Friends,

For the first month of 2025 we’re going to the root of the Buddha’s teaching: the four noble truths.

As many of you know these four – the unsatisfactoriness of unawakened existence, the cause of this unsatisfactoriness or suffering, the possibility of freedom, and how to achieve that freedom – are shared by all Buddhist traditions.

Thus these four aren’t basic but core, meaning that if we truly realize these  four, we will awaken. With this in mind we’ll be exploring these four in ways that you can bring into your practice, into your daily lives. This is fruitful material!

We are exploring these four over two weeks, Jan. 2 and Jan. 16. For this upcoming 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 sit we’ll explore  the solution to suffering, or dukkha: what is freedom from dukkha, and how do we get there?

Last  session we explored the first and second noble truths: The first noble truth  that unawakened life is  unsatisfactory, or dukkha; and the  second  noble truth describing the  cause of that dukkha, which is craving, or in another way, fundamental ignorance.

If you missed it, here’s a recording from Jan. 2.

The third and  fourth  noble truth are in away even more important, because  they offer  the way out, freedom from dukkha. The third  explores  the nature of  that freedom – nibanna – while the  fourth is  step-by-step directions – the noble eightfold path - to take us to that  freedom. 

The four noble truths are so central to the Buddha’s teachings – in fact among the first things he taught - they seem a good way to start the year. Also people have asked for more core teachings, and it  doesn’t get more  core than this. And third, Seattle Insight will be exploring the four noble truths over the entirety of 2025, so this is in a small way paralleling that.

The URL for the evening will be new, and please email Steve Wilhelm at stevellen95@comcast.net for it. Don’t use  last year’s  URL, because it won’t work.

Or, please come in person to the chapel at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

Please consider offering dana to Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, which makes this space available on a dana-only basis, in a very kind and generous way. If you do, please mention you’re from Eastside Insight Meditation.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

Also you're invited to offer dana to the teacher, with links and addresses below. Many thanks for your generous dana, which will be helping to pay for an upcoming retreat, to help me come back and better offer to all of you.

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48
 
Steve Wilhelm
17623 184th Ave. NE
Woodinville, WA 98072

Big bows to the growing numbers of sangha members who have been stepping up to help set up for Thursday  evenings. It’s a blessing to do this good work with others, and we have fun before everyone arrives, so please sign up below!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Looking ahead:

Lyndal Johnson and I will be offering a daylong on Saturday, Jan. 25, entitled “In Spite of it All, Finding Joy in 2025.” We had originally intended to offer this daylong in Kirkland, but due to a number of factors it will be at the Seattle Insight Meditation Society center in Seattle. As some of you know, it’s extremely easy to get from downtown Kirkland to the SIMS center on the 255 bus, which ends on Campus Parkway, just a few minute walk from the SIMS center. And of  course, it  will also be online. Please get this on your calendar and sign up!

https://seattleinsight.org/event/in-spite-of-it-all-finding-joy-in-2025/
 
Looking farther ahead, I’ll be offering a six-week meditation course in Kirkland, on six Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m., starting Feb. 5. This series is intended for people new to the practice as well as those already practicing who wish to deepen. Please sign up if you’re interested, and mention it to friends who may benefit. I’m happy to answer any questions.

We will be needing two Eastside volunteers for this series, which is always a warm and interesting exercise in collaboration. Please step forward if you wish to volunteer, and email me at  stevellen95@comcast.net

Here’s a link for the series - https://seattleinsight.org/event/eastside-introductory-class-series-feb-2025-2/
 
Here are a few other  fruitful bits:

-          Happy to share that the winter 2025 issue of Northwest Dharma News has gone live. You’re very much encouraged to explore this, even subscribe (it’s free), because it’s deeply important for dharma groups to know of each other, to support each other.

-          Big thanks for your kind dana donations over the last year. These helped fund pilgrimage to Asia, which I have shared with you and which can be found here in recorded form. Also your dana helped fund a $300 donation to Metta  in Action, which supports nuns and  women in Myanmar; and $108 to the Tibet Fund, which is  helping with relief work after the Jan. 8 earthquakes there.

-          If you’re wanting to listen  to the suttas, instead  of read them, here’s a  great  resource of audio sutta readings, suggested by Sangha Member  Robyn Beckman.

With a bow,
 
Steve
 

Friends,

As we enter the sacredness of the Christmas season, it’s also a time to explore the inner qualities of the Buddha.

Our Eastside Insight tradition is to explore some aspect of the Buddha’s life, or that of his chief disciples, before Christmas. This year we’re going to break this into two sections, the first about the Buddha’s life before awakening, and the second about the time after.

On Dec. 5 we  explored the Buddha's life before awakening, and what we can learn from the situations he faced, and the choices he made, which support and inform our own spiritual journeys.

For this Dec. 19 sit  we’ll be  exploring who the  Buddha was  after  he awakened, some  of the choices  he  made and  avenues  he  offered, and what  they mean  in our lives. A tentative title is: Lessons from the Buddha after Enlightenment

The enlightened Buddha can seem so beyond our lives, that it can be hard to know how to relate. But there are many touch points or parallels between his life and our own, helpful for our own life journeys. We will explore these together.

The URL for the evening will be  https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2023-II, or please come in person to the chapel at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

Please consider offering dana to Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, which makes this space available on a dana-only basis, in a very kind and generous way. If you do, please mention you’re from Eastside Insight Meditation.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

If you wish to offer dana to the teacher, links and addresses are below. Many thanks for your generous dana, which helped pay for my pilgrimage to Thailand and Nepal, including giving dana to multiple other teachers and monastics. Always you all were in my heart while offering, so in a way of generosity, where it counts, all of you were on pilgrimage.

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48
 
Steve Wilhelm
17623 184th Ave. NE
Woodinville, WA 98072

Big bows to the growing numbers of sangha members who have been stepping up to help set up for Thursday  evenings. It’s a blessing to do this good work with others, and we have fun before everyone arrives, so please sign up below!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Looking ahead:

Lyndal Johnson and I will be offering a daylong on Saturday, Jan. 25, specifically focused on the very points described above. We had originally intended to offer this daylong in Kirkland, but due to a number of factors it will be at the Seattle Insight Meditation Society center in Seattle. As some of you know, it’s extremely easy to get from downtown Kirkland to the SIMS center on the 255 bus, which ends on Campus Parkway, just a few minute walk from the SIMS center. Please get this on your calendar!
 
Looking farther ahead, I’ll be offering a six-week meditation course in Kirkland, on six Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m., starting Feb. 5. This series is intended for people new to the practice as well as those already practicing who wish to deepen. Please sign up if you’re interested, and mention it to friends who may benefit. I’m happy to answer any questions.

We will be needing two Eastside volunteers for this series, which is always a warm and interesting exercise in collaboration. Please step forward if you wish to volunteer.

Here’s a link for the series - https://seattleinsight.org/event/eastside-introductory-class-series-feb-2025-2/
 
Lastly, SIMS in Seattle is  raising  funds for the new “North Room.” This is a  new space  on the other end of the University Friends building, which will offer  space  for SIMS social  events, walking meditation,  large  groups, away  from the main  hall.

If you are moved to make a donation, please  do so here:

https://seattleinsight.org/about/north-room-social-hall-fundraiser/

 May you be well and happy. May we all persevere on the path, despite obstacles, to reveal the fruit of practice.

With a bow,
 
Steve

Friends,

Now as we enter the sacred  time of the ending of the  year, the longest nights and  shortest days, there’s beauty and wisdom.

With the sacred holiday season on us, we're going to explore the limitless kindness of two great masters - the Buddha and Jesus Christ - and see how they parallel. There's much to learn from the similarities of these two great beings, who lived 500 years and thousands of miles apart

We’ll be sitting  together at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 7, finishing at 9 p.m.

The URL for the evening will be  https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2023-II, or please come in person to the chapel at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

Please consider offering dana to Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, which makes this space available on a dana-only basis. If you do, please mention you’re from Eastside Insight Meditation.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022
If you wish to donate to the teacher, it’s
paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48
 
Steve Wilhelm
17623 184th  Ave. NE
Woodinville, WA 98072

On a very personal note, thank you to everyone who offered words and thoughts of kindness, when Ellen was in the hospital. She's home now, and moving forward with new  understanding of what she needs.

Also deep thanks to everyone who contributed to donating to Metta in Action over these last months. They needed us to send in a check at the end of November, so we sent them $900, much of it from the generosity of all of you. These funds will help nuns, women and children in Myanmar, who are facing great difficulties with the current regime.

 Speaking of generosity, also there’s an opportunity to help set up on Thursday, especially by preparing for the tea break. Just generosity purifies the mind, moves us from self-cherishing. Thus setting out cups, with the right attitude, is as much a practice as is time on the cushion. Please sign up below!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Looking ahead, I’ll be offering a six-week introduction to meditation class starting Jan. 17. Please sign up if you’re interested, or tell a friend.
 
https://seattleinsight.org/event/introductory-meditation-class-series-in-person-online/2024-01-17/
 
Also we’re needing two volunteers to help for the six evenings of  the class, so please consider volunteering. It’s a  great way to support many people in the dharma.
 
Bows to you,

Steve
 

Friends,


When it’s dark outside we  can find light insight, one of the  blessings  of dark Northwest fall weather. Let us gather together this Thursday in shared peace and love.
 
The Eastside Insight sit will be 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16, finishing at 9 p.m.

For this Nov. 16 sit we’re very happy to welcome Sooz Appel, a person of decades of practice experience, who serves as one of the Seattle  Insight Meditation Society local  dharma leaders. Reversing what we said at the last meeting, she will be in the chapel in person, although we’ll also be online, thus hybrid.
 
I didn’t go to Thailand, primarily because my wife Ellen was ill (she’s better) and needed care  and support. It’s all good, and I’m happy I’ll be able to support you all on Nov. 16.
 
Sooz’s  talk will be:
 
Practicing with the precepts: making them your own.
 
She writes:
 
“The precepts are a powerful and often challenging part of the path. They are powerful because they offer practical guideposts for living an ethical life. They  are  challenging because often we don’t (or can’t or choose not to) follow them exactly.
 
Each of the precepts contain within it complexities and nuances. Whether it’s the challenges of gardeners facing if and how to eliminate unwanted “pests,” or lifestyle choices that may include intoxicants, or how to interpret “taking only what is given”—exploring these further is a fruitful conversation to have with ourselves and each other.”
 
Here’s some background on Sooz:
 
“Sooz Appel was introduced to Vipassana meditation in 1983 at a death and dying retreat with Stephen Levine. Later that year, she and two friends established Shanti Seattle, which offered emotional support to people who were dying. She joined SIMS when it formed and served on the board and as president from 2001-2003. Over the years, Sooz has filled nearly every volunteer position in SIMS and continues to give of her time and energy to the sangha. In addition to issues of death and dying, Sooz has offered mindfulness opportunities (classes and retreats) to teenagers through both the Seattle Teen Mindfulness Circle and Inward Bound Mindfulness Education (iBme).
 
Sooz is semi-retired having spent 25 years running a recycling company with her life partner. She now helps to manage their commercial property with its dozen small business tenants.”

The URL for the evening will be  https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2023-II, or please come in person to the chapel at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

As we said earlier, through the end of the year we’ll be slightly shifting how we look at dana, to help cultivate an understanding that this isn’t a transaction but an offering of generosity.

For  starters, please consider offering dana to Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, which makes this space available on a dana-only basis. If you do, please mention you’re from Eastside Insight Meditation.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

In terms of offering to the teacher, we’ll be splitting any dana offered between the teacher and Metta In Action. This is an international group that benefits nuns and others in Myanmar.

 Thus to offer dana split between Metta In Action and the teacher, please offer cash in the teacher basket, or use  Venmo at @sooz-appel, and we’ll get half in the Metta in Action fund.
 
Speaking of generosity, also there’s an opportunity to help set up on Thursday, especially by preparing for the tea break. Just generosity purifies the mind, moves us from self-cherishing. Thus setting out cups, with the right attitude, is as much a practice as is time on the cushion. Please sign up below!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Looking ahead, I’ll be offering a six-week introduction to meditation class starting Jan. 17. Please sign up if you’re interested, or tell a friend.
 
https://seattleinsight.org/event/introductory-meditation-class-series-in-person-online/2024-01-17/
 
Also we’ll be needing two volunteers for the six evenings  of  the class, so please consider volunteering. It’s a  great way to support many in the dharma.
 
Bows  to you,

Steve

Friends,


Love and light to all of you, and let us gather  together this Thursday in shared peace and love, despite rocky times in the  world.

The Eastside Insight sit will be 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2, finishing at 9 p.m.

How we speak, what we say to each other, are among the most important choices we make. That’s why of the 10 non-virtues, four are about speech: lying, divisive speech, harsh speech and idle chatter.

For this evening we’ll explore the 10 non-virtues, and in particular focus on the four non-virtues of speech. It’s notable that the 10 include three of body, and three of mind, but  four of speech. This suggests how important our speech is, in our connections with other people, the human world around us, and how we impact others, and thus ourselves.

This matter of cultivating virtuous  speech, and avoiding non-virtuous speech, is of  fundamental importance on the path. Without cultivating virtuous speech, our progress on the  path will be paralyzed.

The URL for the evening will be  https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2023-II, or please come in person to the chapel at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

As we said earlier, through the end of the year we’ll be slightly shifting how we look at dana, to help cultivate an understanding that this isn’t a transaction but  an offering of generosity.

For  starters, please consider offering dana to Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, which makes this space available on a dana-only basis. If you do, please mention you’re from Eastside Insight Meditation.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

In terms of offering to the teacher, we’ll be splitting any dana offered between the teacher and Metta In Action. This is an international group that benefits nuns and others in Myanmar.

Some of you may know IMS teacher  Carol  Wilson, who also is one of the organizers of Metta in Action. When I told her what we were  doing she  wrote:

“That is so inspiring!  I am really happy that you have shared this with me, I will of course share it with the other MIA folks. isn't it amazing to see how generosity inspires further generosity?”

 Thus to offer dana split between Metta In Action and the teacher, please use  PayPal at
paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48, and I’ll put half in the Metta in Action fund.
 
Or send through the post:

Steve Wilhelm
17623 184th  Ave. NE
Woodinville, WA 98072

Speaking of generosity, also there’s an opportunity to help set up on Thursday, especially by preparing for the tea break. Just generosity purifies the mind, moves us from self-cherishing. Thus setting out cups, with the right attitude, is as much a practice as is time on the cushion. Please sign up below!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Looking ahead, and speaking of happiness, Lauren Wilson and I will be offering a hybrid daylong at Northlake, on Saturday, Nov. 4. This means you can attend in person, or online.
 

We’ve entitled it: “How dharma practice brings balance, and even happiness, in perilous times.”

Here’s the link, and  please sign up so we can practice  together.

https://seattleinsight.org/event/day-of-mindfulness-in-person-online-4/

We now have three volunteers for the day of mindfulness, so thank you very much!

May all of you be well and happy. Looking forward to sitting in community on Thursday!

Bows,

Steve

Friends,

Bows to you, and hoping you’re finding the  path fruitful.

For this Thursday’s Eastside Insight meditation, we’re very honored to cancel  it. This is so you’ll get a rare chance to hear from the Venerable Luang Por Passano (Ajahn Passano), one of the most practiced and revered Western-born monks. In particular he was the third  of the Western monks  who studied with Ajahn Chah, starting in about 1975.

Often I suggest that any of you do all you can to make contact with highly realized beings. This is one of those times.

I met Ajahn Passano in 1988, when he was abbot of the nearby monastery for Westerners, Wat Pah Nanachat. Way back then he impressed me by his deep continuity, his wise presence and sense of making contact, qualities which have only grown.

Luang Por  Passano will be offering a dharma talk and answering questions from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday, June 15 at St. Mark’s Cathedral on Capitol Hill in Seattle. In particular he’ll be speaking in Bloedel Hall, which is on the back of the building. While I’d encourage you to be there in person (I’ll be there), this will also be on Zoom and YouTube.

Here’s a Zoom link:

Zoom Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87924444127?pwd=Q1ZIa2Z3b3lpYTVUZktjaFJtMW1lUT09
Meeting ID: 879 2444 4127 / Passcode: 305565

Zoom Link for Remote Participants

Here’s also a link from the Clear Mountain website:

https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/events/dhamma-talk-and-qa-with-luang-por-pasanno-in-person-online/

This Thursday event  is just one of several events  over the week,  culminating in a rich “robe-offering” ceremony on Saturday, which also will official launch the creation of Clear Mountain Monastery.

https://www.clearmountainmonastery.org/2023/04/03/finding-a-home-robe-offering-ceremony/

Seattle Insight Meditation Society will be offering a parallel event on Friday evening.

https://seattleinsight.org/event/dhamma-talk-and-qa-with-luang-por-pasanno-ayya-santussika-ayya-cittananda-in-person-online/

Below is some information from the Clear Mountain Monastery website.

Hoping you can make a few of these events!

Bows,

Steve

Dhamma Talk and Q&A with Luang Por Pasanno (In-Person & Online)

Thursday, June 15th, 6 – 8 pm at St. Mark’s Cathedral’s Bloedel Hall (enter through back of cathedral), 1245 10th Ave E. Those unable to attend in-person are also welcome to tune in via Zoom or YouTube livestream. 

Join the Clear Mountain community in welcoming Luang Por Pasanno, co-founder of Abhayagiri Buddhist monastery, for an evening Dhamma teaching and Q&A. The event represents our first chance to greet and hear the wisdom of one of the root teachers of the Thai Forest Tradition in the West, and a guiding light of the current project. Ayyā Santussikā and Ayyā Cittānandā, founders of Karuna Buddhist Vihara, just come from a nearby retreat, will also be visiting, and (if not too tired from their travels) may be able to answer questions as well.

In the spirit of Dhamma, all teachings are offered completely free of charge, with nothing expected in return, though those inspired may give in-person or online. For directions and information on what to bring, see below. Those unable to attend in-person are welcome to tune in via Zoom or YouTube livestream. Welcome! 

What to Bring
– A cushion to sit on if you want, though chairs will be available as well, and your love of practice!

Parking
Those driving may enter the campus at the north between the cathedral and the St. Nicholas Building – the location of the Gage Academy and Seattle Amistad School. They may then drive all the way to the back of the cathedral. Parking is free for Clear Mountain attendees even though signs in the lot indicate payment is required. If the “carriage gateway” behind the St. Nicholas building is open, participants are encouraged to park there. We encourage the use of public transportation when convenient, and the Seattle bus #49 stops at the corner of 10th Ave. and E Galer, just north of the meeting place.

Zoom Link
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87924444127?pwd=Q1ZIa2Z3b3lpYTVUZktjaFJtMW1lUT09
Meeting ID: 879 2444 4127 / Passcode: 305565

Zoom Link for Remote Participants

Biographies
Luang Por Pasanno
Ajahn Pasanno took ordination in Thailand in 1974 with Venerable Phra Khru Ñāṇasirivatana as preceptor. During his first year as a monk he was taken by his teacher to meet Ajahn Chah, with whom he asked to be allowed to stay and train. One of the early residents of Wat Pah Nanachat, Ajahn Pasanno became its abbot in his ninth year. During his incumbency, Wat Pah Nanachat developed considerably, both in physical size and reputation. Spending 24 years living in Thailand, Ajahn Pasanno became a well-known and highly respected monk and Dhamma teacher. He moved to California on New Year’s Eve of 1997 to share the abbotship of Abhayagiri with Ajahn Amaro. In 2010 Ajahn Amaro accepted an invitation to serve as abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England, leaving Ajahn Pasanno to serve as sole abbot of Abhayagiri for the next eight years. In spring of 2018, Ajahn Pasanno stepped back from the role of abbot, leaving the monastery for a year-long retreat abroad. After returning from his sabbatical, Ajahn Pasanno now serves as an anchor of wisdom and guidance for the community. Abhayagiri is now under the active leadership of Ajahn Ñāṇiko, who Ajahn Pasanno requested to serve as abbot.

Ayyā Santussikā
Ayya Santussikā entered monastic life as an anagarika (eight-precept nun) in 2005, then ordained as a samaneri in 2010 and a bhikkhunī in 2012 at Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles. She has trained in large and small communities of nuns, including Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries of the Ajahn Chah tradition in England, and is one of the founders of Karuna Buddhist Vihara in Boulder Creek, CA, where she leads the community with Ayya Cittānandā.

Ayyā Cittānandā
After being inspired in 2005 by a college philosophy class, Ayya Cittānandā lived as a monastic at a small Chan monastery in Florida until moving to California, where she worked for two years while making daily visits to Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery. In 2013, she began looking for a place to ordain, spending time at numerous monasteries before taking the anagarika precepts at Karuna Buddhist Vihara in 2015, samaneri ordination in 2016, and bhikkhunī ordination in 2018.

On Thursday, May 4, Dharma teacher Candle Summers will visit Eastside Insight Meditation from Portland via Zoom. We will meet at 7 p.m. to meditate together and to share some teachings of the dharma.

We’re fortunate to have Candle join us, because she is a seasoned and deep practitioner, with many years of practice.

The title of her talk will be “Gratitude, a Cause of Generosity.”
 
Candle writes:

 "Why are generosity and gratitude important in our practice? The practice of generosity is about sharing our lives with others.  It's something good to reflect on.  It's not all about how it benefits another, the ones that we give to, that we practice generosity.  It is also about how it benefits ourselves, our hearts, our practice of liberation, how it nourishes our highest aspirations. It's actually the foundation of our spiritual evolution.”    

Her bio:

“Candle has been involved in Theravada Burmese lineage, and using mindfulness practice naturally in daily life, since 1983. Summers participated in the Community Dharma Leader training at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in 2003. As a student, she has completed courses of study in Mahasi Sayadaw’s Manual of Insight taught by Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters, completed a 10-month training on the 10 Paramis, and has been influenced by Sayadaw U Tejaniya in awareness becoming natural. She is inviting sangha to meet and share in spiritual friendship. She currently hosts two regular zoom sitting groups, and is part of the Portland Insight Meditation Center teachers council.”

Any dana donations for Candle will be very welcome. Here is a link for dana donations. http://PayPal.me/CandleSummers

Also please consider donating to Northlake, which makes the chapel available for Eastside Insight. Please specify that your donation is in appreciation of support for Eastside Insight.
https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022
 
If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be  https://tinyurl.com/EIMS-Kirkland-2023 

If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

We need a volunteer or two to set up tea and seating for the evening, and this is an opportunity for one or two of you to support the sangha. Below is the link where you can sign up. Thank you!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

May you all be well and happy.

Below is a message from Seattle Insight Meditation Society about their need for volunteers, for all or any of you.

Friends,

Seattle Insight Meditation Society is needing volunteers, especially for its Seattle operations, so please do step forward if so moved. Below is an email outlining opportunities. This is a way to contribute to the dharma, in important ways.

Volunteering is the Heart of SIMS

SIMS thrives as a sangha because of the participation of our members. Our programs are possible only through the dedication, commitment and generosity of our volunteers.  We need your help to continue to offer sits, talks, classes, and retreats. Volunteering facilitates deeper connections and is an easier way to make new friends in the sangha.

If you have special skills, talents and/or a willingness to learn, consider volunteering. We welcome both in-person and online volunteers who may be living outside of Seattle or are unable to travel easily.
 

Some additional benefits of volunteering at SIMS:

• Attend the events you volunteer at for free

• Enjoy special volunteer-only daylong retreats and events taught by a Guiding Teacher

• Develop friendship and connection with like-minded people

• Find a deepened sense of belonging and ownership in our community

We invite you to review the volunteer roles currently open arranged by the type of role with an estimated time commitment. If one sparks your interest, reach out to us for a conversation and more information. The roles marked with an * are particularly needed.

Light Time Commitment

45 minutes or less per event

Greeters and Managers for Monday Nights:
Volunteer as a Greeter or Manager for Monday nights (non AV role) – this is probably the easiest volunteer job. Volunteers gather about 20-30 minutes early to prepare the meditation hall and stay after the evening’s event for an additional 15-20 minutes to wish good night to attendees, count and record the dana, and return the Worship Hall to its original state.

Contact Mae Rosok: mjrosok@gmail.com

Greeters and Manager for Other Events:
Responsibilities are the same as above. Let us know if you are able to be in our “pool” of volunteer greeters and managers for a variety of one-time SIMS events.  

Events to choose from:

• Non-Residential Retreats

• Non-Residential Evening talks with visiting teachers

• Introduction to Insight Meditation Class

• 6 week class offered 4x yearly

• Day of Mindfulness

• Follows the last Intro to Meditation Class class, 4x yearly

Contact Cubba Reese: cubba.reese@seattleinsight.org

Audio-Visual Support Team for Hybrid Sits:
Join the pool of folks that set up AV equipment for hybrid events at SIMS. All training and documentation provided. See full job description here: https://seattleinsight.org/community/volunteer-opportunities/

For more information contact Cheryl Marland: Cheryl.Marland@seattleinsight.org

Moderate Time Commitment

(30-60 minutes per week on average)

Lead Roles - Can be done Online
Lead roles at SIMS ensure that the various teams of volunteers for specific events are sufficiently trained and staffed over the course of the year. If you enjoy coordinating a team of people to organize our daylong Non-Residential Retreats, Introduction to Meditation Classes, or Days of Mindfulness, consider applying for one of these roles.  Ability to encourage a warm, welcoming atmosphere for yogis to practice is important. Knowledge of Google docs, Sheets, and PowerPoint is helpful but not required. 

Please contact Cubba for more information: cubba.reese@seattleinsight.org

*Lead Roles Currently Open:

• Non-Residential Retreat

• 4-6x/year

• Non-Residential Retreat Evening Talk

• 4-6x/year

• Introduction to Insight Meditation Class

• 6 week class offered 4x/yearly

• Day Of Mindfulness Event

• Follows the last Intro to Meditation Class class, 4x/yearly

*Volunteer Coordinator:
The Volunteer Coordinator is an essential role. This person works with the Program Coordinator, supports the Program Leads for specific events and encourages sangha members to join the ranks of volunteers. It's a great opportunity to connect with and inspire others. Good people and organizational skills are helpful.

Please contact Cubba for more information: cubba.reese@seattleinsight.org

*Zoom Support Team - Online attendees welcome
Provide zoom support during sangha meetings. You will be part of a team on a rotating Zoom support schedule. If you’ve got experience hosting Zoom meetings, we’d love to hear from you. Training will be provided to include security settings, managing breakouts and the like depending on the kinds of events you may be willing to support.

Frequency: About twice per month, 2 hours. Or volunteer to support an occasional weekend retreat. 

Contact Ken Yasuhara: ken.yasuhara@gmail.com

Registrar Team - Online attendees welcome
The registrar team (3-4 people) meets and volunteers remotely from home, supporting SIMS classes and retreats.  Team members collaborate with each other, other volunteers, teachers, and attendees, to smooth out the road to liberation. (Or to laugh at the un-smooth!)  Humor, flexibility, affection, and cooperation are hallmarks of this team.  Overall commitment: 5-8 hours/month, with more hours before an event and almost none when no event is scheduled. See a detailed description here.

Please contact lead registrar Martha for more information: registrar@seattleinsight.org

Friends,

Bowing to the steady centeredness and good heart of this sangha. It’s an honor to make the dharma journey together.

Eastside Insight will next be sitting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 20, finishing at 9 p.m.

This will be the second week of exploring renunciation. On April 6 we explored why renunciation isn’t self-denial, but rather shedding that which entangles. This week will be exploring how renunciation leads to the letting go of awakening, how renunciation is another doorway to freedom.

If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be  https://tinyurl.com/EIMS-Kirkland-2023 

If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

We need a volunteer or two to set up tea and seating for the evening. Big thanks to those who have been volunteering, and you’ll find it’s a way to move the energy toward freedom, and to have fun doing it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

If you’re moved to offer dana to Northlake for hosting the sit, or to the teacher, this is kind and wholesome. We are very grateful to Northlake, for freely offering space to Eastside Insight. Here are two links, and a mailing address:

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022
 
paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48
 
Steve Wilhelm
17623 184th Ave. NE
Woodinville, WA 98072

Here are three Eastside-related spiritual and dharma events in coming days, all of which may interest you:

1 – On April 21 at noon, Issaquah-based Zen master Anita Feng will be giving a dharma talk entitled “Calling the Earth to Witness.” The talk will be online and in person at Seattle University. Here’s a link with more specifics:

https://www.seattleu.edu/su-today/2023/ceie-interfaith-sharing-series-presents-calling-the-earth-to-witness-.html

2 – On Sunday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a Kirkland panel discussion entitled,  “What Should be the Relationship between Religion and State?” It will be at Northlake Unitarian Church, and online.

Here’s a link:

https://fire-wa.org/

3 – On Saturday, April 29, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Kirkland Kol-Ami synagogue will offer a program entitled “Recognizing Anti-Semitism.” Here’s a link:

https://www.kolaminw.org/post/kirkland-together-recognizing-antisemitism-4-29-3-6pm-space-limited

All of these will be rich gatherings, with much wisdom and  compassion. I’ll look forward to seeing you at any or all!

With bows and love,

Steve

Friends,

Bows to you all, and may the sporadic appearance of sun reflect some awakening of light and freedom in our own hearts.
Eastside Insight will next be sitting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, finishing at 9 p.m.

For the next two weeks we’re going to exploring renunciation: for the first week why renunciation isn’t self-denial, but rather shedding that which entangles; and for the second week, how renunciation leads to the letting go of awakening.

If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be  https://tinyurl.com/EIMS-Kirkland-2023 
If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

We need a volunteer or two to set up tea and seating for the evening. Here I’ll encourage you to volunteer, to step forward, as part of your practice and your opening to awakening. Right at the core of our attachment is selfing, and simply by freely turning outward to benefit others, we turn from self-cherishing. Several people regularly sign up. For your own benefit, please join them!
Below is the link where you can sign up. Thank you!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

If you’re moved to offer dana to Northlake for hosting the sit, or for the teacher, this is kind. We are very grateful to Northlake, for freely offering space to Eastside Insight. Here are two links, and a mailing address:

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022
 
paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48
 
Steve Wilhelm
7510 117th Ave. NE
Kirkland, WA 98033

May you be happy and at peace, in the freedom of not-clinging.
Bows,
Steve

On Thursday, March 16, teacher Lisa Goddard will visit Eastside Insight Meditation from Colorado via Zoom. We will meet at 7 p.m. to meditate together and to share some teachings of the dharma.
 
Lisa writes:

“As a support for the recent teachings on the Seven Factors of Awakening, Lisa will offer some reflections on cultivating balance with all the conditions that make up our life.   In some ways you could say that the whole of the path is about equanimity and the cultivation of a balanced mind.  Please join us in practice and discussion about cultivating balance with all conditions.”  

Lisa has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1997 and has been facilitating these practices since 2002. She leads the Roaring Fork Insight community in Carbondale, Colorado, and will be joining us via Zoom.

Here’s her bio:

“Inspired by the teachings of Suzuki Roshi and Ajahn Chah, Lisa received training through Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, Zen Hospice Project, Mindful Schools and the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. She is a Certified Mindfulness Facilitator through UCLA's Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, a member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association and training in Eco-Chaplaincy through the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies.  For more about her offerings please visit roaringforkinsight.org.”

Any dana donations for Lisa will be very welcome. Here is a link for dana donations. https://www.roaringforkinsight.org/contact

Also please consider donating to Northlake, which makes the chapel available for Eastside Insight. Please specify that your donation is in appreciation of support for Eastside Insight.
https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022
 
If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be  https://tinyurl.com/EIMS-Kirkland-2023 

If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

We need a volunteer or two to set up tea and seating for the evening, and this is an opportunity for one or two of you to support the sangha. Below is the link where you can sign up. Thank you!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

And now a question for you: One of our good sangha members has suggested we do more breakout sessions, as a way to build community and to encourage all members developing their dharma voices.

I’m all for that if it’s helpful, but I’m also aware that some people prefer not to be in such groups. Also in the past, especially when fewer people were showing up on Thursdays, several said they’d rather stay in one group rather than do breakouts.

But it may also be true for some that the evenings are too much about the dharma from yours truly, and that breakouts would allow for more voices.

If any of you have any thoughts about that please tell me via email or phone – stevellen95@comcast.net, or 206-819-5286. I’ll also bring it up, maybe at this Thursday sit or maybe at the next one.

Thank you. May you be well and happy,

Steve

Friends,

Bows to you all, and may you find equanimity here in the early weeks of 2023, despite the difficulties that beset our globe.

Your open kindness, at times of strife and confusion, can be more of a blessing to people than you might imagine.

Eastside Insight will next be sitting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, finishing at 9 p.m.

The March 2 sit will be our second week exploring the seven factors of awakening. These seven are aspects of mind we may already be familiar with on the path, but they take on new light, and life, when considered in this context.

They are:

·        Mindfulness (sati, Sanskrit smṛti). To maintain awareness of reality, in particular the teachings (dhamma).

·        Investigation of the nature of reality (dhamma vicaya, Skt. dharmapravicaya).

·        Energy (viriya, Skt. vīrya) also determination, effort

·        Joy or rapture (pīti, Skt. prīti)

·        Relaxation or tranquility (passaddhi, Skt. prashrabdhi) of both body and mind

·        Concentration (samādhi) a calm, one-pointed state of mind,[1] or "bringing the buried latencies or samskaras into full view"[2]

·        Equanimity (upekkha, Skt. upekshā). To accept reality as-it-is (yathā-bhuta) without craving or aversion.

For this second session we’ll be focusing on Joy, relaxation, concentration and equanimity, after exploring the first three in the last gathering.

If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be  https://tinyurl.com/EIMS-Kirkland-2023 

If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

We need a volunteer or two to set up tea and seating for the evening, and this is an opportunity for one or two of you to support the sangha. Below is the link where you can sign up. Thank you!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

If you’re moved to offer dana to Northlake for hosting the sit, or for the teacher, this is kind. Here are two links, and a mailing address.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022
 
paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48
 
Steve Wilhelm
7510 117th Ave. NE
Kirkland, WA 98033

Looking ahead, I’ll be teaching this Monday evening, Feb. 27, at SIMS in Seattle. This will be the last of four teachings on taking refuge in the dharma, and since I’ll be following Keri Pederson and Tuere Sala, I am suitably humbled.

It seems a bit self-promotional to even mention this, and I hesitated, but a trusted advisor said I should, so I am. Of course it will be hybrid so via Zoom.

https://seattleinsight.org/event/weekly-meditation-dharma-teaching-the-threes-in-person-online/2023-02-27/

It’s also now very easy to get to Seattle SIMS in person by bus. (I do it frequently, and all one does is to catch the 255 from the South Kirkland P&R. Get off at Campus Parkway, and it’s a five-minute walk from there to University Friends. Maybe I’ll see you on the bus!)

Looking farther ahead, Lisa Goddard, lead teacher of Roaring Folk Insight in Carbondale, Colorado, will be visiting Eastside Insight via Zoom on Thursday, March 16. More about that next time.

Here’s a bit about Lisa - https://www.roaringforkinsight.org/about

May you be well and happy,

Steve

Friends,
The subject for the Dec. 15 meeting of Eastside Insight, as offered by guest teacher Jason Bartlett, will be "Setting it all down.”
 
Jason is a wonderful and deep teacher. He writes:
 
"We will be exploring the skill of release and how it opens the path to liberation here and now. Through relaxing, letting go, and setting it all down, we realize that freedom, ease and contentment are natural and accessible."
 
Here is his website - https://luminousdharma.org/
 
We’ll be sitting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15, finishing at 9 p.m.

If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

Happy that we’re sharing tea and dharma as a sangha, and will be continuing on Dec. 15. There’s nothing like a warm cup of tea on a cold December evening, as a way to relax and get to know each other.

Big thanks to the volunteers who have been signing up, and showing up, so the sangha can share hot tea together during the break. I’ll bring the tea and the equipment, we just need people to put it together.

Please sign up on the link below for tea setup. This is an opportunity for one or two of you to support the sangha and generate merit.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Looking ahead, starting 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4, I’ll be teaching a six-week series on insight practice, the same as mindfulness meditation. This is a beautiful six weeks of a community of people learn how to do this practice, or deepening an established practice, while supporting one another on the path.

This time the series will be hybrid, thus in-person and online, from the familiar chapel at Northlake Unitarian church in Kirkland. It will include people from the Eastside and from farther away, and will conclude with a day of mindfulness Saturday, Feb. 11.
 
If you know of anyone who would benefit from such a series, they’re warmly invited. Of course I’m happy to answer any questions.

Deep bows and appreciation to Eric Holtz and Johnathan Stenberg, who have volunteered to help with the series.

For Dec. 15, if you wish to make a dana offering to teacher Jason Bartlett, or to Northlake for providing the space, either or both would be welcome, helpful and appropriate.
For Northlake:
 
https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022
 
For Jason:
 
https://luminousdharma.org/support-us/
May you be well, and see you on Thursday!
With bows and appreciation,
Steve
 

Friends,

First, great gratitude to this Eastside Insight community, and about the ways we are coming together, and people are stepping forward, as we continue to emerge from difficult pandemic years. (Sorry this email is kinda long…there’s lots to share.)

We had a big breakthrough at the Nov. 17 session, which was that for the first time since we moved to hybrid, more people joined in-person than online. Many factors made this possible, but probably at the top of the list has been people volunteering to put together the tea, which in turn has helped people feel warm and cozy when we gather.

(We are absolutely going to continue hybrid, and thus also online, for anyone for whom that is better. But it’s wonderful that both are healthy.)

Thank you also for generous dana donations to the dharma. As you know I consider these sacred offerings, and allocate them carefully. So happy to tell you as an Eastside Insight collective we have this fall donated $1,000 to Metta In Action, an organization that supports Buddhist nuns in beleaguered Myanmar. In the note it’s clear that the funds are dana from the Eastside Insight Sangha.

Here’s an excerpt from an email from IMS teacher Carol Wilson, one of the organizers, about the conditions for nuns in Myanmar:

“While many areas of the country are experiencing what could be described as civil war, in areas where, at the moment there is not too much violence, people of course try to go about their lives. This applies to the nunneries and monastic schools that you all have been helping to support all these years.

“ The economic situation is falling apart. There is huge inflation; the price of food and fuel has skyrocketed. As it costs so much more for these things, of course the nunneries are receiving much much less dana. One friend of ours, a nun in Sagaing area, texted that she is OK only due to support from overseas.”

Second, thanks for your dana that is paying for most of my upcoming pilgrimage to Buddhist sites in Nepal, Thailand and India, and awakened masters in Thailand. My intent is to bring back some of what I absorb to support your practice, so the dana you offered will in this way support the dharma.

This Thursday, Dec. 1 at the 7 p.m. meeting of Eastside Insight Meditation, we’ll be taking a moment to learn from the life of the Buddha. This is a holiday tradition, but since I will be in Thailand Dec. 15, we’re doing it this week.

The title of the talk will be: “Three lessons about persistence, from the Buddha’s life choices before awakening.”

We’ll be sitting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 1, finishing at 9 p.m.

If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021
If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

We need a team to set tea for the evening, and this is an opportunity for one or two of you to support the sangha, generate merit, and have some fall fun…)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Big thanks to Stacy Johnson and Kristin Tufte, who signed up and showed up last time. You made it happen!

Happy to say teacher Jason Bartlett will be offering the dharma to Eastside Insight on Thursday, Dec. 15, while I’m on pilgrimage. More about that next email. That sit will be only via Zoom.

Also big thanks to Johnathan Sternberg, who has volunteered to help with the six-week intro class starting Jan. 4 (described below), and also with the associated Feb. 11 day of mindfulness. We need just one more person to team up with Johnathan, especially for the six-week course.

This will be a huge gift to the people taking the course, and also a fun way to collaborate to support the dharma. If you are interested or have questions, please email me. If you think you can please reply by the end of Friday, so I can tell the volunteer folks at SIMS we have it covered. Thank you!

Looking ahead, here are two things for your calendars:

1 - On Tuesday, Dec. 6, Ven. Thubten Chodron will offer a talk entitled “Transforming Anxiety and Depression in a Rapidly Changing World.” Ven. Chodron is a Western nun in Tibetan tradition, and a very spirited and deep presenter. The 7:30 p.m. talk will be in person, at the American Evergreen Buddhist Association, a Taiwanese nunnery in Kirkland.

Here’s a link - https://dharmafriendship.org/transforming-anxiety-and-depression-in-a-rapidly-changing-world-with-venerable-thubten-chodron/

2 - Starting 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4, I’ll be teaching a six-week series on insight practice, the same as mindfulness meditation. This is a beautiful six weeks, as a community of people forms while learning how to do this practice, while supporting one another on the path.

This time the series will be hybrid, thus in-person and online, from the familiar chapel at Northlake Unitarian church. It will include people from the Eastside and from farther away, and will conclude with a day of mindfulness Saturday, Feb. 11.

One thing that we need for these January intro classes, which we’ve offered on the Eastside for many years, is at least a pair of volunteers. Johnathan Sternberg has volunteered, and we just need one more person. It’s a wonderful opportunity to help others on the path, and to get to know each other better as we create a positive environment together.
If you wish to make a dana offering to the teacher, or to Northlake, that would be an act of generosity.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022
 
paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48
 
Steve Wilhelm
7510 117th Ave. NE
Kirkland, WA 98033
 
May you be well, and see you on Thursday!
With bows and appreciation,
Steve

Friends,

Happy to share that the return of evening tea break at Eastside Insight went very well on Nov. 3, so we’ll be doing it again this Nov. 17. There’s nothing like a warm cup of tea on a cold autumn evening, as a way to relax and get to know each other.

For November we’re exploring the wholesome and unwholesome mental qualities, and what we can do to cultivate the wholesome, and reduce the unwholesome. This is an important doorway onto the path, because our states of mind dictate how we understand the world, ourselves and each other.

Here’s one link with some perspectives on these teachings.

For this upcoming Thursday, Nov. 17 sit, we’ll explore cultivating the wholesome mental states, and how this can be a boon in our lives and our practice.

We’ll be sitting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, finishing at 9 p.m.

If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021
If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

For tea we’ll bring over a toter with cups, tea and water heater…we just need a team to make it happen.
Please sign up on the link below, and my current thinking is I’ll only bring over the tea if at least one person steps forward. Otherwise it’s too much to set up the hybrid gear and the tea.

This is an opportunity for one or two of you to support the sangha, generate merit, and have some fall fun…all at once! : )

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Looking ahead, here are four things for your calendars:

1. On Tuesday, Nov. 15, a small group will be gathering for a last volunteer hour of the year at Tibetan Nuns Project, in the International District. If you can be there at noon for an hour, you can join the team preparing prayer flags and malas, blessed by the nuns, to be sent to people around the world.
Truly it’s a delightful moment, just one hour, and can be of immense help to the nuns. If you’re interested please email Steve Wilhelm.

2- On Saturday, Nov. 19, four of the Seattle Insight Meditation Society Local Dharma Leaders will offer a daylong online retreat on the Brahma Viharas, also called the Divine Abodes. There are four inner qualities – loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity – that we can cultivate in our practice.

It will be a delight to see you there, and it should be a fruitful day.
https://seattleinsight.org/event/daylong-retreat-brahma-viharas-2022/

3 - On Tuesday, Dec. 6, Ven. Thubten Chodron will offer a talk entitled “Transforming Anxiety and Depression in a Rapidly Changing World.” Ven. Chodron is a Western nun in Tibetan tradition, and a very spirited and deep presenter. The 7:30 p.m. talk will be in person, at the American Evergreen Buddhist Association, a Taiwanese nunnery in Kirkland.

Here’s a link - https://dharmafriendship.org/transforming-anxiety-and-depression-in-a-rapidly-changing-world-with-venerable-thubten-chodron/

4 - Starting 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4, I’ll be teaching a six-week series on insight practice, the same as mindfulness meditation. This is a beautiful six weeks, as a community of people forms while learning how to do this practice, while supporting one another on the path.

This time the series will be hybrid, thus in-person and online, from the familiar chapel at Northlake Unitarian church. It will include people from the Eastside and from farther away, and will conclude with a day of mindfulness Saturday, Feb. 11.

One thing that we need for these January intro classes, which we’ve offered on the Eastside for many years, is at least a pair of volunteers. It’s a wonderful opportunity to help others on the path, and to get to know each other better as we create a positive environment together.

If you think you might be able to volunteer please email me, and let’s talk about it. Thank you in advance.
If you wish to make a dana offering to the teacher, or to Northlake, that would be welcomed, helpful and appropriate.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm
7510 117th Ave. NE
Kirkland, WA 98033

May you be well, and see you on Thursday!
With bows and appreciation,
Steve

Friends,

Rejoicing in the beginning of fall and winter darkness, a time to turn inward in contemplation, apart from the distractions of summer.

(OK, sun is also great, but here’s the upside of winter murk. J )

For November we’re going to be exploring the wholesome and unwholesome mental qualities, and what we can do to cultivate the wholesome, and reduce the unwholesome. This is an important doorway onto the path, because our states of mind dictate how we understand the world, ourselves and each other.

Here’s one link with some perspectives on these teachings.

For this upcoming Thursday, Nov. 3 sit, we’ll be starting with exploring reducing the unwholesome, a core consideration in our progress on the path.

On Nov. 17 we’ll explore cultivating the wholesome.

We’ll be sitting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 3, finishing at 9 p.m.

If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

At a fun discussion after the last session, several people said they would volunteer to set up tea for the break at the in-person gathering. As many of you know, for many years pre-covid we gathered for tea in the middle of the evening, a warm time to get to know each other better, and it seems time to do this again.

We’ll bring over a toter with cups, tea and water heater…we just need a team to make it happen.

Please sign up on the link below, and my current thinking is I’ll only bring over the tea if at least one person steps forward. Otherwise it’s too much to set up the hybrid gear and the tea.

This is an opportunity for one or two of you to support the sangha, generate merit, and have some fall fun…all at once! : )

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Looking ahead, here are two things for your calendars:

1 - On Sunday, Nov. 6, a program on the Bahai tradition will be offered by the Eastside Interfaith group Fostering Interfaith Relations on the Eastside, or FIRE. This is a great group with a lot of warmth and mutual support. The 6:30 p.m. event will be in-person and online, and their Bellevue facility is quite nifty. Hope to see you there!

2 - Starting 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4, I’ll be teaching a six-week series on insight practice, the same as mindfulness meditation. This is a beautiful six weeks, as a community of people forms while learning how to do this practice, while supporting one another on the path.

This time the series will be hybrid, thus in-person and online, from the familiar chapel at Northlake Unitarian church. It will include people from the Eastside and from farther away, and will conclude with a day of mindfulness Saturday, Feb. 11.

One thing that we need for these January intro classes, which we’ve offered on the Eastside for many years, is at least a pair of volunteers. It’s a wonderful opportunity to help others on the path, and to get to know each other better as we create a positive environment together.

If you think you might be able to volunteer please email me, and let’s talk about it. Thank you in advance. – stevellen95@comcast.net

If you wish to make a dana offering to the teacher, or to Northlake, that would be welcomed, helpful and appropriate.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm

7510 117th Ave. NE

Kirkland, WA 98033

May you be well, and see you on Thursday!

With bows and appreciation,

Steve

Friends,

Happy to share that Eastside Insight will be visited at 7 p.m. this Thursday, Oct. 20, by Ajahn Kovilo, a monastic from the Thai forest tradition, and a co-founder of Seattle-based Clear Mountain Monastery.

Ajahn Kovilo is a warm and articulate voice sharing the dhamma, and we’re fortunate he’ll be joining us. He’ll be streaming in by Zoom from California, but we’ll still be meeting hybrid-style, thus in person and online.

Ajahn Kovilo’s talk is entitled: “Loving the Luminous Mind.”

Here’s some information about him from the Clear Mountain website:

Ajahn Kovilo is an Ohio-born monk who, having been introduced to meditation through the Goenka tradition, first entered the monastery in 2006. After receiving full ordination from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California in 2010, Ajahn Kovilo spent the next decade training at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah tradition in America and Thailand.

 In 2020, after a year practicing at a Pa Auk Sayadaw monastery, Ajahn Kovilo enrolled at the Dharma Realm Buddhist University in Ukiah, California where he is currently studying Pali and Sanskrit among other courses. Until the end of his formal studies, Ajahn Kovilo will be participating in the growing Clear Mountain Monastery community remotely and during Winter and Summer breaks. After finishing his studies, Ajahn Kovilo will join the community in person on a more regular basis.

We’ll be gathering in person and online, and it’s wonderful how in person and online are complementing each other.

If you wish to attend online, the URL will be:
https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

If you wish to join in person, we’ll be sitting together in the Northlake chapel, and that address is:  315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033

Yes it’s very helpful, and a way to contribute to the dhamma, if a person or two can show up early, like about 6:20, to help set up. We are planning to start offering tea again in November and one person has offered to volunteer and launch tea set-up. To continue we’ll need continued community help. Thank you in advance.

Here’s a link to sign up to help:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

All of these teachings are offered freely. Here are links for any dana (Pali for generosity), you may wish to offer to Northlake or to the teacher. If you offer to Northlake, please mention you’re with Eastside Insight.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

Any dana for Ajahn Kovilo’s teachings can go to this Clear Mountain link - https://www.friendsofclearmountain.org/

Here are two upcoming events that may interest you:

First, on October 21 friend and colleague Taijo Imanaka will offer a talk through Seattle University partly entitled “War and the Precept of Not-Killing.”

Here’s a link for the talk, which will be online and in person. Also if you care to scroll down further, I was interviewed about the meaning of “dharma” as part of the series.

Second, on Nov. 6 the Eastside interfaith group FIRE (Fostering Interreligious Relations on the Eastside), will offer a panel on the Bahai faith, also in-person and online. These are a wonderful way to get to better know various faith leaders on the Eastside.

In terms of helping, A group will be volunteering for an hour at Tibetan Nuns Project in Seattle at noon, Tuesday, Oct. 25., and could use a few more hands to prepare for the holiday season.  This is a wonderful way to support female monastics, many of them refugees from Tibet, now mostly in India. The hour will mostly be sorting prayer flags produced by the nuns, to sell online, as a way to help the nuns support themselves.

If you’re interested please email me – stevellen95@comcast.net – and we’ll figure out arrangements for you.

Thank you for your kind patience. May you be well,

Steve

Friends,

Just getting back from a week at Abhayagiri Monastery, in the California hills north of the Bay Area.

For the Oct. 6 sit planning to offer some thoughts and perspectives on monastic life, on the fruit of dedicated practice, that hopefully you’ll find beneficial. Many things were uniquely impressive about these monks, and affirming of the transformational power and depth of our practice lineage.

We’ll be gathering in person and online, and it’s delightful to see people slowly returning to in-person.

If you wish to attend online, the URL will be:

https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

If you wish to join in person, we’ll be sitting together in the Northlake chapel, and that address is: 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033

Yes it’s very helpful, and a way to contribute to the dhamma, if a person or two can show up early, like about 6:20, to help set up. Thank you in advance.

Here’s a link to sign up to help:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

All of these teachings are offered freely. Here are links for any dana (Pali for generosity), you may wish to offer to Northlake or to the teacher. If you offer to Northlake, please mention you’re with Eastside Insight.

Deep bows to the many of you who continue to exercise generosity, because your dana offerings are helping cover the costs of retreats like this, and the offering we made to Abhayagiri. This is the beauty of the cycle of dana, how it isn’t personal but it is about generosity to benefit all beings.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm
7510 117th Ave. NE
Kirkland, WA 98033

May you all find peace in the midst of difficulty, or happiness, just the same,

Steve

Friends,

Bows to you for continuing on the path to freedom, and for supporting one another on the journey. Now summer is ending, and while we’ll miss the sunny days, the cooler and darker days are also a chance to go deeper into our practice.

For this upcoming sit, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, we’ll be exploring a delightful list of positive attributes of monastics, at the time of the Buddha. There’s a lot to learn and absorb here, especially when we see how free and happy those monastics were.

The particular sutta MN 89, includes these lines:

"Here I see monastics living in concord, 

with mutual appreciation,

 without disputing, 

blending like milk and water

 viewing each other with kindly eyes.

"Here I see monastics smiling and cheerful,

 sincerely joyful,

 plainly delighting,

 their faculties fresh,

 living at ease, 

unruffled, 

subsisting on what others give,

 abiding with mind [as aloof] as a wild deer’s."

After setting up the context of this sutta we’ll explore the above section line-by-line, with plenty of time for dialogue. What’s engaging about this sutta is how it puts the fruit of the practice, how we can be in life itself, in human and tangible form.

In short, it’s about being happy.

Thinking you’ll find this very relevant to who we are, and how we navigate life, here in 2022.

We’ll be gathering in person and online, and it’s delightful to see people slowly returning to in-person.

If you wish to attend online, the URL will be:

https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

If you wish to join in person, we’ll be sitting together in the Northlake chapel, and that address is:  315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033

Yes it’s very helpful, and a way to contribute to the dhamma, if a person or two can show up early, like about 6:20, to help set up. Thank you in advance.

Here’s a link to sign up to help:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

All of these teachings are offered freely. Here are links for any dana (Pali for generosity), you may wish to offer to Northlake or to the teacher. If you offer to Northlake, please mention you’re with Eastside Insight.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm

7510 117th Ave. NE

Kirkland, WA 98033

May you all walk in peace,

Steve

Friends,

It will be good to sit with you and explore the dharma together, a month since we last had such an opportunity.

For this upcoming Thursday, Sept. 1 sit, we’ll be considering a priceless teaching best known in Tibetan tradition, the “Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind.” This is a very precious teaching because it encourages us to not waste time…to use our extraordinary good fortune of life in a human body, to pursue the spiritual path as best we can.

While this is technically a Tibetan teaching, it’s also perfectly suited to encourage us on any aspect of the Buddhist path, including the Theravada.

We’ll be sitting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 1, finishing at 9 p.m.

If you wish to attend by Zoom, the URL will be https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

If you’ll be attending in person, we’ll be sitting in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

Very much encouraging the in-person, if you feel comfortable with that, as a way to strengthen our human Eastside sangha.  I just came back from multiple flights from packed airports in Austin, Atlanta and Boston, and I can guarantee that our humble sits are far more spacious, and less dense with people, than any of those places.

It’s very helpful if a few people can sign up to help set up, and big bows to Catherine Mardesich and Paul Henwood, who did so last time. Here’s a link to sign up.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

If you wish to make a dana offering to the teacher, or to Northlake, that would be welcomed, helpful and appropriate.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm

7510 117th Ave. NE

Kirkland, WA 98033

May you be well, and see you on Thursday!

With bows and appreciation,

Steve

Friends,

For the upcoming Aug. 4 Eastside Insight Meditation gathering, we’ll continue exploring the deep wisdom embedded in the four noble truths.

This week we’ll gather at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4

The four noble truths are one of the first teachings of the Buddha and at the bedrock of Buddhist understanding in all traditions. This is a good time to open into these four: the unsatisfactory nature of un-awakened life, the reason why we’re not awake or free, the possibility of freedom, and how to become free.

Knowing these four deeply is important for long-term practitioners, to keep our sight focused on what’s at the root of this path. It’s often said if we truly realized these four, we’d be freed. The four also are very important for people newer to the path, to clearly see the way ahead.

Last week we explored the first two, and on Aug 4 we’ll review the first two briefly, for anyone who wasn’t there, and continue to the second two. In a sense these last two are the most uplifting of the four, because in them the Buddha shows us the possibility of awakening, or freedom from clinging, and then how to do it.

We’ll be sitting hybrid on Aug. 4, which means will be online via Zoom, and in-person in the chapel at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church in Kirkland.

The Zoom link for the evening is https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

For any of you planning to attend in person, at 315 3rd Avenue South in Kirkland, it would be very helpful if you could help setup. Below is a link where you can sign up to help.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Any dana offerings you’re moved to make, to Northlake or to the teacher, are welcomed.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm

7510 117th Ave. NE

Kirkland, WA 98033

Looking ahead, we’re happy to announce that Seattle Insight Meditation Society co-guiding teacher Tim Geil will be leading Eastside Insight Meditation, and offering teachings, on Thursday, Aug. 18. This will be only online, and Tim is planning to spend the evening responding to questions, so please bring those forward then.

We hope to see you, and may you walk in peace,

Steve

Friends,

For the next two weeks we’ll be exploring the deep wisdom embedded in the four noble truths.

This week we’ll gather at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 21.

The four noble truths are one of the first teachings of the Buddha and at the bedrock of Buddhist understanding in all traditions. This is a good time to open into these four: the unsatisfactory nature of un-awakened life, the reason why we’re not awake or free, the possibility of freedom, and how to become free.

Knowing these four deeply is important for long-term practitioners, to keep our sight focused on what’s at the root of this path. It’s often said if we truly realized these four, we’d be freed. The four also are very important for people newer to the path, to clearly see the way ahead.

We’ll be sitting hybrid on July 21, which means will be online via Zoom, and in-person in the chapel at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church in Kirkland.

The Zoom link for the evening is https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

For any of you planning to attend in person, at 315 3rd Avenue South in Kirkland, it would be very helpful if you could help setup. Below is a link where you can sign up to help.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Any dana offerings you’re moved to make, to Northlake or to the teacher, are welcomed.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm

7510 117th Ave. NE

Kirkland, WA 98033

We hope to see you, and may you walk in peace,

Steve

Friends,

Wonderful to share that Nisabho Bhikkhu, co-founder of Clear Mountain Monastery, will be teaching at Eastside Insight Meditation at 7 p.m., Thursday, July 7.

His talk will be entitled: “The Bird of the Breath: Cultivating Sensitivity and Rapture in Meditation"

He wrote, "In this talk Tan Nisabho will speak about how to calm the mind, by developing a focused and sensitive perception of the breath, alongside a bright and wide awareness." 

For this evening we’ll be purely online and here’s the Zoom link, in the form of a tiny URL -
https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

As many of you know, Clear Mountain Monastery is a yet-to-be monastery in Thai forest tradition, to be located in the Seattle region once sufficient funds are raised or land is found. But already the two monastics are offering teachings in person at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle on Saturday mornings, as well as at other sites in the region and online.

Nisabho Bhikkhu, more familiarly called Tan Nisabho in Thai tradition, has been in robes for nine years, much of that time in Thailand. He’s well-spoken, flexible and energetic in his sharing of the dhamma, so the time will be well spent.

While Tan Nisabho doesn’t personally accept donations due to the rules of the vinaya, you are encouraged to make an offering to Clear Mountain Monastery.

https://givebutter.com/general-donations

Looking forward to seeing you Thursday, and may you be well!

Steve

Friends,

Yes I did test positive for Covid Tuesday, so it’s clear we can’t be sitting together at the Northlake Chapel in person this time around.

Thankfully there’s our friend Zoom, so we’ll do it online. We won’t be in person and we’ll meet at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 16.

The thought of cancelling certainly arose, but in my heart there’s something precious about the decision to offer the dharma, and it’s hard to undo. However if I get sick again I’ll bail, so please watch email closely Thursday.

This will be simpler than usual, because I haven’t had to much time to repair. We will be exploring taking refuge, and in particular this Tibetan sutrayana version I’ve always treasured.

I take refuge until I am enlightened
In the Buddhas, the Dharma and the Sangha
Through the merit I create, by practicing giving and other perfections,
May I attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings.

We’ll explore this, and whatever I have to offer will likely be rather brief, because I’ve been a bit knocked out with the bug. But feeling better now, so let’s try it.

As before, here are the digital details:

If you’ll be joining via Zoom, the link is https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

Please consider offering dana to Northlake or the teacher, or to a local food bank if you are so moved. The key point is to reach out and give a bit in the name of dharma, because that’s a way we open past the stickiness of selfing.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm
7510 117th Ave. NE
Kirkland, WA 98033

May you be well and see you Thursday!

Friends,

Happy to share that Eastside Insight will have a guest teacher, Carrie Tamburo, for the Thursday, June 2 meeting.

Her subject will be “progress on the path,” so we can gather at 7 p.m. to see what she will so generously offer.

Here’s a bit about Carrie:

“Carrie has practiced Buddhist meditation for 35 years, first in the Tibetan tradition and currently in the Vipassana tradition. She lives in San Diego and  teaches dharma in Spanish (primarily) and in English in California, and via Zoom to Latin America and elsewhere.  She is a retired Spanish professor, former dance instructor, and has served as translator and editor for Spanish dharma publications. Carrie is particularly interested in the application of the teachings in daily life for the lay practitioner, and in extending the reach of the dharma to Spanish-speaking communities.”

In our case Carrie will be teaching in English. She’s a warm and approachable teacher, and person, so the evening will be beneficial for all.

We will be meeting in person and via Zoom.

For Zoom please use the following URL - https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

Even though Carrie will be joining via Zoom, we’ll still be gathering in hybrid form, so that people who want to sit together in person can. We hope you will take advantage of this.

For in person, we gather in the chapel of Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church in Kirkland. The address is 315 3rd Ave.

If you can help set up, which is very helpful, please put your name in the signup link here.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

In terms of generosity, you’re warmly invited to offer dana to Carrie via her PayPal account - ctamburo3@gmail.com

Also please consider making an offering to Northlake, which very kindly makes the chapel available to Eastside Insight. If you do, please indicate it’s coming from this sangha.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

May you all be well, and see you Thursday!

Steve

Friends,

Greetings to you, and we’re looking forward to sitting together and sharing the dharma on Thursday, May 19. We’ll be sitting starting at 7 p.m., with sharing and teachings after, finishing at 9.

This session we’ll be exploring papanca, a Pali word for mental proliferation. Whether you know it or not this is a subject you’re likely familiar with, because mental proliferation, the buzzing swarm of thoughts sometimes referred to as “monkey mind,” very often accompanies us in our meditation.

Pardon the mixture of metaphors, but both of these fit. By better understanding papanca we can learn what it means and doesn’t in terms of our mind activity. We also can learn when to apply antidotes and when to apply mindfulness, and in effect how to bring papanca onto the path.

This evening will complement the last session, when we explored purifying the mind.

The sit will be both in person and online, in a hybrid format.

If you wish to attend online, the Zoom URL is https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

If you wish to attend in person, we’ll be sitting in the chapel of Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, which is behind the main sanctuary. Here’s the address, and there’s parking in back. 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

If you will be attending in person, it would be terrific if you could sign up at the link below to help set up. Big thanks to Buzz Adams, who helped last time and previous times.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

In terms of dana, or generosity, your offerings help make Eastside Insight happen, and pay for expenses. For instance, dana from the community paid for the hybrid gear we’re using.

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm

7510 117th Ave. NE

Kirkland, WA 98033

Also you’re invited to offer to Northlake Church, which has very generously made the chapel available. If you do donate to Northlake, please indicate that you’re from Eastside Insight.

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

If you haven’t yet signed up to hear Luang Por Sumedho on May 22, you’re encouraged to do so. Sumedho is the senior Western disciple of the late Thai master Ajahn Chah, and he has been a significant leader in monasticism in the West.

https://seattleinsight.org/event/dhamma-talk-and-qa-with-luang-por-sumedho-in-person-online/

May you be well and happy,

Steve

Friends,

Hoping all is well with you, and that you’re finding peace during difficult times.

For this next meeting of Eastside Insight we’ll be exploring purifying the mind, one way to understand the path and our walking on it.

In particular we’ll be looking at MN 7, the “Simile of the Cloth.” How we think, the attitudes we accept and cultivate, are at the root of our well-being, and at the root of how we find peace, happiness and clarity on the path.

We’ll be meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in person and online.

Online will be via Zoom, and here’s a link you can use. https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

In person we’ll be in the chapel at Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church. At 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033. Parking is behind.

If you can help set up at about 6:20 Thursday evening, that would be very kind. Here’s the link to sign up to help, and thank you.

If you wish, please consider making a dana offering to Northlake for making the space available, and to the teacher. The URLS are below, or here’s also an address for a check:

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm

7510 117th Ave. NE

Kirkland, WA 98033

For anyone interested in attending the SIMS gatherings Monday evening, the 255 Metro bus route makes that quite doable from Kirkland. The bus goes from the Kirkland transit center to Campus Parkway at UW, and from there is a five-minute walk to University Friends.

May you all be well,

Steve

Friends,

One of the greatest understandings of the Buddha, which he embodied in the midst of his own perilous times, is that there are no enemies. No matter what, he saw the potential in people for awakening, which as we saw during last session could include even hardened criminals.

Now, as we watch the war in the Ukraine, and face the possibility of worse to come, it’s important that we bring this teaching of “no enemies,” into our hearts.

We’ll be sitting together, meeting together, at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 21, to consider these questions. This is a chance to look deeply into our own instincts to demonize, and how we can instead cultivate compassion, even for those whose actions are damaging, in these most difficult of times.

We’ll be meeting online and in person, as we have been doing now for some months.

If you wish to join online, the link is https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

If you wish to join in person, we’ll be in the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel, at 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033

If you will be in person, and you’re able to help set up, deep bows of gratitude. Bonnie Kosnmyna was able to help last time, and much gratitude to her.

If you will be able to help, it’s especially helpful if you can sign up. That way it’s easier to estimate how long it will take.

Here’s a link to sign up to help, and thank you in advance - https://docs.google.com/document/d/18OKEUO7ubunOG_q9r8MaBFWXqmWScOm4LIsv8MdnBU8/edit

Thank you also for your generosity in offering dana, both for Northlake and the teacher.

Here is a link for Northlake dana

https://tinyurl.com/NorthlakeUU-Paypal2022

And here’s a link and address for the teacher.

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm

7510 117th Ave. NE

Kirkland, WA 98033

We hope that you can join, and we’re of course always open to your ideas about what we might explore on Thursday evenings. Also of course we will be bringing in other teachers, as is our teachers.

We’ll close with the Buddha’s words, about how to respond to those who approach us with hatred or ill-will. He said:

“We shall abide compassionate for their welfare, with a mind of loving-kindness, without inner hate.

We shall abide pervading them with a mind imbued with loving-kindness; and starting with them, we shall abide pervading the all-encompassing world with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, abundant, exalted, immeasurable, without hostility and without ill will.”

May you walk in peace,

Steve

Friends,

For any of us who wonder if we’re too compromised to awaken, the history of the dharma is replete with beings who awakened despite heavy burdens.

Many over the centuries have been inspired by the story of Angulimala, likely history’s first serial killer, who became an awakened arahant.

Then in Tibetan tradition there’s Milarepa, who killed 35 relatives in a revenge murder, but continued on to become one of Tibet’s most revered masters.

The lives of both of these beings hold possibilities for us now, no matter our life conditions. We’ll explore these potentials together at Eastside Insight, and see what we can bring into our spiritual journeys.

We’ll be meeting in-person and online, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 7.

If you’ll be joining in-person, we’ll be at the Northlake Unitarian Universalist chapel, at 315 3rd Ave S., Kirkland, WA 98033.

If anyone can show up a bit early to help set up, about 6:20 p.m. that would be wonderful. Please sign up here, or email me at Stevellen95@comcast.net.

We’ll have a merry time.

For those joining by Zoom, the URL is https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-9-1-2021

If you wish to offer dana, which is a way to keep the dharma wheel turning, you can do that by PayPal or check.

paypal.me/SteveWilhelm48

Steve Wilhelm

7510 117th Ave. NE

Kirkland, WA 98033

A few other items:

Several expressed regret they weren’t able to join the life of the Buddha in images presentation, so we’ll be offering it again Saturday, April 23,, online through the Port Townsend Sangha. Here’s a link.

Also, if any of you would like to engage in a dharma discussion, a one-on-one opportunity to discuss your practice and journey on the path, feel free to email Steve – stevellen95@comcast.net -  and we’ll figure out a time and place.

May all of you be well,

Steve