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Interbeing Sangha of Kingston - Weekly Electronic Bulletin Issue #12 - September 8th, 2017

Interbeing Sangha
of Kingston

Weekly Meeting

Please join us for our next weekly gathering, taking place this Sunday, September 10th, for meditation and dharma sharing, 6:30pm at Unitarian Place (Kingston Unitarian Fellowship), 206 Concession Street. Aileen Stewart will be bell minding.

Lovingkindness

"Practicing lovingkindness meditation is like digging deep into the ground until we reach the purest water. We look deeply into ourselves until insight arises and our love flows to the surface. Joy and happiness radiate from our eyes, and everyone around us benefits from our smile and our presence. If we take good care of ourselves, we help everyone. We stop being a source of suffering to the world, and we become a reservoir of joy and freshness. Here and there are people who know how to take good care of themselves, who live joyfully and happily. They are our strongest support. Whatever they do, they do for everyone.

-- Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Love

Tomorrow in Kingston

Walk With Me for Peace

Tomorrow, Saturday, September 8th, fifty monks and nuns of Thich Nhat Hanh’s global monastic community will lead a silent peace walk in Los Angeles, in conjunction with the premiere of the film, Walk With Me "to unite our heart, to nurture our togetherness, and to dissipate fear and separation." Here in Kingston, Ontario, sangha member Karen Parsons has invited members of Interbeing Sangha and Be Still Sangha to walk in solidarity with Walk With Me for Peace.

We will walk in McBurney Park, meeting at 5:00 pm at the corner of Patrick, Balaclava, and Alma Streets and walk mindfully together in silence for about 20 minutes (click for map). Our walk will coincide with the exact time that the monastics will be having their walk. Please join us in making steps as a prayer for peace and harmony in our world.

Each Step, a Prayer for Peace

"We shall walk in such a way that each step we make becomes a realization of peace; each step becomes a prayer for peace and harmony. We shall walk together in silence, with no banners and no pickets. The walk will not be a petition addressed to anyone, nor will it be a demonstration against anyone. The walk is to unite our heart, to nurture our togetherness, and to dissipate fear and separation. It will be an actual experience of peace in ourselves and for our country."

-- Walk With Me for Peace

Special Event

Mindful Resistance Webinar

Interbeing Sangha of Kingston presents a live screening of Mindful Resistance: How to Resist Without Burning Out at Unitarian Place, 206 Concession Street, Thursday, September 21st, 2017 at 2:00pm. Two social justice activists and dharma teachers will lead this live webinar. Kaira Jewel Lingo and Mushim Patricia Ikeda discuss the importance of self-care during these troubling times, including concrete practices and how to mentor others in self-care. Learn more and register for this free event here...

Friends in Practice

New Cushions

Thank you to our "weaver of friends in the practice," sangha member Jane Owen (creator of the beautiful circle that forms the centrepiece at our regular meetings) for her latest contribution: a set of zafu and zabuton cushions, lovingly sewn for our bell minders. We all benefit from Jane's skillfulness and generosity.

Seeds of Insight Blog

Mindfulness Poem

At our meeting on September 3rd, Kingston poet and sangha member (and our sangha librarian), Anne Graham, shared a beautiful poem she has written entitled "Mindfulness" composed as a pantoum, a complex traditional form with a series of repeating quatrains. Follow the link below to enjoy Anne's lovely poem, in our first Seeds of Insight Blog post:

"Mindfulness" by Anne Graham

Community Announcement

Social Justice Film & Fall Feast Bags

Sangha member (and bell minder) Linda Tucker, with Friends of the North - Misiway, has organized the showing of a documentary film on the living conditions in remote indigenous communities, Third World Canada, on Sunday, September 17th at 2:00 pm, at the Isabel Turner Branch of the Kingston Public Library, 935 Gardiners Road. Admission is by donation, and will be followed by discussion and launch of the 2017 Fall Feast Bags to be sent to the northern Ontario community of Moose Factory.

Last year over 3000 pounds of food was sent. Click here to learn more about both the film showing. Linda will also bring the supply bags for packaging (donated by Metro) to our sangha meetings, and members are encouraged to return them filled with up to 25 lbs of food through November. Click here to view / download a PDF flyer about the Fall Feast Bags, including contact information and a list of what can and cannot be accepted for these food donations.

The Boat of Sangha

"When we throw a rock into a river the rock will sink. But if we have a boat, the boat can carry hundreds of pounds of rocks and it will not sink. The same thing is true with our sorrow and pain. If we have a boat, we can carry our pain and sorrow, and we will not sink into the river of suffering. And what is that boat? That boat is, first of all, the energy of mindfulness that you generate by your practice. That boat is also the sangha—the community of practice consisting of brothers and sisters in the dharma."

-- Thich Nhat Hanh, Friends on the Path: Living in Spiritual Communities

Our sangha has two teams helping to share leadership and facilitation of our meetings. Our Bell Minders Team are mindful facilitators for our weekly gatherings, as well as retreats, taking beautiful care of our friends in the practice including the bell. Our Sangha Care Team facilitates sangha care meetings, plans retreats, minds our library and resources, and coordinates outreach. If you are interested in helping with either or both, contact interbeingkingston@gmail.com for more information.

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