My dear Sangha,
I'm sorry
to have missed last week's news. I'm going to blame the nice weather and
just move forward...
Welcome to
the many people who've joined us over the last few weeks, particularly as a
result of the Day of Mindfulness. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday
evenings or at other gatherings, or just knowing that you're out there walking
with us in your heart. I know I've misspelled many names and email addresses,
so I'm going to wait until next week to send around an updated directory, after
I've had a chance to makse sense of all the
"unable to deliver" messages I'll inevitably get. If people new
to the Sangha would like their phone numbers included
in the list that goes around to all members, please email them to me.
Upcoming
Dharma Discussions
6/29/2008 - Julie facilitates; topic
- "The Gifts, the Challenges, and the Intentions Arising from our
Days of Mindfulness and Retreats." Please reflect with me and
together we will create the Dharma talk for our meeting.
7/6/2008 - No Meeting
(July 4th weekend)
Please note
that Julie is asking for participation in the creation of this week's dharma
talk, so it would be great if you have a chance to reflect on the topic before
the meeting.
Day of
Mindfulness Photos
Lisa took
some wonderful pictures at the Day of Mindfuless and
posted them on our website. They're here: http://www.bloomingheart.org/
Message
from Judith
Judith is
currently out of town. She'll back for a few days over the 4th, then gone
again until the 11th. This is a message she sent around before she
left. Many of you will have already received it, but I wanted it to get
to those who are new on the list:
Dear
Sweet Sangha, We will
be sending along with the Nuns a check for $2090.00 from the DOM. The
room rental cost and one airfare was covered and $250 for our Sangha as seed money for the next visit of monastics! Everything else was graciously and
generously given by Sangha members as donation:
time, energy, creativity, food, printing costs,
sewing, housing, photography, rides, heavy lifting, washing dishes,
spreading the word, reflection, the list goes on and on and on. I
would like us to reflect on this wonderful event. To breath with the
awareness of what a small group of joyous, loving, intentioned people can do
together. The Nuns were inspired by the depth of peoples practice and
sharing. Especially so at the Rose Ceremony where they
are use to people only talking about the wonderful aspects of their
parents. They have never really heard in a lay group people
speaking so skillfully about the pain from their parents and how the practice
has helped to transform their pain. They were deeply moved by this and
wanted me to let you know. This was their first venture out into lay
communities to lead a DOM and or Ceremony. This was a courageous step
on their part. They were asked to do so by the Dharma
Hoping
everyone is well and happy,
Joyce