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Hello dedicated sangha friends,

Sending you warmth after the recent blessing of rain. It has been quite cold in the morning and night here and the turkeys make a lot of noises as they pass by. Yellow leaves carpet the wet forest floor. The fall-winter season seems like a natural time to quiet down the senses and go deeper into our practice. 

Traditionally during the rainy season, since the time of the Buddha, the monastics dwell together in one place physically with limited outside trips with the intention of strengthening the practice, reflecting on what habit energy each person would like to focus and transform, and encouraging each other's growth on the spiritual path. This inspiring talk from Brother Phap Dung opens our hearts to the spirit and possibilities of a rain retreat. It's a nourishing time to be with ourselves and among friends.

Plum Village has a suggested guidelines for lay friends to follow along including 6 sitting meditation, 6 mindful meals, 1 day of mindfulness,1 lazy day a week, watching a dharma talk and studying a sutra text together. This year we have a special treat that Deer Park monastery will be offering a weekly online Day of Mindfulness on Sunday and our sangha would like to support you with these periods of practice.

November 15 - February 14
Please feel welcome to enjoy any or all of the practices offered during this time. It is not required to join every activity to participate in the retreat. 
  • Wednesday night sutra discussion will focus on the Discourse on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness and Full Awareness of Breathing, which are the foundations of Plum Village practices. 
  • Saturday morning biweekly: interpreted dharma talk from Vietnamese
  • Sunday Day of Mindfulness: morning part with Deer Park monastery, afternoon with our sangha for deep relaxation, mindful movements, sitting meditation, walking meditation, and dharma sharing

We invite you to join us this upcoming Sunday Nov 15, 4-6pm to set forth our intention of what we want to grow more in ourselves and what habit energy we want to focus on transforming for the next 3 months together. We look forward to letting the refreshing dharma rain that we can create together nourish our community.


 Please use the same regular Zoom link 
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87107743758
and password friendship.

Practice sessions can also be joined from
www.sugarplumsangha.org/online-sangha
Giving
 
Sugarplum Sangha does not charge registration fees for our programs. Instead we offer everyone the opportunity to practice generosity and encourage retreatants and members to financially support events by contributing their most generous amount given their individual circumstances.

We maintain funds for a resident practitioner program, facilities improvements, and retreat scholarships thanks to donations. Donations are made to the Mariposa Institute 501(c)3 and are tax deductible.
Or, you may mail a check made out to the Mariposa Institute to 3801 Low Gap Rd. Ukiah, CA 95482. Please write the fund you wish to donate to in the memo line.
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