2019
Date: Thursday, Dec 6
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.
Unbalanced World, Balanced Mind: Meditation for Difficult Times
Half-day Retreat
Saturday, Feb 16 1:00-4:30pm
Registration: Boston Meditation Center
The world is often not as we want it to be. This is an understatement. Politically, socially, environmentally we are confronted with the truth that human beings dominate the earth, while deeply embedded illusions of many types limit freedom for some people and protect it for others. On a personal level each of us faces the continuous challenge of sustaining well-being within a constantly changing set of conditions within our work, family, health, and relationships. The Buddha’s teachings propose that through meditation practice we can achieve equanimity, a mind that remains balanced when the world is out of balance. Is this a real possibility for us? If so, how? What if we have doubt or feel overwhelmed? This ½ day retreat will explore the Buddha’s teachings on equanimity through meditation practices that are relevant to our personal lives today. Open to all levels of experience; beginners welcome and encouraged.
North Shore Center for Mindfulness & Insight Meditation
Date: Wednesday, Nov 28
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.
Cambridge Insight Meditation Center 331 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 441-9038 Date: Wednesday, March 13 Time: 6:30-8:45pm Registration is not required; this is a drop-in program. We invite attendees to offer financial support for our visiting teachers through the practice of dana (generosity). All are welcome regardless of ability to pay.
- Fee: $5-10, plus dana for teachers.
Wednesday Evening Program schedule
- 6:30 – 7:15: Evening Sit
- 7:15 – 7:30: Mindful Break
- 7:30 – 8:45: Dharma Talk
You are welcome to attend just the sit, just the talk, or both. Please note that the doors to the meditation hall will be closed at 6:35 for the Evening Sit and at 7:35 for the Dharma Talk.
Limitless Heart: Loving Kindness Meditation Retreat
(half day retreat)
Saturday, March 23
9:30am-1:00pm
Registration: Insight Meditation Society
With good will for the entire cosmos, cultivate a limitless heart: Above, below, & all around, unobstructed, without hostility or hate. – Sutta Nipāta 1.150
Program Description When we are in pain, confused, angry, feeling betrayed, or scared, we contract. We close ourselves off from the world in an effort to restore a sense of safety or peace. This pattern of contraction is appealing because it provides temporary relief, yet it closes the heart and numbs the mind. We are left disconnected and unable to see clearly. Metta, or loving-kindness meditation, systematically inclines the mind toward benevolence and love. Cultivating the “metta mind” encourages us to stay present, open, and engaged in our life and the world around us with an attitude of friendliness. Join us for a morning of meditation practice and a Dharma reflection focused on the heart’s potential for limitless kindness. Everyone welcome-open to beginners and experienced practitioners.
Guided Meditation, Dharma Talk, Question & Answer Period w/ Chris Crotty World Wide Insight Sunday, March 24 2:00-3:30pm (eastern) 11:00am-12:30pm (pacific) Drop-in online class open to everyone. Log in from wherever you are!
The Wisdom of Vulnerability
A residential practice and study retreat with Chris at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
April 4-7, 2019
Sustaining: $537
Mid Level (Actual Cost): $417
Supported: $327
Non-Resident: $195
Scholarships of 50% for those under 32. Other scholarship requests can be made directly to BCBS.
Scholarships of 50% for those under 32. Other scholarship requests can be made directly to BCBS.
Registration: Barre Center for Buddhist Studies
Course Description:
The Buddha himself, despite his spiritual achievements, endured human predicaments and difficulties. This course examines the Buddhist ideal of a life beyond suffering alongside the reality of day-to-day living, balancing the Buddha’s radical optimism with the practical concerns of our human lives: physical and emotional health challenges, past regrets and future desires, social injustice, relational challenges, and enduring questions related to finding and sustaining purpose in our life. Through this approach we learn to appreciate our own vulnerability, empathically acknowledge it in others, and allow it to bring us closer to our own freedom while creating caring communities where connection, compassion, and mutual support encourage each other’s awakening. Combining meditation and sutta study with dialogue and relational mindfulness practices, we will co-create an experience that merges the clarity of wisdom with the acceptance of compassion.
Learning intentions:
• Recognize how self-judgment and doubt can arise in response to archetypal images of progress on the Buddhist path.
• Understand Buddhism’s ideal of cessation (freedom from suffering), while experiencing the value of vulnerability in serving that goal.
• Promote self-awareness and empathic connection amongst group members through relational mindfulness practice.
• Understand how vulnerability can be practiced and expressed through three modes of action: body, speech, and mind.
• Integrate two modes of understanding: relative and absolute.
• Recognize and become familiar with sutta passages that convey both the ideal of going beyond suffering and the inevitable human task of embracing suffering.
Embodied: Mindfulness Yoga & Meditation
April 13, 2018
1:00pm-4:30
Registration: Boston Meditation Center
Location: Arlington Center
Yoga and Buddhism share the same aim – the liberation of body, mind, and heart. Postures and breath practice support the body and mind for meditation, and mindfulness enables a more intentional, awareness-based yoga. This program is open to anyone interested in exploring the relationship between yoga asana (postures) and insight meditation. Together these mutually supportive practices foster self-awareness and insight into the conditions that underlie greater well-being and personal freedom.
This half-day retreat includes alternating periods of yoga postures and guided meditation based on the Four Foundations of mindfulness, and is aimed at helping students deepen concentration and investigate the true nature of mind and body. Yoga sessions will draw from yin, kripalu, and vini-yoga, and will be accessible to all-levels of practitioners, including beginners. Beginner and experienced meditators will both benefit.
The Path of Peace & Freedom: Spring Insight Meditation Retreat
With Sayadaw U Inndaka, Chris Crotty, & May Myint Oo
June 6 – 13, 2019
Location: Insight Meditation Center Newburyport
Co-sponsored by Boston Meditation Center and Insight Meditation Center Newburyport.
Register through either organization: http://bostonmeditationcenter.org https://www.imcnewburyport.org
Retreat Description Insight meditation (vipassana) is the central Buddhist practice aimed at awakening. The Buddha taught that the cause of discontent and suffering can be understood, and this insight, or wisdom, is the natural foundation for greater peace, wellbeing, and freedom. Through the practice of insight meditation we calm and stabilize the mind, and then we investigate the mind’s true nature. We wake up to the truth of life, and we enjoy the freedom of our awakened mind.
On this retreat, Burmese meditation master Sayadaw U Inndaka and Chris Crotty will guide students in the development of insight through guided meditation, extended silence, individual interviews, and dharma talks. This is a unique opportunity to practice and learn with Sayadaw U Inndaka, and to rest your mind in the quiet natural surroundings of Insight Meditation Center Newburyport.
Sayadaw U Inndaka Born in 1952 in Upper Burma, Sayadaw U Inndaka was ordained in 1972 at the famous Mahagandhayon Monastery in Amarapura, Burma. Starting in 1976 he practiced vipassana meditation in the Mahasi Meditation Center in Mandalay; some years later he went to the Chanmyay Yeiktha Meditation Center in Yangon, where he was commissioned to teach meditation. In 1996 he became the abbot of the newly established Chanmyay Myaing Meditation Center on the outskirts of Yangon. In 2009 he established a second center in the northern town of Pyin Oo Lwin, not far from Mandalay. Sayadaw U Inndaka’s books on the practice of metta meditation and the factors of enlightenment have been translated into English and German. Sayadaw U Inndaka teaches Boston Meditation Center’s annual spring residential retreat
Where to? The Joyful Truth of the Buddhist Path
An integrated practice and study day-long retreat with Chris Crotty
September 28, 2019
9:00-5:00pm
(This program offers opportunities for meditation and teacher-guided study of passages from the suttas of the Pali Canon-because program sessions are integrated we recommend attending the full day)
(This program offers opportunities for meditation and teacher-guided study of passages from the suttas of the Pali Canon-because program sessions are integrated we recommend attending the full day)
Program Description
Buddhist teachings and meditation help us live with greater presence and well-being in each moment, a skill to learn that leads to the greatest fulfillment, freedom from suffering. Along the path, while we increase our capacity to be present with life, we are also preparing for our final moment, the moment of death. Historically, the wisdom of the Buddhist tradition has sought to remind us of the truth of death, specifically because it rouses motivation to align our lives with our deepest potential. Awareness of death is also said to lead to joy.
In this unique practice and study retreat, periods of meditation will be integrated with teachings and dharma reflections that illuminate the relationship between living well and the inevitable truth of aging, sickness, and death. Select passages from the Pali Canon will be used to explore how meditation helps us prepare for the end of life, and how being aware of the inevitability of death helps us live with greater freedom and joy.
This program is open to beginners and ongoing students. All are welcome.
Guided Meditation, Dharma Talk, Question & Answer Period w/ Chris Crotty World Wide Insight Sunday, Nov 10 2:00-3:30pm (eastern) 11:00am-12:30pm (pacific) Drop-in online class open to everyone. Log in from wherever you are!
Attachment and Non-Attachment: The Dharma of Relationship
with Chris Crotty, M.A. & Julia Barry, LMFT, SEP
Date TBD
Registration: Boston Meditation Center
One of the basic tenants of Buddhist practice is that attachment causes suffering. Western psychology promotes secure attachment in relationship as central to physical, emotional and psychological well being, health and happiness. How do we resolve this paradox? How do we resolve our need for deep connection in relationship alongside our wish for the deep happiness espoused by Buddhist teachings? How can meditation help us achieve greater ease, skill, and satisfaction in our relationships? In this program we will explore Buddhist teachings on impermanence and not-self, as well as attachment theory, which addresses how our early childhood relationships inform our adult views and behaviors. The format will include meditation instruction, Buddhist and western teachings on attachment, and relational mindfulness practices. We are all in relationship, whether it be intimate partnership, family, friendship or community – all are welcome and encouraged to attend this program! This program will serve as a foundation for future programs focusing on Buddhism, meditation, and relationship and is recommended for anyone who may want to further their practice and understanding in these disciplines.
Teachers Chris Crotty Julia Barry, LMFT, SEP
2020
Calm, Still, Quiet: Winter Residential Retreat
w/ Chris Crotty
January TBD
Registration options:
Residential: $300
Commuter: $200
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 second annual Winter Residential 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 Residential Retreat is held in noble silence. This retreat is suitable for those who have not yet sat retreat, as well as ongoing practitioners who wish to further their practice–meditation instruction and dharma talks will accommodate all experience levels.
Calm, Still, Quiet: Winter day-long Retreat
w/ Chris Crotty
January TBD
$90
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 second annual Winter 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 day-long retreat is comprised of the middle day of a three day residential retreat, and is suitable for those who have not yet sat retreat, as well as ongoing practitioners who wish to further their practice–meditation instruction and dharma talks will accommodate all experience levels.
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