Dharma Topics

Prior to each Thursday evening gathering in Silver Spring for meditation and Dharma sharing we send out an announcement of the topic. The announcement is includes a short essay that focuses on a way of bringing mindfulness into our lives, families, work, and society. Below are topics that we've discussed in the past.

The archive goes from 2004 to the present. You can search by one or more key words, such as: Compassion Training (no quotes), or by phrases, such as: “emotional and spiritual healing” (with quotes). If you would like to receive our weekly announcement, please click on the bar to the right.

Lighting the Lamp of Awareness

Facilitated by: Mitchell Ratner| in: Dharma Topics

Discussion Date: Thu, Jul 22, 2021

July 22, 2021, 7:00 to 8:45 pm Silver Spring, Maryland, community online on Thursday evening July 23, 2021, 7:00 to 8:45 pm Open to all online on Friday evening

Dear Still Water Friends,

There are some who come to mindfulness practice with the idea that all one needs to know can be learned quickly — roughly equivalent to learning a new way to manage email. However, that has not been my experience. For me, it is like learning to play a musical instrument or developing mastery of Tai-Chi. It takes time, lots of practice, good teachers, and some understanding of the history and meaning of the of the words we use.

This Thursday and Friday evenings we will explore together what it means to be mindful in meditation and in daily life. We will begin with Thay’s (Thich Nhat Hanh’s) elaboration of the most important... Continued