Description
The Buddha’s teachings rest on three pillars: sila (ethical living), samadhi (steadiness), and panna (wisdom). Cultivating and developing all three are essential. Each supports the other along the path of realization and awakening.
The Buddha offered us guidelines or precepts as a foundation to help us live our lives with more happiness. A life of happiness, wisdom and compassion begins with an exploration of ethics. These ethical guidelines invite us to live a life of non-harming and loving-kindness through an investigation of our actions, speech, and thoughts.
In this practice group, meditation will help us develop calm and steadiness. We will discuss the practice of the precepts in daily life, allowing us to grow in wisdom and compassion. May we all remember and recommit to what’s most important in our lives.
Please come join us if you are new or if you want to commit or recommit to the practice of Happiness through Harmlessness.
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.
- Hearing Assistive Devices are available in the Meditation Hall. The wireless receiver has a standard headphone jack, and we provide headphones and neck loops.
- Practice groups will often have home practices in between sessions.