UPCOMING EVENTS

• 
  Tue 23

  Oct

  Smiling like a Buddha: A Six-Session Mindfulness Meditation Class

  ›

  Register Now When we practice mindfulness, we develop, over time, a relaxed state of awareness that allows for the moment-by-moment direct observation of sensations, feelings, and mind-states. When mindfulness is firmly established, joy, compassion, equanimity and loving-kindness arise. Intended for both new and experienced practitioners, the class will explore conscious breathing, developing/deepening a sitting practice,…

• 
  Sat 27

  Oct

  Five Mindfulness Trainings Study Group

  ›

  In the various Buddhist traditions, lay people follow a basic code of ethics known as the five precepts. The precepts encourage the practitioner to abstain from five ways of acting that create suffering for the practitioner and others: killing, stealing, engaging in sex with inappropriate partners, lying, and using alcohol and other intoxicants. In deciding to abide by them, the practitioner essentially says: “These practices are the best place for me to develop as a human being. They represent wholesome teachings for me by which I aspire to live.”

• 
  Sun 28

  Oct

  Deepening our Practice: Life Lessons from the Sutras

  ›

  – A Fall-Winter "Deepening Our Practice" Group for Experienced Practitioners –
  The core of the Buddhist tradition concerns the well-lived life. How do we reduce our suffering and the suffering of those around us? And, how do we live our lives joyfully, mindfully, and compassionately? In this Deepening our Practice class we will explore these questions as we look deeply into two Buddhist sutras.

• 
  Sat 5

  Jan

  Transmission of the Five Mindfulness Trainings

  ›

  In the Still Water MPC we recite together the Five Mindfulness Trainings at our gatherings each month (on the second Thursday in Silver Spring and the second Sunday in Columbia). The trainings remind us of our deep aspiration to live every day with a calm mind and an open heart. They provide invaluable guidelines for…