existence; the objects are its sphere of experience.
By seeing no self with respect to the objects the root of cyclic existence will come to an end.
— Four Hundred Verses, 14:25
Āryadeva
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