Special Events

Meditation Instruction
General Events
Family Program
Dharma Friends
Sati Center
Yoga

Meditation Instruction

Introductory Course in Mindfulness Meditation

During this course, the basic instructions in insight meditation will be given sequentially, starting with a focus on mindfulness of breathing, followed by mindfulness of the body, of emotions, of thinking, and of the application of mindfulness in daily life.

• 5 Tuesday mornings
  May 18 - June 15, 10:00 - 11:30 am. with Andrea Fella.
• 5 Wednesday evenings
  July 7 - August 4, 7:30 - 9:00 pm with Andrea Fella.
• 5 Wednesday evenings
  September 29 - October 27, 7:30 - 9:00 pm with Gil Fronsdal.

General Events

Foundations of Buddhist Spiritual Life:
An Introduction to its Principles and Practices

with Gil Fronsdal
5 Wednesdays, April 28 - May 26, 7:30 - 9:00 pm

This five week introductory class is for those people who would like to learn and explore the core components for living a life that is well integrated with one's Buddhist practice. The class is participatory with the expectation that during the five weeks participants will engage in these foundational practices in their life outside of class. Everyone is welcome.

Buddha’s Birthday (Vesak) Celebration

Sunday, May 16, 10:00 am.

We will be celebrating Buddha’s Birthday after our Sunday morning sitting. Everyone welcome including children. Please bring flowers.

Yoga and Meditation for Arthritis and Related Challenges

with Terry Lesser & Beatrice Netter
Saturday May 22, 1:30 - 4:30 pm

Learn a yoga and meditation routine that you can take home with you and start using now. We will focus on how to make posture modifications to fit the abilities of each participant.

Guest Teacher: Ajahn Sundara

with Ajahn Sundara
June 1-8

Ajahn Sundara, a Buddhist nun for more than 20 years in the Thai Forest tradition, will be our guest teacher. A dynamic teacher, she is the senior nun trained by Ajahn Sumedho. Monks and nuns in this tradition eat only what they are offered and eat their main meal before 1:00 pm (daylight savings time). Ajahn Sundara is appreciated for her clarity of dharma and her ability to make it come alive and useful in our practice. She will be leading the following events:

• Tuesday, June 1, 7:00 - 9:00 pm Evening Puja, a traditional ceremony with chanting, meditation, and dharma talk
• Wednesday, June 2, 8:30 am - 12:15 pm. Half-day retreat, ending with a lunch offering to Ajahn Sundara.
• Thursday, June 3, 7:30 - 9:00 pm, Sitting and Talk
• Friday-Sunday June 4-6, Three-Day Non-Residential Retreat. Sitting and walking meditation with instruction, dharma talks, and chanting. There will be a lunch offering and potluck at 11:30 am each day will end with tea and discussion with Ajahn Sundara. Dharma talks will occur daily at unscheduled times. We encourage people to attend all three days if possible, but if you are only able to come for one day or two days, you are welcome to come as well
  Interviews will be available. Part of each day of the retreat will be an offering of lunch to Ajahn Sundara, so please bring something to share for the potluck each day. No pre-registration necessary.
• Friday & Saturday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
• Sunday 8:30 am to 6:00 pm Sunday will include the regular 2 sittings with a dharma talk at 10:00 am, which will be open to all, then we will offer lunch, and then continue with the retreat.
• Monday, June 7, 7:30 to 9:00 pm, Sitting and Talk

Contact Jill Boone (408) 379-6835 . If you are planning to come, but are not on the IMC e-list, please send me your name and email.
* Nuns and monks eat only what is offered to them. You are welcome to bring food for the meal offerings on retreat days.

Insight Dialogue Retreat

with Gregory Kramer
Saturday, June 26, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Exploring Interpersonal Craving and Interpersonal Freedom
We will learn a practice which extends silent and solitary Vipassana meditation into words and our relational lives. Based directly on the suttas, this social meditation practice brings the clarity and tranquility of wise presence where it is most needed. Insight Dialogue offers specific, practical guidelines for cultivating the same kind of intention and mindfulness while speaking and listening to others that we try to cultivate in sitting practice.

Gregory Kramer has been teaching Vipassana and Metta (lovingkindness meditation) since 1980, and directs the Metta Foundation in Portland, OR. His primary focus for the last seven years has been developing the meditation practice of Insight Dialogue, a form of Vipassana meditation encompassing listening, speaking, and online communication

Stephen Batchelor at IMC

• Wednesday, June 30, 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Talk and Booksigning of his new book:  Living with the Devil
• Sunday, July 4, 10:00 - 10:45 am Dharma Talk
• Sunday, July 4, 12:30 - 4:00 pm. An Afternoon of Dharma: Buddha Nature/Mara Nature
  An exploration of what opens up the path of insight and compassion and what closes it down. How in meditation and daily life can we learn to respond to situations from a free and open space of awareness instead of reacting to them from a blocked and closed space of confusion and habit? Buddha and Mara will be presented as figurative metaphors for the primary challenge of each moment: to be awake or to keep dreaming.

Stephen Batchelor, a former Buddhist monk, studied under the guidance of Tibetan lamas and completed a three-year Zen training in Korea. He is the noted author of Alone With Others, The Faith to Doubt, The Awakening of the West, Buddhism Without Beliefs and Verses from the Center: A Buddhist Vision of the Sublime, and his new book Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil. He is a member of the teacher council at Gaia House in England and is co-founder of Sharpham College. He teaches worldwide and lives in southwest France.

A Whole Life's Work

with Lew Richmond
Saturday, August 7, 1:00 - 5:00 pm

This interactive workshop will be based on Lew’s new book, A Whole Life’s Work: Living Passionately, Growing Spiritually, and will focus on ways to accomplish authentic Dharma practice in the midst of all our major life activities—livelihood, parenting, avocations, illness and care giving, being a lifelong Learner, functioning as a lifelong teacher and Elder. The book is grounded in Zen Buddhism’s Six Perfections—ethics, generosity, energy, patience, meditation and wisdom. Its fundamental purpose is to help us activate the Great Vow to Liberate All Beings—our Whole Life’s Work--in everything we do.

Chikudo Lew Richmond is an ordained disciple of Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki, and a lineage holder in that tradition. Beginning in 1967, for fifteen years he lived and trained at Tassajara Zen Monastery, San Francisco Zen Center, and Green Gulch Zen Temple, where he was its Head of Practice from 1977-1983. He is the author of three books: Work As Spiritual Practice; Healing Lazarus: A Buddhist’s Journey from Near Death to New Life; and A Whole Life’s Work: Living Passionately, Growing Spiritually.

Nature and the Buddha’s Teachings of Mindfulness

with Gil Fronsdal
August 22-27

This class will take place at Tassajara Zen Monastery in the Big Sur Mountains. Mindfulness practice has a central role in the teachings of the Buddha and refers to the cultivation of our ability to see clearly. The Buddha often instructed people to practice mindfulness outdoors under trees. What, then, is the connection between mindfulness and nature? How does nature support spiritual life? How did the Buddha and his disciples relate to the natural world? Through instruction, meditation, dharma talks, and discussion, this workshop will present systematic instruction in mindfulness practice and an introduction to the Buddhist attitude and understanding of the natural world. Ample free time is scheduled for enjoying Tassajara and each other. Call Tassajara Reservations, 415-865-1899 or SFZC (Early reservations recommended).

San Jose Sangha

The San Jose Sangha is located at 1041 Morse Street, San Jose. More information is available on their website.

Contact Berget (408) 255-2783

• Evening Sitting & Discussion
  Every Wednesday, 7:30 - 9:00 pm
  
• Beginning Meditation Instruction
  1st Wednesday of each month 6:15- 7:15 pm
  
• 5 Week Introduction to Meditation Course
  Wednesdays, September 1-20, 6:15 - 7:15 pm. With Berget.
• 6 Week Basic Buddhist Practice Course
  Wednesdays, July 7 to August 11, 6:15 - 7:15 pm
  Exploring the fundamentals of Buddhist practice: 5 Precepts, Brahma Viharas, 4 Noble Truths, 5 Hindrances, Dana/Sila. With Berget.
• One-Day Sitting
  Saturday July 10, 9:00 - 4:30 pm
  One-day sitting at San Jose Unitarian U. Church. There is a labyrinth for walking meditation. With Berget.
• One-Day Sittting
  Saturday Sept. 25, from 9:00 to 4:30 pm.
  One-day sitting at the Center for Spiritual Living in San Jose. Join us as we share our practice with churches in the area. Appropriate for all levels of practice. Bring lunch.

Coastside Vipassana

For schedule and location see their website.

Family Program

Parents' Meetings

with Gil Fronsdal
Sunday, May 23, 7:00 - 9:00 pm

Please join us for meditation and lively discussion on family issues, moderated by Gil Fronsdal. Contact Amy Saltzman (650) 326-0701.

Buddha's Birthday- Vesak Celebration

Sunday, May 16, 9:00 - 10:15 am

Families should arrive by 9 am. Please bring lots of flowers,
preferably carnations, to decorate the pagoda with. Gil will tell us about the Buddha's birth and will teach us a chant that we will sing as we carry the pagoda into the meditation hall. We will then participate in a ceremony with the adult sangha. At 10:15, families are invited to join us at nearby Stafford Park for play/potluck snacks/waterplay/fun!

Dharma Friends

Writing As a Healing Practice:

Saturday, May 1, 7:00 - 10:00 pm

Playing with words, poetry, and breath to promote creativity and mindfulness. No writing experience needed. At IMC. Phyllis Klein (415) 273-1036 or (650) 921-3429.

Music Jam and Sing-along

Saturday, May 22, 7:00 - 10:00 pm

At IMC. Carolyn Garbarino (650) 322-6297.

Dharma Friends Steering Committee

May 23, Sunday, 11:15 am - 12:45 pm

Planning meeting for events July to September. IMC conference room. Come join us! Anne Foster (650) 625-0812

Sati Center

Introduction to Buddhist Prison Ministry

with Paul Haller & Diana Lion
Saturday, June 19, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

View class description.

As Large as Life: Zen Koans for Everyday Practice

with Norman Fisher
Saturday, August 28, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

View class description.

Yoga

Yoga for Meditation

with Lolly Font
Saturday, May 15, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm

Benefit for IMC. Suggested donation $30 (any amount is acceptable).

A workshop to enhance meditation practice, focused on developing proper alignment, breathing and strength needed to sustain a painless, comfortable sitting posture. Simple yoga postures that everyone can do will be taught.

Lolly is a former director of the California Yoga Center and is a certified Iyengar teacher.

Yoga and Meditation for Arthritis and Related Challenges

with Terry Lesser & Beatrice Netter
Saturday May 22, 1:30 - 4:30 pm

Learn a yoga and meditation routine that you can take home with you and start using now. We will focus on how to make posture modifications to fit the abilities of each participant.

Morning of Yoga and Meditation

with Terry Lesser
Saturday, June 12, 9:30 am - 1:00 pm

Suitable for all levels. Please bring a large towel and sticky mat, if you have one.