Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group

Folks, Noted Zen teacher and longtime friend of SBMG, Mary Mocine, will be teaching the first of three Sunday programs tonight. The Heart Sutra is chanted daily by thousands of Soto Zen practitioners. It is often challenging to contemplate its many litanies of "no"... Where Is the Yes in the Heart Sutra? The Heart Sutra is around 2,000 years old. It is famous for being full of negations. No, no, no. And yet it is spoken by Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of Compassion who hears the cries of the world. Ultimately it is about compassion and reminds us that our actions, to be truly useful, must arise from having let go of our self-clinging and self-defending. This no, no, no is the best foundation. Join us at 6:30 p.m. Sharing a pdf of the Heart Sutra below.

If you are looking to start the new year, on a more grounded and serene now, we have an upcoming class for you. On January 6, Karson Kovakovich will be leading a six-week course on Mindfulness Meditation. Registration is a sliding scale of $50 - $200 for the entire six weeks. However, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please see the event here or on our website, sbmg.org for more information.

Sangha Social this Friday, 6:30-7:30 pm, online! We will have time to connect, talk about practice ups and downs with a skillful facilitator. See SBMG website for details and zoom link. Bring your dinner, a cuppa, furry friend, and a readiness to listen and speak among friends. Future gatherings on Jan 1, Jan 15, and future 1st and 3rd Fridays.

Folks, We are creating twice-monthly online social time, starting December 4th at 6:30 p.m. Please check it out.

Register for Finding the Ground Beneath our Seat and Feet with Susan Moon on Saturday, December 12, Teja Bell teaching tonight (11/29) at 6:30, Karson Kovakovich teaching beginning meditation instruction tonight (11/29) at 5:30 and Norman Ficher teaching a daylong on 1/16/21 - https://mailchi.mp//register-for-finding-the-ground-beneat

Self-Awareness with Venerable Thuân Tuê on November 21 - https://mailchi.mp/cf/self-awareness-with-venerable-thun-tu

Folks, Our next event is this Saturday. Ven. Tue is a special teacher. Rev. Lien Shutt considers her to be one of the deepest teachers she's ever met. We hope you can attend.

Intimate with Error and In Love with Truth with Barbara DuBois on 11/15 or Self-Awareness with Venerable Thuân Tuê on 11/21 - https://mailchi.mp/e1f3071/intimatewitherrorinlovewithtruth

"We All Want Love," A Four-Part Class on the Brahma Viharas starts October 27. Other teachings with Barbara DuBois on 11/15 and Self-Awareness with Venerable Thuân Tuê on 11/21. Tova Green will be teaching our Sunday Program on 11/1 - https://mailchi.mp//still-time-to-register-for-we-all-want

Hey folks, it's been an intense week. Alan Senauke (of Berkeley Zen Center) will be speaking tonight for SBMG's regular Sunday program at 6:30. The Zoom link is embedded in the description.

Still Time to Register for "Transforming Anxiety with Oren Jay Sofer on October 17 or We All Want Love: Teachings of the Brahma Viharas and bell hooks with Rev Liên Shutt starting Oct. 27 - https://mailchi.mp//register-for-transforming-anxiety-with

Register for Transforming Anxiety with Oren Jay Sofer on October 17 - https://mailchi.mp//register-for-transforming-anxiety-with

Folks, the one and only John Travis of Mountain Stream Meditation Center is coming online for SBMG in the next hour. Come and share his teachings with us!

Register for Working with the Heart in Difficult Times this Sunday, Sept. 20 or Transforming Anxiety with Oren Jay Sofer on October 17. https://mailchi.mp//still-time-to-register-for-working-wit

Sustenance snd wisdom for our times, 9 am PDT this Saturday.

Register for 9/20 Meditation Workshop with John Travis. There is also ongoing Zoom info for Sunday's program. Tonight's teacher is Venerable Dhammadipa - https://mailchi.mp/369aace6e9b6/johntravis-920-event

If you are free on Monday, 8/31, here's a chance to spend time with Zenju, a teacher of great depth and magnitude: https://valleystreamszen.org//monday-evening-zazen-progra/

Still Time to Register for 8/8 Meditation Retreat with Donald Rothberg. Minimum to register increases to $25 after 8/4. - https://mailchi.mp//still-time-to-register-for-88-meditati

Register for 8/8 Meditation Retreat with Donald Rothberg, "Dukkha and the End of Dukkha: Transforming Suffering and Reactivity" - https://mailchi.mp//register-for-88-meditation-retreat-wit

Three days from now is our next online daylong retreat, this time with Donald Rothberg. Donald Rothberg sits on the teacher council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and teaches socially-engaged spirituality, including a two-year training program called "The Path of Engagement" through Spirit Rock and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Consider registering for this daylong.

Folks, if you have not visited our website (sbmg.org) recently, we invite you to hop click here and read a letter from our board president, Lilliana Mendez-Soto. She details transitions in leadership, current challenges and sangha needs, and ways you can contribute to keeping SBMG going. If you go directly to our website, this post and others are under the Dharma Voices blog link on the left hand of the screen. We also have a post supporting Black Lives Matter and carving out safe spaces for BIPOC to practice the dharma as well as a post on our dharma mentoring program. Please check it out.

Folks, We are getting close to the needed funds for new solar panels for the Sacramento Dharma Center. If you have not already donated to this cause, please do so if possible. While we may not be in our home right now, the solar panels will save the center money in addition to benefitting us for years to come. Any amount helps, be it $5 or $500.

Folks, Bright and early tomorrow morning at 9 a.m., guest teacher Devin Berry will be leading a 3-hour workshop on the brahmaviharas (also known as the Four Immeasurables). Working with loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity can be immensely restorative in these complex times. There is still time to register (on a sliding scale of $15 - $50). Note: this includes dana for our teacher. You can register directly in Facebook, or via our website (sbmg.org). After registering, you will get a confirmation email with the Zoom information.

Register for Upright in the Storm with Devin Berry this Sunday (7/19) at 9 a.m. Come and experience Devin's teachings on the Brahma Viharas - https://mailchi.mp//register-for-upright-in-the-storm-with

Folks, In a few short hours, Lori Wong, founding teacher of Insight Meditation Central Valley, will be leading our Sunday program at 6:30 p.m. She is also a teacher with the compassion institute. We hope to see you online tonight.

SBMG Dharma Mentors, a team of five sangha members with at least ten years practice experience, who each work with a teacher, are available if you would like to connect with someone about practice questions, and how to grow compassion and wisdom in your daily life. Please visit https://sbmg.org/dharma-voices/ for information about what they offer, and how a mentor might support you on this path of compassion and wisdom.

The amazing Devin Berry will be offering a lot of Dharma to the SBMG and Sacramento on July 19, including this workshop "Upright in the Storm" on the #brahmaviharas #meditation #sacramento @ Sacramento, California

In a few short hours, Dawn Scott will be leading SBMG's Sunday Program. Additionally, register for programming with Andy Bein and Devin Berry July 9 and 19 - https://mailchi.mp/a4561fa/dawn-scott-teaching-tonight-6-28

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article243819717.html (be sure to turn on sound) -- Thank you Julie, Mele, Judy, Terry, Aloka Vihara Forest Monastery, Jim, and all one hundred of you on the Hwy 50 overpasses -- my heart is warmed by our mahasangha presence, honoring Black Lives Matter Sacramento and across the country, and the black lives lost to police brutality. Your readiness to bear witness with steadiness and determination inspires us.

Time Change for Tending What's Burning with Amma Thanasanti Tomorrow, June 20 starting at 1 p.m. - https://mailchi.mp//tending-whats-burning-with-amma-thanas

Tending What's Burning with Amma Thanasanti Saturday, June 20 - https://mailchi.mp//tending-whats-burning-with-amma-thanas Embodied Heart Practices in the midst of COVID with Pawan Bareja tonight (6/14) at 6:30 p.m.