I’m Right, You’re Wrong:

Loving-Kindness, Attachment to Views, Alienation and the Buddha’s Path of Non-contention

By Ajahn Amaro

 Next Zoom meeting: Friday, December 4, 5-6:30 p.m. Pacific time

 READING ASSIGNMENT:

 Read page 9-32, chapter 1, “Right in Fact, wrong in Dhamma” through chapter 2, “Guided Meditation”.

 PDF attached. PDF, EPUB and MOBI are available for download at:

https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/i-m-right-you-re-wrong?language=English

 The Dharma-Inspired book group is self-led. For our current book, Anne Foster is acting as facilitator and contact person: afoster@rawbw.com

 Now WEEKLY via Zoom!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85944054149?pwd=ZWVmZnNGOWNIL1AwbmFyTm9saUNSdz09

 Meeting ID: 859 4405 4149

Password: 8n74PW

 Phone:

+1669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc0WSFA9Ib

Meeting ID: 859 4405 4149

Password:760464

 About this book

We will be reading all four books in this series. This small book is the first in a series of four, consisting of reflections and practices related to the‘Sublime Abiding Places for the Heart’-the four brahma-viharas. The vision for the series is to explore these sublime abidings via the somewhat oblique approach of looking at their opposites. This particular book thus investigates metta through the lens of contention and self-righteousness and, through understanding them, how true kindness can be established.

 Plan ahead if you want hard copies

If you want hard copies of these books on the Brahma Viharas, here is the info so you can order them. Themonastery only processes these orders every couple of weeks, so plan ahead.

I'm Right Your Wrong, by Ajahn Amaro (on Loving-Kindness)

Print copies: https://www.abhayagiri.org/books/598-im-right-youre-wrong (looks as if they don't have print copies of this one right now)

 Don't Push - Just Use the Weight of Your own Body, by Ajahn Amaro (on compassion)

https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/don-t-push?language=English

Print copies: https://www.abhayagiri.org/books/599-dont-push-just-use-the-weight-of-your-own-body(select request print copy)

 Just One More, by Ajahn Amaro (on appreciative joy)

https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/just-one-more?language=English

Print copies: https://www.abhayagiri.org/books/600-just-one-more (select request print copy)

 Who is Pulling the Strings,by Ajahn Amaro (on equanimity)

https://forestsangha.org/teachings/books/who-is-pulling-the-strings?language=English

Print copies: https://www.abhayagiri.org/books/601-who-is-pulling-the-strings (request print copy)

To receive updates about Dharma Friends events via e-mail:

Go tohttps://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/dharma-friends/ and follow the instructions under "subscribe to receive e-mail updates".

Sutta Study Group

 The Pali canon contains many thousands of suttas (discourses), of which more than one thousand are now available in English translation at Access to Insight. If you have tried to read the original teachings/ suttas by Buddha but have found them overwhelming, here is your opportunity to read them together with other like-minded meditators. We will be reading slowly without a fixed agenda or timeline

 When: every Friday from 7:15 till 8:15 meeting via zoom.

 Next Zoom meeting: Friday, December 4, 7:15 - 8:15 p.m. Pacific time

READING ASSIGNMENT:

     “Befriending the Suttas: Tips on Reading the Pali Discourses”

Optional Sutta Reading (we will read all the sutta together again)

 Noble Truths

Eight fold Path

dana

sila

mindfulness of breathing

mindfulness of death

The Sutta Study Group is self-led. For this Sutta reading, Aditie is acting as facilitator and contact person: aditie.panda@gmail.com

Prerequisites - none

Topic: Sutta study Fridays 7:15 till 8:15 pm
Time: Fridays starting 12/4 at 7:15pm till 8:15 pm (no meeting 25th Dec and 1st Jan)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7380613778?pwd=MS93aStpeXNjODRmWlRpcWFvOW0wdz09

MeetingID: 738061 3778
Passcode: whoami

About this Suttas it is said...

"Thus you should train yourselves: 'We will listen when discourses that are words of the Tathagata — deep, deep in their meaning, transcendent, connected with emptiness— are being recited. We will lend ear, will set our hearts on knowing them,will regard these teachings as worth grasping & mastering.' That's how you should train yourselves."— SN 20.7

To receive updates about Dharma Friends events via e-mail:

Go to https://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/dharma-friends/and follow the instructions under "subscribe to receive e-mail updates".

What is the activity?

We are making honor cords (graduation leis) to give to incarcerated inmates when they graduate from the GRIP program. (no special skills or experience is needed, see this video for an quick example of the braid, see this video of a simple slip knot.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj21JDDSrgM ) See also examples of a braid here.

These cords are a potent symbol of the intricate, necessary, and beautiful work the men have done in healing themselves and "weaving themselves into a sangha" of deeply conscious human beings. These cords are deeply meaningful to the men as they continue to serve out their time.

What is the GRIP program?

 The GRIP program (Guiding Rage Into Power) is a restorative justice training program for prison inmates, originally begun in San Quentin. The men have committed themselves to transforming their lives through non-violence and becoming "peacekeepers".  The inmates commit to a one-year training of looking deeply into their lives. They are helped to develop emotional intelligence, mindfulness, ability to "sit in the fire", and address victim impact. They educate themselves about the suffering they have experienced and caused. When they graduate they again commit themselves to refraining from any violence, but this time for the remainder of their lives. It’s a highly successful program, truly transformative and healing. Many graduates become GRIP facilitators themselves, either working in prisons, or with at-risk populations upon their release.

When will we do this?

We have an on-line Zoom training session every Saturday at 11 AM. George Lunas, the GRIP facilitator at Soledad State Prison joins us. We spend the hour braiding, teaching newcomers, and George talks to us about GRIP, some of the challenges the men face, and some of the moving examples of their courage, love, and triumph over despair. It's potent.

Who to contact?

If you are interested in participating in this "braiding circle", please email Abraham Guenther <ehbrahamg@gmail.com> for details about sending you the braiding materials.

Sutta Study Group

The Pali canon contains many thousands of suttas (discourses), of whichmore than one thousand are now available in English translation at Access to Insight. If you have tried to read the originalteachings/ suttas by Buddha but have found them overwhelming, here is youropportunity to read them together with other like-minded souls. We will be reading slowly without a fixed agenda ortimeline

When: everyFriday from 7:15 till 8:15 meeting via zoom.

More information will be added the week before this date.The Sutta Study Group is self-led. For this Sutta reading, Aditie isacting as facilitator and contact person: aditie.panda@gmail.com

What is the activity?

We are making honor cords (graduation leis) to give to incarcerated inmates when they graduate from the GRIP program. (no special skills or experience is needed, see this video for an quick example of the braid, see this video of a simple slip knot.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj21JDDSrgM ) See also examples of a braid here.

These cords are a potent symbol of the intricate, necessary, and beautiful work the men have done in healing themselves and "weaving themselves into a sangha" of deeply conscious human beings. These cords are deeply meaningful to the men as they continue to serve out their time.

What is the GRIP program?

 The GRIP program (Guiding Rage Into Power) is a restorative justice training program for prison inmates, originally begun in San Quentin. The men have committed themselves to transforming their lives through non-violence and becoming "peacekeepers".  The inmates commit to a one-year training of looking deeply into their lives. They are helped to develop emotional intelligence, mindfulness, ability to "sit in the fire", and address victim impact. They educate themselves about the suffering they have experienced and caused. When they graduate they again commit themselves to refraining from any violence, but this time for the remainder of their lives. It’s a highly successful program, truly transformative and healing. Many graduates become GRIP facilitators themselves, either working in prisons, or with at-risk populations upon their release.

When will we do this?

We have an on-line Zoom training session every Saturday at 11 AM. George Lunas, the GRIP facilitator at Soledad State Prison joins us. We spend the hour braiding, teaching newcomers, and George talks to us about GRIP, some of the challenges the men face, and some of the moving examples of their courage, love, and triumph over despair. It's potent.

Who to contact?

If you are interested in participating in this "braiding circle", please email Abraham Guenther <ehbrahamg@gmail.com> for details about sending you the braiding materials.