Weekly Email 9-21-22

Dear Common Ground Friends,

Recently I used an article titled “Is Unselfish Joy Practical?” for one of my talks and it reminded me of how much I appreciate the practicality of the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha offered a set of integrated teachings and practices designed specifically to address the actual mental torments that we experience as human beings. I used to imagine creating a tee shirt for Common Ground and I thought a good tagline to put under our name would be, “Skillful Means for Deluded People”. Because, of course, it is only us deluded beings that need the skillful means that the Buddha’s teachings provide. So in answering the question, “is unselfish joy practical?”, we first have to check it out. What actually happens when we cultivate moments of appreciating the happiness and success of another? What seeds get planted in our hearts and how are we changed going forward? Appreciative joy practice is one of the four divine abodes along with metta or lovingkindness, compassion and equanimity. All four of these qualities are practical, functional ways to transform our mental conditioning. It comes down to the simple fact that it really matters what we pay attention to, and with what attitude we pay attention. For example, if we train ourselves to pay attention to the happiness of others with an attitude of appreciative joy, we will be weakening our habits to be jealous, envious and judgmental, and this will be for everyone’s benefit. Please check this out in your actual experience and see if healing joy can have a more regular presence in your life.

Wishing you Joy,

Mark Nunberg
Co-Guiding Teacher

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
  • October 2nd with Shelly Graf
• Wednesday evenings, 7:30-9:00pm on Zoom with Shelly Graf
  • September 28th with Patrice Koelsch
  • October 5th will be held at a different time, 5:30 – 7:45 CT instead of 7:30 – 9:00pm CT in order to include the community at Cambridge Insight Meditation Center.

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

Half-Day Retreat with Wynn Fricke
Saturday, October 1st |1:00pm – 5:00pm

InterPlay with Spruce Krause
Thursday, October 13th | 7:00 -8:30pm

Daylong Retreat with Shelly Graf
Saturday, October 15th | 9:30am – 4:00pm

Annual Day of Remembrance with Kyoko Katayama and Patrice Koelsch
Sunday, October 30th | 1:30pm – 4:00pm

• 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.

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

• Adopt a Cleaning Task for the Common Ground building! Our meditation home is welcoming more traffic these days. If it would feel good for you to pick up a work task and care for the community in this way, please let Robin know a specific time you would like to come in and we can identify a weekly 15 minute cleaning task for you to do.
• Wishlist items: large pot (for over 20 servings), one bookshelf, large high quality wool rugs for the dharma hall at the retreat center, large indoor trees with nice pots.

Community News 

Weekly Tejaniya

It is said that among all
tastes, the best is the taste of
Dhamma. The taste of Dhamma
is not just a feeling of peace—it
is the supreme taste of knowing
and understanding.

 Thanks to The Daily Tejaniya for this quote

Angel Trumpets outside Common Ground in Minneapolis