![]() ![]() I could picture my parents and their friends running around laughing, meditating and having a good time. The reunion weekend brought that era to life. “It’s not often that you get to hear about when and where your parents met, the origin story of an infamous retreat center and humorous tales from the titans of Western Buddhism all at the same time, but this was my experience. I asked my daughter Erica to reflect on what the experience of the IMS reunion weekend was like for her. ![]() A photo in IMS’ upstairs walking hall captures this moment. The story I shared was about greeting The Dalai Lama upon his arrival in 1979, at the front entrance at the foot of the large columns. Mandell greeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in 1979. I had the opportunity to catch up with Winnie during lunch, and was delighted to see how she has grown into being a fine teacher. One of those I had taught was Winnie Nazarko from Seattle, now a teacher at the Forest Refuge, a retreat facility adjacent to IMS for longer-term students. I was glad Erica could attend this reunion as my other daughter, Chloe, was getting ready to travel to Brazil to work at the Rio 2016 Olympics.ĭuring the reunion I saw so many people whom I had taught, or who had been on staff at IMS while I was teaching there. Rodney had never met my daughter, and he commented about how much she looked like me. All of us were in pure reunion mode, laughing and happy to see each other after many years. One of the first people I ran into when my daughter and I arrived was Seattle Insight Meditation Society Founder Rodney Smith. Now we were sharing a moment we could never have envisioned, celebrating the joyful 40-year reunion of an international meditation center. Joseph, Sharon and I had first met as meditation students in Bodh Gaya, India, at the Burmese Buddhist Vihara in the very early 1970s. I had been invited to enjoy and participate in the day-long reunion festivities, which included guided meditations in the meditation hall by my friends and former colleagues Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg. This is where I for more than seven years lived and taught the practices of mindfulness meditation, also called insight or vipassana mediation, during the early years of the organization. IMS, as it is commonly called, is a large retreat center an hour and a half west of Boston. Then, from left, Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Jacqueline Schwartz Mandell. These panhandling people may look like monks but they’re not, creating confusion for some of the people they solicit.įorty years ago Burmese master Mahasi Sayadaw authorized the same four to teach, in the IMS meditation hall.Trillium House, an experiment in dharma housing in Portland, is exploring new ways to practice together.After 30 years this far-north Zen community, in Anchorage, Alaska, continues to thrive in new ways.Volunteers help these dharma-practicing ex-prisoners find homes in the Seattle area’s white-hot housing market.The Seattle Art Museum has put together a display of ancient Buddhas, some of them 1,300 years old.Seattle’s Tibetan Nuns Project has supported many of the nuns, who for the first time in Tibetan history have earned the equivalent of doctorate degrees.Seattle-based teacher Steve Armstrong led the team that over years translated Burmese master Mahasi Sayadaw’s magnificent “Manual of Insight.”.Four Seattle-area people have just graduated from a two-year teacher training program, each with their own vision about how best to help.People with addiction issues gathered at a Thai Buddhist monastery, where they collaborated in their healing.A Portland woman, one of the first teachers at Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts, returns for a 40th anniversary gathering.These powerful female Buddhist leaders have started meeting together, to better understand how they can move beyond patriarchy.A group of dharma practitioners gathered to gain insight into their unconscious patterns around race.Generous people like you have supported Northwest Dharma Association for decades, and are needed now!.Northwest Dharma Association faces a cash crunch this fall, and needs community support. ![]()
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