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
Steve Wilhelm
7510 117th Ave. NE
Kirkland, WA 98033
May you all walk in peace,
Steve