Friends,

The broader our compassion toward all beings, to include all beings seen and unseen, beings we agree with or not, beings we're close to or not, the bigger are our hearts and the better we can survive the vagaries of human existence.

For this upcoming Thursday, April 16 meeting of Eastside  Insight Meditation, we’ll be  exploring great compassion in Buddhist  tradition. We’ll see how great compassion directs us toward freedom, and not suffering, no matter the  outward conditions.

We’ll be gathering at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 16.

The URL for the evening will be https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2025,   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

Also, this Saturday, April 19, I’ll be offering a daylong in Port Townsend, on the theme of “No Enemies,” about cultivating loving-kindness and compassion toward all beings, even those with whom we disagree. Offering this acknowledging that the divisions of 2025 are difficult for so many of us.

https://www.ptsangha.org/day-long-retreat-april-19th/

All of you are welcome to join, either in person or  online. Some of you joining from the Eastside Insight  sangha would be a delightful addition to the good people of Port Townsend.

We are fortunate to be in sangha, to practice  the dharma together, in difficult times. Just in our practice, we have an opportunity to offer equanimity and kindness to others.
 
May all of you find peace and steadiness in your hearts,

Steve

Friends,

For this upcoming Thursday, April 3 Eastside Insight Meditation sit, we are happy to  again welcome friend and  colleague Emily Carpenter as a guest teacher.
 
Emily has visited Eastside Insight many times before, and is teaching this April 3, and last session March 20, while Ellen and  I are on Southwest pilgrimage. For these two weeks, Eastside Insight will only be online, because Emily will be Zooming from Portland.
 
Emily’s talk will be “Joy  on the path.”

She wrote:

 “We’ll explore joy in the Buddhist teachings, and as an experience in our practice and lives, and explore how it can help us stay balanced in times of great change and uncertainty.”

Emily has been practicing insight meditation since 1998. She was on staff at the Insight Meditation Society from 2009-2012 and graduated from Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders program in 2017. She deeply appreciates retreat practice and has completed over a year of silent retreat, mostly at IMS. Emily calls Portland home, where she owns a web design business and also works as an Internal Family Systems-informed life coach. In her free time, you can often find her enjoying the beautiful Pacific

The URL for the evening will be  https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2025. Just to repeat, this sit will only be online.

You’re invited to offer dana to Emily, with the  Venmo link below.

@Emily-Carpenter-10

 Rejoicing in the  depth  and goodwill of this  sangha, as we share light, not-clinging and compassion together.  

 
Steve

Friends,

For this upcoming Thursday, March 20 Eastside Insight Meditation sit, we are happy to  welcome friend and  colleague Emily Carpenter as a guest teacher.
 

Emily has visited Eastside Insight many times before, and this time she’ll be offering the dharma on March 20 and April 3, while Ellen and  I are on Southwest pilgrimage. For these two weeks, Eastside Insight will only be online, because Emily will be Zooming from Portland.
 
Emily’s talk will be “Exploring what steadies us in times of great change,” a theme she may continue into the second  week.

She wrote:

 “What practices help us stay grounded and in our bodies, and what teachings support us to understand and practice wisdom and compassion right now, in our own lives and out in the world?

There will be a dhamma reflection, some time for dyad practice (for those who are interested) and also group discussion.”

 
Emily has been practicing insight meditation since 1998. She was on staff at the Insight Meditation Society from 2009-2012 and graduated from Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders program in 2017. She deeply appreciates retreat practice and has completed over a year of silent retreat, mostly at IMS. Emily calls Portland Oregon home where she owns a web design business and also works as an Internal Family Systems-informed life coach. In her free time, you can often find her enjoying the beautiful Pacific

The URL for the evening will be  https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2025. Just to repeat, this sit will only be online.

You’re invited to offer dana to Emily, with the  Venmo link below.

@Emily-Carpenter-10

 Rejoicing in the  depth  and goodwill of this  sangha, as we share light, not-clinging and compassion together.  

 
Steve

We invite you to join Seattle Insight co-guiding teacher Tim Geil and assistant teacher Steve Wilhelm, and members of the graduating Eastside and Seattle Insight Introductory Meditation Classes in a day of sitting and walking meditation in the Vipassana tradition on Saturday, March 15th, from 9 am to 4:30 pm PDT. This event, to which all interested meditation practitioners are welcome, will be meet in a hybrid setting, both In-Person and Online simultaneously. Zoom log in information and more detailed information about how the Day of Mindfulness will unfold will be emailed to registrants by the day before the event.

Registration and Information here: Day of Mindfulness (In Person and Online)

Despite the "Introduction to Meditation" title, this series is really for anyone, whether you've just starting practicing or have for years. The goal is to give you tools and understandings that will keep your meditation practices alive, growing and fruitful, to serve you in coming years.

The series will include teachings, meditation, discussion and camaraderie. Always in these classes we build community, so it's a warm and delightful time.

Below is the URL to sign up. While there's a requested donation from Seattle Insight, nobody for whom the donation does not work is turned away. Yes, we'd be happy to have a few volunteers to help set up.

Eastside Introductory Class Series (In-Person and Online)

Friends,

For these two sessions we’re exploring the core Buddhist ethics – the five  precepts – and their pivotal role in the spiritual path, and in living a happy  daily life.

(Big thanks to sangha member Bonnie  Kosmyna, whose idea this was.)

As many of you know, Buddhist ethics -  sila in Pali – isn’t exactly a moral code but  rather a way of cultivating healthy  actions of body, speech and mind that support us  and others in life. Also it’s not a crisp boundary of right and wrong, but rather a training, a core part of our Dharma practice.

For the first session we explored the three most straightforward of the five:  training in not killing, training in not lying, training in not stealing. We saw how subtle these three can be, and how much these become a diamond edge in our practice.

For this upcoming second session we’re going to be exploring the far more ambiguous last two – training in not abusing intoxicants and cloud the mind, and training in avoiding sexual misconduct. These are more ambiguous because they’re so  connected to activities that to some of us, some of the  time, are acceptable, because these are conditioned by cultural standards, and because they have so much to do with intent.

We’ll be gathering at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 6.

The URL for the evening will be https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2025,   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 sangha members who step 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, I’m happy to share that Portland teacher Emily Carpenter will be leading Eastside Insight remotely for two upcoming Thursdays, March 20 and April 3. Ellen and I will be on pilgrimage in the Southwest during that period, and big  thanks to Emily!

We are fortunate to be in sangha, to practice  the dharma together, in difficult times. Just in our practice, we have an opportunity to offer equanimity and kindness to others.
 
May all of you find peace and steadiness in your hearts,

Steve

Despite the "Introduction to Meditation" title, this series is really for anyone, whether you've just starting practicing or have for years. The goal is to give you tools and understandings that will keep your meditation practices alive, growing and fruitful, to serve you in coming years.

The series will include teachings, meditation, discussion and camaraderie. Always in these classes we build community, so it's a warm and delightful time.

Below is the URL to sign up. While there's a requested donation from Seattle Insight, nobody for whom the donation does not work is turned away. Yes, we'd be happy to have a few volunteers to help set up.

Eastside Introductory Class Series (In-Person and Online)

Despite the "Introduction to Meditation" title, this series is really for anyone, whether you've just starting practicing or have for years. The goal is to give you tools and understandings that will keep your meditation practices alive, growing and fruitful, to serve you in coming years.

The series will include teachings, meditation, discussion and camaraderie. Always in these classes we build community, so it's a warm and delightful time.

Below is the URL to sign up. While there's a requested donation from Seattle Insight, nobody for whom the donation does not work is turned away. Yes, we'd be happy to have a few volunteers to help set up.

Eastside Introductory Class Series (In-Person and Online)

Friends,

For the next two sessions we’re going to be exploring the core Buddhist ethics – the five  precepts – and their pivotal role in the spiritual path, and in living a happy  daily life.

(Big thanks to sangha member Bonnie  Kosmyna, whose idea this was.)

As many of you know, Buddhist ethics -  sila in Pali – isn’t exactly a moral code but  rather a way of cultivating healthy  actions of body, speech and mind that support us  and others in life. Also it’s not a crisp boundary of right and wrong, but rather a training, a core part of our Dharma practice.

For this first session will be exploring the three most straightforward of the five:  training in not killing, training in not lying, training in not stealing. We’ll see how subtle these three can be, and how much these become a diamond edge in our practice.

We’ll be gathering at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20.

The URL for the evening will be https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2025,   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



Big thanks to Jason Bartlett for his  wonderful teachings on Feb. 6. As promised, here’s a link to a recording of his teachings.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/my-drive
 
We are fortunate to be in sangha, to practice  the dharma together, in difficult times. Just in our practice, we have an opportunity to offer equanimity and kindness to others.
 
May all of you find peace and steadiness in your hearts,

Steve

Despite the "Introduction to Meditation" title, this series is really for anyone, whether you've just starting practicing or have for years. The goal is to give you tools and understandings that will keep your meditation practices alive, growing and fruitful, to serve you in coming years.

The series will include teachings, meditation, discussion and camaraderie. Always in these classes we build community, so it's a warm and delightful time.

Below is the URL to sign up. While there's a requested donation from Seattle Insight, nobody for whom the donation does not work is turned away. Yes, we'd be happy to have a few volunteers to help set up.

Eastside Introductory Class Series (In-Person and Online)

Despite the "Introduction to Meditation" title, this series is really for anyone, whether you've just starting practicing or have for years. The goal is to give you tools and understandings that will keep your meditation practices alive, growing and fruitful, to serve you in coming years.

The series will include teachings, meditation, discussion and camaraderie. Always in these classes we build community, so it's a warm and delightful time.

Below is the URL to sign up. While there's a requested donation from Seattle Insight, nobody for whom the donation does not work is turned away. Yes, we'd be happy to have a few volunteers to help set up.

Eastside Introductory Class Series (In-Person and Online)

Friends,

For this upcoming Thursday, Feb. 6 Eastside Insight Meditation sit, we are happy to  welcome friend and  colleague Jason Bartlett as a guest teacher.

As some of you know, Jason leads Luminous  Dharma, an online group. He also leads retreats at Cloud Mountain and  elsewhere across the country.

The title of his talk Thursday will be: Exploring Samādhi and Wise Effort

“Jason will share perspectives on samadhi as part of the path, and how its appearance varies greatly among different practitioners. This will point to the integral roles of wise effort and ethical conduct, the roots of samadhi and liberating insight.”

Jason began training in Buddhism in 1993. He teaches an understanding of Buddhism applicable to the tumult of daily life. His specializations include prajñāpāramitā, emptiness and non-dual practices, liberating insight work, niànfó/recollection of the Buddha, breath meditation methods, jhāna, and Taoist zuòwáng.

The URL for the evening will be  https://tinyurl.com/Eastside-Insight-2025, and please note  that  this is  a new  URL for this year. 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. While Jason will be Zooming in, we’ll continue  to gather in  person for the  evening, at 7 p.m. as usual.

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 Jason, with the  link below. Any cash dana  will be forwarded to him.

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/luminousdharma
 

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

 
Last chance  for the six-week meditation course I’m offering 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 have one  Eastside volunteer for this series, and a second would be wonderful. This is a way you can support  the dharma, and also support people attending the series, who wish to deepen their dharma practice. 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/
 
With great gratitude for this noble sangha, and for all your kind hearts, as we enter the new year.
 
Steve

Despite the "Introduction to Meditation" title, this series is really for anyone, whether you've just starting practicing or have for years. The goal is to give you tools and understandings that will keep your meditation practices alive, growing and fruitful, to serve you in coming years.

The series will include teachings, meditation, discussion and camaraderie. Always in these classes we build community, so it's a warm and delightful time.

Below is the URL to sign up. While there's a requested donation from Seattle Insight, nobody for whom the donation does not work is turned away. Yes, we'd be happy to have a few volunteers to help set up.

Eastside Introductory Class Series (In-Person and Online)

Eastside Sangha Friends,
 
Here’s a reminder that the Jan. 25 Eastside Insight daylong – In Spite of It All, Finding Joy in 2025 – is at its heart an Eastside daylong.

We would have done it at Northlake Church in Kirkland but couldn’t get the  space  freed, and having  the retreat early in the year  seemed important.

So  please if you are interested, do sign up. It will be in-person and online, so either will work.

The retreat is extremely accessible on transit, if driving across seems challenging. The Metro 255 bus goes through the Kirkland Transit Center near the library, and then on to the South Kirkland Park & Ride, and then directly to the University District.

The bus runs frequently even on Saturdays, and it finishes at Campus Parkway, a five-minute walk to the Seattle Insight Meditation Society center, which is in the University Friends building.

So Eastside is the daylong that we’re even using the Eastside hybrid system. Big  bows to Eric Shinkle, who will be tech wingman during the daylong and who is going over early with me to set up. Bows also to Brittany Levenson, who is doing the dharma talk.

I hope to see you at the daylong, which Lyndal and I are specifically creating to give people dharma tools to navigate what promises to be a difficult year. Here’s the URL - https://seattleinsight.org/event/in-spite-of-it-all-finding-joy-in-2025/

Happy to answer any questions, with smiles and love.

Steve
206-819-5286
 

Friends,

Welcoming Eastside folks, or anyone, to a daylong meditation retreat this Saturday, Nov. 13.

The subject will be the five aspects of our experience that make up our sense of self. The more aware we can be of these five as they arise and pass, the freer we’ll be, the less in their thrall.

Some of you may know these five by various names: skandhas (Sanskrit), khandhas (Pali), or aggregates. The English term alludes to the way these five can set a sense of self as stiff as concrete, until we loosen this with mindfulness.

The daylong will be online and in-person, so take your pick. The in-person gathering will be in the sanctuary of Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church, in Kirkland. The online gathering will be via Zoom, and they’ll be laced together into a hybrid format.

For either approach please register via the Seattle Insight Meditation Society website. There is further information there including directions to the site, plus you need to register to get the link for the retreat. Please also look there for Covid protocols.

https://seattleinsight.org/event/aggregates-unpacking-the-self-111321/

The retreat will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and please plan to be there a few minutes early. If you’re planning to be in-person, please bring something warm like a shawl or blanket for inside, because windows will be open and fans will be running, and also rain gear for walking outside. And maybe lunch.

We won’t be serving coffee or tea, so please bring either in a thermos, to drink outside the hall.

The teachings will be offered by Lyndal Johnson and Steve Wilhelm

There is no requested donation for the event itself, because Northlake is considering the event a boon for church members as well as the larger community, and is offering the space.

There will be opportunities for you to express generosity back by offering support to Northlake; to Seattle Insight Meditation Society, which has provided lots of background support; and to the teachers.

If you have any questions please email Steve Wilhelm at stevellen95@comcast.net.

May this gathering be fruitful for all. We hope to see you there!