Dear Common Ground Friends,

Awareness practice is an invitation to wholeness, allowing the totality of what is moving in each moment. Aligning with awareness requires a full renunciation of fixed ideas. It is not possible to be in control and open at the same time. How can we learn to trust an exposure to life with all of its joys and sorrows? How can it be safe enough to be feeling so much? These questions are especially poignant at this time of increased and senseless violence and the passing of the second year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd and the uprising that followed. As Ruth King suggests in the article linked to below, we must uncover a wisdom and love vast enough to metabolize all that is in motion in our hearts and in the world we live in. Non-attachment isn’t a strategy to avoid feeling, non-attachment is a realization that allows us to deeply connect and respond with a generous love that isn’t bound up with ideas of good and bad. May our practice and lives together reveal the deepest love, healing and wise engagement.

Peace,

Mark Nunberg

“Wisdom tells us that there is the good, the bad and the ugly in all circumstances that we encounter. We’re not in complete control of situational outcomes, nor can we comprehend the vast and invisible effort and prayers operating on our behalf. I believe that those of us functioning with a strong core are supporting those of us in despair, and those of us in despair are grieving and healing for those of us standing strong. And our experiences change constantly. This is the interrelated structure of mutuality. This is nature at play in the vast skinless body of awareness in which we inescapably belong, and it is our basic goodness at its most holy.”

– From a recent article by Ruth King, We Fall Down, We Get Up! Metabolizing Grief in Intense Times

 

---

Weekly Programs

To view our entire list of programs and to access Zoom links to participate in online programs, please visit the online calendar.

Weekly Practice Groups

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)
June 19th with Amma Thanasanti

Sunday evenings, 7:00-8:30pm in-person with Mark Nunberg
Wednesday evenings, 7:30-9:00pm on Zoom with Shelly Graf

Monthly Practice Groups
Fourth Fridays, 7:00-8:30pm on Zoom, Lovingkindness with Stacy McClendon
First Fridays, 7-8:30pm on Zoom, Lovingkindness with Mark Nunberg

Community Practice Check-Ins
Sundays, 4:30-5:30pm with Mark Nunberg and Wynn Fricke, on Zoom
Tuesdays, 12:00-1:00pm with Stacy McClendon (Mark Nunberg joining on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month), on Zoom
Fridays, 9:00-10:00am with Shelly Graf, on Zoom
Every other Saturday, 10:30am-12:00pm with Ramesh Sairam, on Zoom
Every first Tuesday of the month, 8:00-9:00am, with Mark Nunberg, in person

Open Meditation
Join fellow community members for meditation practice in person or online, 7 days a week. Visit the calendar for times and details.

Yoga & Qigong
We offer Yoga and Qigong several times a week, both in person and online. Click here for times and details.

Mindfulness, Recovery, and the Twelve Steps
Meets every Friday, 7:00-8:30pm.
In-person and on Zoom
Visit the calendar for Zoom link

Upcoming Programs: Online Only

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

MBSR-Based Mindfulness Practice with Nancy Boros
Mondays, 12:00 -1:00pm

InterPlay with Spruce Krause
Thursday, July 14th. 7:00 -8:30pm

Mindful Self-Compassion Practice Group with Jean Haley and Jane Rauenhorst
This month this practice group will meet on the fourth Friday:
Friday, June 24th | 7:00 -8:30pm

Book Study: The Citadel of Awareness with Merra Young
Wednesday, June 22nd, 12:15–1:30pm

Upcoming Programs: In Person/Hybrid at Common Ground

To see full list of programs visit our calendar

Workshop with Shannon Gibney: Writing as a Practice of Freedom
June 19th | 2:00pm – 4:00pm
In-person only
Info and registration here.

Buddhist Studies Summer Course
Sila: Moral Integrity, Non-Harming, and the Bliss of Blamelessness
8 Mondays, June 27th – August 15th | 7:30pm – 9:00pm
In-person and on Zoom
Info and registration here.

Half-day Retreat with Mark Nunberg
Saturday, July 2nd | 1:00pm – 5:00pm
In-person and on Zoom.
Info and registration here.

Relating Wisely to Vulnerability and Uncertainty with Ramesh Sairam
July 9th, 2022 | 9:00am – 12:00pm
In-person only
Info and registration here

Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation with Jen Racho & Mark Nunberg
Five Tuesdays: July 12th- August 9th | 7:30pm – 9:00pm
In-person and on Zoom
Info and registration here.

Daylong Retreat with Meski Mebatsion & Mark Nunberg
Saturday, July 23rd | 9:30am – 4:00pm
In-person and on Zoom.
Info and registration here.

Upcoming In-Person/Hybrid Programs at our retreat center

Common Ground Retreat Center is located in Wisconsin, about an hour-and-fifteen-minute drive from Minneapolis. Registration for the following programs can be found here.

Retreats:
Divine Abodes Retreat: Four Dimensions of Love with Patrice Koelsch
5:30 p.m. Thursday, August 11th – 12:30 p.m. Sunday, August 14th

Practice Periods:
June Practice Periods with Wynn Fricke & Gabe Keller-Flores:
5:30pm Thursday June 16th – 2:00pm Sunday, June 19th.
5:30pm Wednesday June 22nd – 2:00pm Sunday, June 26th.
Practice Period for Organizers & Activists
5:30pm Friday, July 8th – 2:00pm Sunday, July 10th.

Practice Period with Robin Major & Richard Bonk
5:00pm Thursday, July 14th – 2:00pm Sunday, July 17th.

In addition to these weekend retreats, we also offer public drop-in groups on select Wednesdays at the retreat center, 6:30-7:45pm.
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 and guest teachers
More info about these Wednesday night programs here.

 

---

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

Website Design: We are hoping re-design the Common Ground website in the coming months. If you have tech or website design skills and are interested in helping to make this happen, please email robin@commongroundmeditation.org

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.

Children’s Program: We are looking for community members who would like to help get the children’s program started again! Email robin@commongroundmeditation.org if you are interested.

 

---

Community News

Articles from Buddhist Justice Reporter
Please take a moment to read these articles written by Common Ground leaders on the themes of racial and social justice from an anti-racist Buddhist lens. Buddhist Justice Reporter is a Kataly Foundation-funded project that Common Ground is a fiscal sponsor for.
Zenzele Isoke: As It Is Now: Too Many Guns and Too Much Bypass
Patrice Koelsch: Adapting the Precepts for Reconciliation.

TCVC Retreat with Kamala Masters & Steve Armstrong
This weekend, June 17th – June 19th, Twin Cities Vipassana Collective is offering an online retreat with Kamala Masters and Steve Armstrong. Click here for more details.

Seeking vocalist/guitarist
Local Kirtan group “Temple of Light”, led by Common Ground community members, is seeking a vocalist/guitarist. Click here for more info.

Upcoming Community Group Meetings:

Be Queer Now, weekly on Wednesday, 7:30-9:00pm

Refirement Community Group for Retirees, Thursday June 16th, 12:00-2:00pm

Black, Indigenous, People of Color Community Group, Thursday June 16th, 6:30-8:00pm

Mindfulness & Depression, Sunday, June 19th, 4:00-5:30pm

Millenials Sangha, Friday, June 24th 7:00-8:30pm

Christianity-Buddhism Book Group, July 9th, 9:00 – 10:15am

Community Group for Organizers & Social Justice Activists, Thursday July 14th, 6:00-7:30pm

View public calendar for Zoom links and more information.
To see the complete list of community groups, click here.

Teen Practice Group
For more info, click here.

Weekly Tejaniya

Don’t worry about the three
unwholesome roots—they are al-
ways there. Instead, just practice to
grow wisdom in the mind. When
wisdom is strong enough, it will do
the work of removing greed,
hatred, and delusion.

Thanks to The Daily Tejaniya for this quote

Scenes from Venerable Ayya Niyyanika’s visit to Common Ground last week (left to right): 1) paying respects to the shine at George Floyd Square; 2) Stacy McClendon, Ayya Niyyanika and Shelly Graf; 3) Ayya Niyyanika researching Pali with Bear the cat.