Boston Meditation Center

Date: Thursday, Dec 19
Time: 7:15-8:45pm
1120 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA

Weekly drop-in class: no registration required. 

This event is offered in the tradition of dana (Pali for giving or generosity): while there is no set cost of attending, we invite you to consider making a donation to support the teacher and The Boston Meditation Center.

Being Still: Cultivating Insight for Wise Action

Dec 14, 2019
1:00-4:30pm
Registration: Boston Meditation Center
Event location: The Arlington Center (369 Mass Ave, Arlington, MA 02474)

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Stillness does not mean inaction. Rather the stability of mind cultivated through meditation is a foundation for discernment. In this half-day retreat we will practice insight meditation through periods of sitting and walking meditation, first to reduce reactivity, then to investigate our own mind. With a clear mind we can see our own habits, patterns, and tendencies, and this allows insight to mature naturally. As our capacity to “see clearly” develops, wisdom grows and is evidenced in our wise response to all of life.

Beginners and ongoing students welcome and encouraged to attend.

North Shore Center for Mindfulness & Insight Meditation

Date: Wednesday, TBD
Time: 7:00-8:15pm
72 Grapevine Rd, Wenham, MA 01984

Drop-in class: no registration required  

This event is offered in the tradition of dana (Pali for giving or generosity): while there is no set cost of attending, we invite you to consider making a donation to support the teacher and The Center for Mindfulness and Insight Meditation.

Calm, Still, Quiet: Winter  Retreat
w/ Chris Crotty

Saturday, January 18

Retreat location: Insight Meditation Center Newburyport
Registration: Boston Meditation Center (BMC)

In winter, the stars seem to have rekindled their fires, the moon achieves a fuller triumph, and the heavens wear a look of a more exalted simplicity.  – John Burroughs

Winter is a natural time for turning inward, while retreat provides an opportunity to focus attention on your meditation practice and contemplate the Buddha’s teachings. In this Retreat with Chris, the outer stillness of the natural world supports us in quieting our mind, and directly experiencing the calm and stillness of concentration. With a mind free from distraction, we use mindfulness (insight meditation) to investigate the path to peace taught by the Buddha and perfected during retreat practice for over 2500 years. Combining periods of sitting and walking meditation, with Dharma teachings, the Winter Retreat is held in noble silence.

This retreat is suitable for beginners and ongoing practitioners who wish to further their practice–meditation instruction and dharma teachings will accommodate all experience levels.   

Cultivating a Heart of Love: Ethics on the Buddhist Path
A residential practice and study retreat

April 2-5, 2020

Registration: Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

Course Description
The Buddha taught a path consisting of wisdom, ethics, and meditation. Though this three-fold sasana is a mutually supportive system, the tendency for ethics to be both pejorative and prescriptive is an issue for many practitioners today; the threat of being confined or something being taken away from us can conflict with our ideas of freedom. Instead, what if ethics was invitatory and developed to fortify our discernment? What if our approach to ethics supported us in using our whole life as a mirror to reinforce our capacity for reflection and establish a greater sense of agency? Building on the premise that the intention of ethics is to cultivate a heart of love and alleviate suffering, this course takes up both the problem and promise of ethics by refuting dogma and notions of restriction, while giving ethical practices a central role in our own self- awareness and liberation. In this way ethics encourages the development of insight, our own greatest potential, and the Buddhist ideal of freedom for all beings.

Learning Intentions
To integrate a study of ethics grounded in the suttas of the Pali cannon with silent meditation, reflection, and discussion; to replace a moralistic rendering of ethics with a personally meaningful ethical inquiry that supports the development of meditation and wisdom; to support students in applying ethical teachings and practices to the world we live in and the particulars of their own lives; to understand the individual and social dimension of ethics.