Description
“Aging, sickness, and death are treasures for those who understand them. They’re noble truths, noble treasures. If they were people, I’d bow down to their feet every day.” ~ Ajahn Lee
There are many reflections and recollections that we can live with and practice to help us fully understand our human condition. Right now, let’s use our time wisely recollecting, contemplating, and making room for reflections on aging, sickness, and death. Paradoxically, turning our attention towards these “treasures” can lead us to freedom and happiness.
For each of us, for different reasons, these reflections can be tender, profound, sad, and precious. Perhaps we are tempted to turn away. However, now is a time to awaken our hearts and to know from the inside their deep message. In this Practice Group, we will contemplate reflections that have been practiced for centuries by millions of individuals. Each session will include meditation practice, teaching, and time for discussion and questions.
This program is appropriate for meditators of all ages and all levels of experience, including those who have taken this practice group before. Every time we engage with these reflections, our understanding, wisdom, and compassion deepen.
Attending an in-person practice group
- CIMC is a refuge. Out of compassion for those with chemical sensitivities, please avoid using scented products such as lotions, deodorant, after-shave, hair products, perfume, and clothes laundered with scented detergent or dryer sheets—before you come to the Center.
- Please arrive at least 20 minutes early to check in and to find a comfortable place in the meditation hall.
- Please power off your phone, smartwatch, and other electronic devices for the duration of the program.
- Please leave your shoes on the shoe shelves on the first floor and keep your valuables with you.
- Parking at CIMC is limited; we suggest you use public transportation to the Center whenever possible.
- Food and beverages, including water, are not allowed in the meditation halls.
- We strongly recommend you dress in layers since the temperature in the meditation hall varies throughout the day. The hall thermostat is set to a comfortable temperature. Still, please give yourself a range of clothing options, as individual preferences for warmth or coolness differ widely and cannot be accommodated.
- Masks are optional. Some masks are available at the entrance of the Center.
- CIMC provides zafus (round cushions), zabutons (large mats), meditation benches, blankets, and chairs. At the end of each program, we request that you brush off and plump up zabutons and zafus and neatly return them where they belong.
- Practice groups will often have home practices in between sessions.