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.

Suffering, Joy, and Thich Nhat Hanh

Facilitated by: Mitchell Ratner| in: Dharma Topics

Discussion Date: Thu, Apr 02, 2020

Silver Spring, Maryland, Community Online on Thursday Evening April 2nd, 7:00 to 8:45 pm

Open to all Online on Friday Evening April 3rd, 7:00 to 8:45 pm

Dear Still Water Friends,

Thay’s (Thich Nhat Hanh’s) teachings on suffering and joy seem especially relevant now, as the covid-19 virus, and the efforts to “flatten the curve” bring dislocation and hardships into all our lives, and stories of individual and collective anguish fill the news media and our minds. Thay begins his book, Being Peace, with encouragement not to be pulled under by our difficulties:

Life is filled with suffering, but it is also filled with many wonders, like the blue sky, the sunshine, the eyes of a baby. To suffer is... Continued