• 9:30 – 9:40am — Welcome, framework for the day, and brief introduction to the Heavenly Abodes
  
• 9:40 – 10:25am — Guided loving-kindness meditation
  
• 10:25 – 10:45am —  Movement practice, along with a 10-minute introduction for those new to it
  
• 10:45 – 11:30am — Guided compassion meditation
  
• 11:30 – 11:45am —  Movement practice
  
• 11:45 – 12:00pm — Dharmette
  
• 12:00 – 1:00pm — Lunch Break
  
• 1:00 – 1:45pm — Guided sympathetic joy meditation
  
• 1:45 – 2:15pm — Optional group practice discussion or Movement practice
  
• 2:15 –  3:00pm — Guided equanimity meditation
  
• 3:00 – 3:15pm — Dharmette
  
• 3:15 – 3:25pm — Q & A
  
• 3:25am – Closing; dedication of merit
  

The program is offered freely, with no registration needed. If you'd like to donate to the teacher or the center, you can visit IMC's donation page here

Liz Powell's Biography 

Join Zoom Meeting

Zoom link will be available soon.

COVID vaccination and boosters are required. N95 or KN95 masks are required indoors.

• 9:30 – 10:15 am Guided or Lightly Guided Meditation
  
• 10:15 – 11:00 am Optional Small Group (Practice) Discussion or Walking Meditation 
  
• 11:00 – 11:45 am Lightly Guided Meditation 
  
• 11:45 – 12:00 pm  Brief Dharma Talks
  
• 12:00 – 12:15 pm Mindful Activity (cleaning the center) 
  
• 12:15 – Informal Lunch Gathering (bring bag lunch)

A practical analysis of experience – getting to know the five khandha, the builing blocks of experience, in theory and meditation. We will talk about dukkha and dukkha nirodha, suffering and the end of suffering …and what that means in the context of the Buddha’s teachings on the khandhas.

Bhante Pasanna
Born in Vienna in 1975, he was ordained in Sri Lanka in 1997 by Venerable Katukurunde Nyanananda Thero. Bhante Pasanna lived and practiced in monasteries and forest hermitages in Sri Lanka for 17 years. From 2014-2019, he spent time in the Metta Vihara in Germany and since then has been living as an independent hermit in a cottage in rural Germany. It is important to him to convey Theravāda Buddhism in an authentic yet practicable way.

Location: Online only via Zoom

When: Saturday, September 2, 2023: 9:30am - 12:00pm PST, with optional sharing about one’s practice from 12:00- 12:45 (facilitated by Liz)

Description: A half-day of mindfulness meditation together, supported by lighted guided meditations, movement practice, and a dharmette. 

Schedule: 

• 9:30 - 9:35   Welcome and framework for the half-day
  
• 9:35 - 10:15 Lightly guided meditation
  
• 10:15 - 10:45 Movement practice, along with a 10-minute introduction for those new to it
  
• 10:45 - 11:30 Lightly guided meditation
  
• 11:30 - 11:45 Movement practice
  
• 11:45 - 12:00 Dharmette
  
• 12:00 - 12:45 Optional group practice discussion facilitated by Liz
  

The program is offered freely, with no registration needed. If you'd like to donate to the teacher or the center, you can visit IMC's donation page here

Liz Powell's Biography 

Zoom Link

Zoom link will be available soon

COVID vaccination and boosters are required. N95 or KN95 masks are required indoors.

Dec 2, 2023

9:00am-12:30pm online

Gregory Kramer and Kim Allen

The Pāli suttas name the voice of another and wise attention as the key factors for the arising of right view, or wisdom. This defines speaking and listening practice as foundational to the Eightfold Path. We can see why spiritual friendship (kalyanamitta) is named as the most important external factor for walking the Eightfold Path, and wise attention the most important internal factor.

On this retreat, we will learn to meditate together with the root wisdom texts. The multi-layered, methodical, and relational meditation practice of Dharma Contemplation is a potent practice by which the discourses of the Buddha can come alive for us. The layers of DC help us to embrace and aim the power of the sensate body, the conceiving mind, and intuitive understanding. Dharma Contemplation directly engages the meditative qualities cultivated in silent meditation and the relational power of spiritual friendship in a deep encounter with the Dhamma. The practice, evolved in this form by Gregory Kramer, was developed within the ancient spiritual traditions of reading sacred texts and the establishment of the relational meditation practice of Insight Dialogue. (Experience with ID is not required for this program).

During this program, we will enter intimate relationship with key suttas on friendship and right view. We will experience how friendship and wisdom practice are inextricably linked. Why did the Buddha call spiritual friendship the whole of the holy life? What key qualities nourish spiritual friendship? Where in the suttas do we see these friendships in action?

Spiritual friendship does not just empower our formal Buddhist path. It enlivens, warms, and deepens the whole of our lives. The depth of wise friendship can be a source of resilience, patience, and wholesome urgency in a world that needs models of such qualities. Supported by the power of mutual reminding, shared inquiry, and abiding compassion we might dare to see with right view rather than conventional norms as we engage the Dhamma path of livelihood, family, and community life. 

In pairs, and small and large groups—and occasionally alone—we will learn and practice the five phases of Dharma Contemplation.