Self-Abandonment, Shadow Work, and the Way of Oneness By Kelly Branan There is a question I have been carrying around lately. What parts of yourself have you abandoned? Not lost.Not changed.Not outgrown.Abandoned. What parts of yourself did you decide, somewhere along the way, were unacceptable? Maybe you learned that anger wasn’t okay.Maybe you learned that…

By Gwen Juvenal Entering Silence and Not Knowing As our silent retreat comes nearer, I have been considering what it means to sit in silence—what opportunity it offers, and what each of us may bring into it. Silence does not always give us answers. Sometimes it brings us closer to what we do not know.A…

By Laura Bennett Good morning, everyone. As many of you know, our retreat is coming up soon, bringing with it one of my favorite traditions: the tisarana ceremony. For those of you who’ve been to retreat before or have taken refuge, you know what I’m talking about. For those of you who haven’t, or who…

By Gwen Juvenal Happily ever after. Or perhaps: And I lived happily ever after. That was my hope. I don’t know that I ever said it that way. I was an adult. I knew life was complicated. I knew marriage required work. I knew people suffered and plans changed. But I still carried a story…

By Rio Branham Welcome Home I want to talk today about meditation and retreat. Yes I will talk specifically about our silent meditation retreat coming up, but I want to discuss these topics more broadly. Retreat means to take a step back, to withdraw from something, often something harmful or unhelpful. There are a few…

By Steve LeFevre You are seen. You are heard. You are welcome here. You are not alone. You are enough. Every Sunday we sit together and recite these words. I’ve said them dozens of times. Maybe hundreds. But every once in a while, a single sentence jumps off the page and refuses to let go….

Every week in Buddhist communities around the world, people recite some version of: I take refuge in the Buddha.I take refuge in the Dharma.I take refuge in the Sangha. But what does it actually mean to take refuge? We all take refuge in something. We take refuge in entertainment, work, money, relationships, status, certainty, distraction,…

By Kelly Branan Good morning, everyone. I’m glad you’re here. I want to start with a question that has probably followed every one of us around at some point in our lives. What is the meaning of life? It’s one of those questions that usually doesn’t show up when everything is going well. It comes…

by Kimmy dojinyo For today’s Dharma Talk, I would like to share something I have been thinking a lot about lately: The Purple Pill. Before you get up and leave, no, this Dharma Talk is not brought to you by “big pharma.” This isn’t one of those commercials that interrupts your favorite show every 7…

By Steve LeFevre For the past several months, we have walked the Noble Eightfold Path together. Right View. Right Intention. Right Speech. Right Action. Right Livelihood. Right Effort. Right Mindfulness. Today we arrive at the final step. Right Concentration. If you’re anything like me, when you hear those words, you think: “Oh. This is the…