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