Weekly Email 2-8-23

Dear Common Ground Friends,

Whenever we recognize an unskillful impulse taking root in the mind, notice the wholesome concern that also arises in the heart, an intuitive voice that asks, “Honey, are you sure this is wise?” An essential part of our practice is keeping in mind this capacity for goodness and wise care. Valuing kindness and goodness is a great protector from the seduction of aversive states of mind such as anxiety, fear, hate, resentment, judgment, etc. My teachers encouraged me to investigate. Do aversive, hateful attitudes arise when the mind is established in lovingkindness?

So, instead of relying on our capacity to recognize, abandon and prevent aversive states from taking over our mind, a better long term strategy is to learn to develop and maintain states of lovingkindness all day long. These simple, uncontrived attitudes of goodness of heart keep us out of so much trouble. We might think because of the nature of the world that we live in, “I can’t live my life without the use of anger!” But this conclusion is due to not having directly studied the versatility and power of lovingkindness to respond appropriately to all situations that arise in our lives. Love does not have a problem being loud and fierce in moments when that intensity is needed. The very definition of love should be that nimble goodness of heart that is willing and able to generously engage each moment in ways that contribute to the well being of all. This is a principle of the heart that we can count on – lovingkindness is ultimately more powerful than aversion.

Wishing us all the trustworthy ease of a heart established in goodness,

Mark Nunberg
Co-Guiding Teacher

Upcoming Teacher Led Retreats

• February 16-20 Four Day retreat with Shelly Graf, Mark Nunberg, Assisted by Stacy McClendon; Only virtual spots available. Register here
• February 25th Daylong with Mark Nunberg; Register here
• March 9-12, Introduction to Buddhist Retreat Practice with Mark Nunberg & Stacy McClendon; Register here

Upcoming Guest Teachers
To see full list of programs and access Zoom links for online programs visit our calendar.

Rebecca Bradshaw
Karma, We Become What We Practice
Thursday, February 16th | 7:30 -9:00pm
In Person and On Zoom

Chas DiCapua
Friday, February 24th | 7:00 – 8:30pm
In Person and On Zoom

Weekly Programs
To view a complete list of our regular program offerings, visit our the upcoming programs page on our website. As always, our the online calendar is the best way to find correct times and Zoom links. 

Open Meditation
In person meditation is now available, M-Th, starting at 6:30 a.m. Check our online calendar for additional times and details. There are many in-person as well as virtual opportunities for silent meditation, 7 days a week. Visit the calendar for times and details.

Weekly Practice Groups

• Sunday mornings, 10:30-11:45am in-person and on Zoom with Mark Nunberg
• Sunday evenings, 7:00-8:30pm in-person with Mark Nunberg
• Wednesday evenings, 7:30-9:00pm on Zoom with Shelly Graf

The Practice of Generosity

Continuing in the tradition of Buddhist monasteries in Southeast Asia, all programs at Common Ground are offered free of charge in the spirit of generosity. This offering is possible because of the generosity of people like you—from the Buddha on down to all the people in our community—who contribute their practice, time, and financial resources to support the continuation of the center.

To learn how to support the center and our teachers, visit this page. Let us know if you have any questions.

Current Volunteer Needs 
Please contact Robin Major at robin@commongroundmeditation.org if you are interested in any of these volunteer opportunities:

• Website Volunteer: We are hoping to re-do our website in the coming months. If you have experience building websites and are interested in helping with this, please write an email of interest to Robin.
• Plant Pots: We are looking for two large terracotta, ceramic, or nicely made resin pots for plants at the retreat center. The pots should be at least 15in in diameter.

Community News 
New Book by our very own Ayo Yetunde!
Common Ground dharma teacher Ayo Yetunde, also founder of Buddhist Justice Reporter, has a new book coming out, Casting Indra’s Net: Fostering Spiritual Kinship and Community. Congratulations Ayo! There will be a book release party on February 9th, at 7pm CT hosted by her organization, Center of the Heart. Join us if you can!

New Articles from our friends at Buddhist Justice Reporter (BJR)

• authored by Ayo Yetunde: Miranda Rights? Wrong! – Dharma Teaching and the Degredation of Tyre Nichols
• authored by Kundan Chabbra: Escaping Negative Thinking and Toxic Positivity- Dharma or Dharma Thinking as a Third Way that Resolves a False Binary
• authored by Dr. G: The Bardo of a New Era: Part 1, The Path of Justice
• authored by Dr. G: The Bardo of a New Era: Part 2, The Practice of Possibility
• authored by Singhashri Gazmuri: Unseating Our Karmic Inheritance: Reflections on the Death of Queen Elizabeth II
• authored by Keisha Bush: How Not to Burn Out

Calendar Page Captchas
If you have been experiencing difficulty opening the calendar page, you are not alone! We are working to update our calendar page and hopefully will have it fixed soon. Accessing the calendar through Google Chrome, or another non-Safari platform, works best.

Weekly Tejaniya

Emotions Are Never Your Emotions
When you investigate emotions
it is important that you remind yourself
that they are natural phenomena.
They are not your emotions;
everybody experiences them.

 Thanks to The Daily Tejaniya for this quote