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.

Embracing Our Anxiety

Facilitated by: Mitchell Ratner| in: Dharma Topics

Discussion Date: Thu, Sep 24, 2020

Silver Spring, Maryland, Community Online on Thursday Evening September 24, 7:00 to 8:45 pm Open to all Online on Friday Evening September 25, 7:00 to 8:45 pm

Dear Still Water Friends,

When I learned at Plum Village to invite the bell before meditation, I was told to first calm my mind and settle my body, then to say to myself the gatha (meditation verse) for inviting the bell:

Body, speech, and mind in perfect oneness I send my heart along with the sound of this bell. May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness And transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow.

It is one of the gathas I most enjoy, because it transforms a functional task, announcing the start of a meditation, into a prayer, that those who are with me for this meditation may “transcend... Continued