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