Stay in the know with our newslettersFleda Brown
Poet and writer Fleda Brown reflects on the gatherings of her weekly meditation group, speaking to you as one who has long practiced meditation but still comes to the practice with a learner’s mind.
Buddhism and Aging
A student once asked Shunryu Suzuki, “Why do we meditate?” “So you can enjoy you…
Nirvana at a Carolina Bus Stop
It wasn’t quite so spring-like yesterday here in Northern Michigan, back to slig…
Nirvana and Spring Peepers
The weather here in northern Michigan is amazing! Scary but amazing. We should h…
Are Rainbows "Real"?
I left off last week’s post quoting Joseph Goldstein, where he says that some pe…
The Art of Compassion
Our local sangha wasn’t able to have our four-hour sitting yesterday because of …
So, What Do Buddhists Mean By Rebirth?
We had a class in Eastern Religions from the local college our sangha yesterday.…
Your Brain on Meditation
Yesterday our local meditation group read together a pitifully small portion of …
Cutting-to-the-Chase Meditation
This is my arrangement of a transcription of the conversation/dharma talk with Z…
All Kinds of Attachments
We had a small group in our local sangha for our discussion last time, but a lar…
Complicated/Simple Compassion
“This compassion thing is so much more complicated than I thought,” said Mary El…
Chicken & Egg Meditation
Yesterday was very cold and blowing light snow, but we had 11 of us sitting toge…
Angry Meditators
Approaching anger with curiosity and compassion can allow for a powerful purific…
The Bear Went Over the Mountain.
The lake-effect snow was lovely yesterday afternoon as we began a new year with …
Art and Poetry as Meditation
Our local group didn’t meet on Christmas Day, so instead of talking about our di…
When Completeness Comes
Our local sangha began Chapter Eight inOne Dharma, “Lovingkindness”—or met…
The Courage to Meditate
It was a happy thing that many of us brought our cushions Sunday night, since ou…
Great Time at a Meditation Retreat?
Here’s a photo of our local group at our 5-day retreat downstate, which went gre…
Tuning Our Lute Strings
I’m thinking of this week’s discussion in our local meditation group through the…
The Nuts and Bolts of our Meditation Practice
We had 12 people last Sunday night in our local group for our regular meditation…
Trying to Be a Good Meditator
We started a new chapter of our book, One Dharma in our meditation group on Sund…
Meditation on a Snow Man
Our local meditation group had quite a few people for our 4-hour sitting yesterd…
Judging Other People
We had a big group at the Unitarian Church for our usual discussion and sitting …
Trying to be a Good Person
What a good talk we had yesterday evening about the second (of the traditional B…
Starting Your Own Sangha
I hope you’re enjoying keeping up with our local sangha. If you’d like to see ou…
Unwholesome Grief
In our local sangha, we continued our reading and discussion of the chapter titl…
Discipline, concentration, and wisdom: What we need and what we get.
We were fortunate to have Sokuzan Bob Brown, from Battle Creek, Michigan, with u…
Gossiping, Useless Talk, and Jealousy: How We Can Quit Them
“Completeness needs no relative help, no support through comparison.”
Sexual Misconduct and Cinnamon Rolls
This week in my local meditation group, we started our discussion of Goldstein’s…
Doing No Harm
At my local meditation group, we had several new people and another really good …
What Would Perfect Look Like?
I’d say we had at least 15 people coming and going for our meditation group’s fo…
What do we mean by "God"?
I’d say we had at least 15 people coming and going for our local four-hour block…
This Can Never Work For Me!
In this week’s discussion at our local meditation group, we finished up Chapter …
What Makes a Sangha?
“All the siblings in my family are authentic members of my family. Because our i…
Our Precious Human Birth
Yesterday our meditation group began Chapter 3 of Joseph Goldstein’s One Dharma.…
How Buddhism Has Changed and Why We Should or Shouldn't Care
Our meditation group’s sitting last night included three fans and flapping verti…
Why Do We Do Long Sittings?
Our meditation group had six stalwart sitters yesterday for our four-hour block …
Making Distinctions
This week our local Sangha, or meditation group, started our study of One Dharma…
Welcome to "Meditation Made Local"
You should know right off, you won’t find here an interesting discussion of Vasu…
