Weekly Email 7-20-22

Dear Common Ground Friends,

I was talking to some dharma friends recently and the question, “What would the Buddha be like in an intimate, sexual relationship?” came up. The question felt unanswerable but also inspiring, pointing to a deep wish to be free in all arenas of our lives, including our social and sexual lives. We may feel quite humbled by the prospect of living and acting completely free of greed, aversion, and delusion in this area of life, but we can begin by acknowledging that not including our social and sexual needs in the field of our mindfulness practice certainly isn’t the way towards increasing freedom and skill in this arena.

The Buddha’s path of liberation avoids repression of our natural desires on the one hand, and addiction and obsession with them on the other hand. This is often called the Middle Way, but this can be misunderstood as simply an avoidance of extremes and a recommendation of moderation. I think the real aim of this teaching is a shift in view of what our sensual/social/sexual lives are for/about in the first place. Are they personal, personally meaningful, an appropriate container for self-identity, status, and comparing ourselves with others? Or are they simply nature, the kamma of being born a social, sexual, tribal mammal, just another aspect of our conditioning to relate to with wisdom and compassion? If we take this part of life personally, we will try to control these natural forces either through greed and appropriation or through denial and repression. It’s only the view that understands these forces as nature that allows them to be seen as they are, without grasping, and that allows for more skill, integrity, freedom, and compassion in relating to them and choosing how we do or don’t act on them.

If this topic is of interest to you, feel free to join me Wednesday evening, July 20th at the Zoom Weekly Practice Group, as I will be sharing reflections on this topic and would love to hear your reflections and questions as well.

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 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
  • Wednesday, July 20th with Gabe Keller Flores
  • Wednesday, July 27th with Ramesh Sairam

• 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

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.

Mindful Service Cleaning Afternoon 
Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis, MN
Sunday, July 24th | 3:30pm – 6:15pm
Join Robin Major and Dave Redelman for an afternoon of deep cleaning. Refreshments will be provided before Mark Nunberg’s Practice Group begins at 7:00pm.

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

• Children’s Program: We are looking for a volunteer or two to help lead the reforming of Common Ground’s children’s group. If you are interested, have been practicing for awhile, and have skill in youth work, please send a letter of interest to Robin.
• Website volunteer: We are looking for a volunteer to help post upcoming programs to the website. Experience with WordPress preferred.
• Trailer need: We’re in need of a means to haul a 20ft. steel beam to Common Ground Retreat Center the week of July 11th. It’s only about 250 lbs but quite long. Let us know if you have a long enough trailer we could borrow (16ft. is ideal but maybe 12ft. would work).
• Truck need: We are looking for a vehicle to transport two donated armchairs to Common Ground Retreat Center in Western WI. If you are planning to head out to the Retreat Center this summer and would be interested in transporting the chairs, please let us know.

Community News 

Weekly Tejaniya

When there is right prac-
tice, there’s a sense of wanting
to explore even difficult experi-
ences. You’ll enjoy the practice,
and you’ll want to keep practic-
ing. All experiences can lead
to good meditation.

Thanks to The Daily Tejaniya for this quote

Kuan Yin resting in the hot dharma summer