IRC 2025 Winter-Spring Newsletter is available online . You can read past newsletters in both HTML and PDF formats on the Newsletter page of the Insight Retreat Center website….
…Committee for the Annual Spring Cleanup event of the city. The city will provide any tools you need, To find up more on the Community Programs page of the Insight World Aid website. For more information, please contact ram@insightworldaid.org ….
Saturday July 19, 2025 9:00 am – 4:00 pm In-person at IMC Daylong sponsored by the Sati Center Offered by: Ying Chen, David Lorey, Diana Clark and Kim Allen Register on the Sati Center website Join us for an illuminating…
Welcome to the IMC Community (Sangha) In modern Western terms, Sangha refers to the community of practitioners on the Buddhist path. We are an open community that is welcoming to anyone who is interested in the teachings and practice we…
…matter (nama-rupa) From mind and matter come the six senses (salayatana) From the six senses comes contact (phassa) From contact comes feeling (vedana) From feeling comes craving (tanha) From craving comes clinging (upadana) From clinging comes becoming/existence (bhava) From becoming/existence…
…from the heart, its good qualities increasingly guide us in making ethical decisions. Among the most important of these guiding qualities are freedom and compassion. Faced with an ethical choice, we can ask whether it both expresses compassion and helps…
…and torpor can be complacency. This can occur when we are lulled by comfort or misguided acceptance. Complacency may arise when meditation feels easy and comfortable. With the warm, fuzzy feeling that everything is okay, the mind can even drift…
adapted from a talk by Gil Fronsdal January 1st, 2001 In practicing mindfulness, it can be helpful to remember that the practice can work even when it doesn’t work. Perhaps this is explained best through an analogy. Consider a mountain…
…of the Buddha’s teachings. How we can best do this in our present-day world is a deeply challenging question with profound ramifications. Bhante will explore the canonical roots of Socially Applied Buddhism, with texts and discussion. He will develop a…
Investigating the Best Known Collection of the Buddha’s Teachings Saturday, December 4, 2010, 9am to 4pm The Dhammapada may well be the most widely read and most beloved collection of Buddhist scriptures presenting wisdom through vivid, poetic imagery and often…
…to stop. Addictions to desires, compulsions toward anger, obsessions with fear, and attachments to self can be so deeply rooted in the mind that they are hard to recognize, let alone stop. In Buddhist shorthand, these addictions, compulsions, obsessions, and…
…world with ease and wisdom. It also opens our hearts to greater compassion, which is one of the most valuable emotions of the relational world. In Buddhism the combination of these two – liberation and compassion, non-relational and relational –…
…fails, they turn to taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Some people approach going for refuge as a firm, courageous, and enthusiastic commitment to a life based on spiritual freedom and compassion. It is a commitment that simultaneously…
by: Gil Fronsdal At the Insight Meditation Center, and soon, at the new Insight Retreat Center, we offer our residential retreats freely at no cost to anyone who participates. We do so because we believe Buddhist practice unfolds best in…
…doesn’t harm practitioners, one should “abide compassionate to all living beings.” For many people, one’s livelihood is how one has the most impact on the wider social world. The practice of Right Livelihood aims at being thoroughly ethical in how…
Sign Ups – January 6 to February 3. Groups will meet monthly for 6 months: March – August, 2013 The groups will meet once a month for six months (March through August) in someone’s home at the best time for…
…happening was something to offer my full presence to. But I noticed some of my fellow Zen practitioners’ ideas about Zen practice were different from mine. In particular, some students believed that there was one thing we were not supposed…
…lineage, common talk, scripture, logic, intuition or reasoning, or by reason of the competence of the speaker, or because he or she is one’s own teacher.” This does not necessarily mean that these sources have to be avoided entirely. Rather…
…formations (sankhara) From karma formations comes consciousness (vinnana) From consciousness comes mind and matter (nama-rupa) From mind and matter come the six senses (salayatana) From the six senses comes contact (phassa) From contact comes feeling (vedana) From feeling comes craving…
Periodically, IMC offers the opportunity to participate in neighborhood discussion groups. The groups meet once a month for six months in someone’s home at the best time for the majority based on indicated availability. If you choose to participate, please…
…breeze on our palm when we open our fist. It is our task to open the fist in our heart so we can be refreshed by the Dharma, by the winds of compassion, wisdom, and freedom. First published October, 2010…
…a life that doesn’t harm practitioners, one should “abide compassionate to all living beings.” For many people, one’s livelihood is how one has the most impact on the wider social world. The practice of Right Livelihood aims at being thoroughly…
…a life that doesn’t harm practitioners, one should “abide compassionate to all living beings.” For many people, one’s livelihood is how one has the most impact on the wider social world. The practice of Right Livelihood aims at being thoroughly…
…situations, the chaos, the daily ups and downs. We have to have a game plan for meeting and facing the defilements that come up within our own minds as well as the negativities and defilements that come at us from…
…increasingly guide us in making ethical decisions. Among the most important of these guiding qualities are freedom and compassion. Faced with an ethical choice, we can ask whether it both expresses compassion and helps move the heart to greater freedom….
Sep 25 – 27, 2009 Mindfulness retreat at Jikoji Retreat Center in Los Gatos, http://www.jikoji.org/ Taught by Andrea Fella and Pam Weiss…
…format with sitting and walking in silence, and time for individual interviews. Teachers give daily dharma talks and systematic meditation instructions. We will celebrate New Year’s Eve with a late evening sitting and simple ceremony. For more information, see https://www.spiritrock.org/calendarDetails?EventID=2955…
…Lew’s home sangha is http://www.vimalasangha.org/ Peter Schireson and Karen Geiger are both long time practitioners of Zen. Peter ordained as a Zen priest after retiring from a successful career in education and business. Karen is a professional grief counselor working…
…four Wise Efforts) drawn from Buddhist philosophy and presented in a user-friendly way. James Baraz is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he started the Family Program, Community Dharma Leader Program and Kalyana Mitta Network. He leads…
June 28th – July 5th, 2010 With Philip Moffitt, Sally Armstrong, and Andrea Fella Further information about this retreat will be posted as it becomes available. For further information see: http://www.spiritrock.org/page.aspx?pid=561…