Weekly Guiding Teacher Reflection

Dear Common Ground Friends,
Today we pause to remember our dear friend, Steve Armstrong who passed away on December 23rd. Steve passed away peacefully in his home on Maui with Kamala Masters, his wife and teaching partner, by his side chanting the refuges and precepts. Knowing Steve, I can’t imagine for him a more fitting way to die.

It is hard to overstate the impact that Steve has had on the Insight Meditation community in Minnesota and in particular on the Common Ground community. Many of you know that he and Kamala Masters co-taught a residential retreat each summer in Minnesota for 30 years and for most of those years, they extended their teaching trip by a night so that they could give a talk at Common Ground. Many of you sat with Steve on those retreats or heard him offer the Dharma at Common Ground afterward. Mark, Wynn and I have tremendous gratitude for his dharma friendship and support over the years in the various roles that he has had with us, which include teacher, colleague, and mentor. I often marveled at Steve’s seeming abundant energy for sharing the dharma, including over the past 6+ years that he lived with a brain tumor. He passed on his confidence in the dharma again and again in what he conveyed and how he did it. Over the past 2 weeks since I learned of his passing, I’ve caught myself many times saying something that I’ve heard Steve say to me or to a group of students and knowing that Steve’s confidence in the dharma lives on in my heart as well as so many others. The way we live our lives, what we choose to do with our time and the sincerity and quality of our attention really does matter. It leaves an imprint that impacts those around us. Steve’s love of the dharma has left a lasting imprint far and wide that we can all be grateful for.

Steve often shared the wisdom of this traditional chant with retreatants at the end of a retreat day.

Anicca vata sankhara \ Impermanent are all compounded things
Upada va-ya dhammino \ They have the nature to arise and cease.
Uppajjitva nirujjhanti \ Having arisen, they pass away.
Tesam vupasamo sukho \ Perceiving this with insight leads to bliss.

Here is an audio clip of Steve chanting this from a retreat he taught just this past July. This clip was played at a private memorial following his death. Even if we see it coming, loss can sometimes catch us by surprise, waking us up and reminding us of the vulnerability that we live with every day and the opportunity we have to practice well and share that with others. We are blessed beyond measure for Steve Armstrong’s unwavering commitment to the dharma. May he be ever protected by love and wisdom. May the imprint of his love of the dharma live through each of us in all the moments of our lives.

Warmly,
Shelly Graf
Co-Guiding Teacher

P.S. The family requests privacy at this time. Condolences can be left on Steve’s Caringbridge page.