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.
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