Dear Common Ground Friends,

We’ve gone through some hard times together lately. Just in the last week we’ve witnessed the tragic death of Amir Locke, an innocent young black man, just a day after reckoning with a shooting outside a Richfield school in which we lost young Jahmari Rice. As we bear witness to all that moves within and around us related to our individual and collective reckoning of these profound tragedies and so much more, may we remember to make space. May we make space for ourselves. May we make space for each other. For the confusion, the fear, the rage, the numbness, the tears, the loud voices, the feet that march and the whispers in quiet vulnerable moments too. With all the creativity we can find, our practice asks us to make space for it all, for ourselves and each other. The road to compassion and wisdom is paved in moments like these. We’re going through some difficult things each in our own ways. Let’s make space, allowing the words of the Buddha to be a north star in this process of reckoning with what is and in our confidence that we can make the world a better place.

Shelly Graf – Co-Guiding Teacher

Hatred never ends through hatred.
By non-hatred alone does it end.
This is eternal truth.
Victory gives birth to hate;
The defeated sleep tormented.
Giving up both victory and defeat,
The peaceful sleep delighted.
All tremble at violence:
All fear death.
Having likened others to yourself,
Don’t kill or cause others to kill.
If you surveyed the entire world
You’d find no one more dear than yourself.
Since each person is most dear to themselves,
May those who love themselves not bring harm to anyone.
The person who day and night
Delights in harmlessness,
And has loving-kindness toward all beings,
Is the one who has no hate for anyone.

The Buddha

Weekly Programs

• Sunday mornings, 10:30-11:45am on Zoom with Mark Nunberg (with an option to watch the livestream together in person in the meditation hall)
• Sunday evenings, 7:00-8:30pm in person with Mark Nunberg
• Wednesday evenings, 7:30-9:00pm on Zoom with Shelly Graf

• Residential/Zoom Retreat with Shelly Graf & Mark Nunberg
  6:15pm Thursday, February 17th – 12:00pm Monday, February 21st
• FULL: Practice Period with Mark Nunberg
  February 22-27
• Practice Period with Jane Reyer & Robb Reed
  5:30pm Thursday, March 17th – 2:00pm Sunday, March 20th

• First Wednesday of the month: Community Group led by Matthew King and other practice leaders
• Third Wednesday of the month: Monthly Practice Group with Mark Nunberg or guest teachers

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 

• Looking for audio processing volunteers to help upload talks to Dharmaseed, let gabe@commongroundmeditation.org know if you have the skills to help.
• Weekly Sunday Evening Cleaning: Every Sunday evening there is a drop-in Community Cleaning time from 6-7pm, led by community leaders Brad Dupre and Dave Redelman. No RSVP needed.
• Tuesday evening bellringer (in-person): We’re looking for someone interested in ringing the bell for the evening sit on Tuesdays, 7:30-9:00pm, once or twice a month. Email gabe@commongroundmeditation.org if interested.

Administrative News – New Interim Office Manager

We are grateful to introduce Robin Major in her new role of Interim Office Manager, a position that aside from a few days of training at the end of February, begins officially on March 14th. This four-month position will give Robin time to settle into the job and us all time to fully consider the role moving forward. Robin has just returned to Minnesota after having lived out of state for the past three years. She began attending Common Ground programs in 2012 and has undertaken about 15 months of retreat practice over the years. Robin is currently in the middle of a long retreat at our Retreat Center. While in Minneapolis, Robin worked for several years helping to manage local farmer-owned co-ops. There will be opportunities later this Spring for the community to get to know Robin and support her in her new role. We are grateful for Robin’s depth of practice and the great set of skills that she brings to her new position.

Mark Nunberg and Shelly Graf

Community News

 Upcoming Community Group Meetings

Weekly Tejaniya
We need to learn our lessons. There is no
shortcut. If we don’t learn our lessons when
they present themselves, they will come up
again and again until we give them our
attention and learn from them.