( 1 ) Buddhist Meditation Santa Monica • The LAUGHING BUDDHA SANGHA • Introduction # 1 • Timely A.n.n.o.u.n.c.e.m.e.n.t.s •

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Please don't feel you have to read everything on this hefty Buddha.blog - 

No - please use the side-bar to choose what you need - graze around... 

A Buddhist practice-life is based on "that it's all optional" -
- Life is open to free choice.

We hope your reading here is challenging ~ and yet enjoyable !
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Current Class Information
starts a way down at  
Monday Classes . . . . . .  
IN LOVE WITH LEARNING ?
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Look for big green letters
Scroll down a ways
on this page you're on right now ( #1) - 
- and Bigger Details are found at # 6. See sidebar....

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"The Laughing Buddha Meditation Sangha" Classes 
Santa Monica - CA 90405 - near Santa Monica College AkasaLeviZZ@msn.com ~ phone: 310-450-2268
Best phone times to contact us, Noon to 6pm, Mon-Fri
blog: http://buddhistmeditationsantamonica.blogspot.com/

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."To be Buddhist: is to be both perplexed, awakened & sweetenedby the strangely sane, 'rational' religion Buddha created.".
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....q(~?~)p .THE .LAUGHING .BUDDHA .SANGHA
................ nourishing an iconoclast intelligence
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~ NOTE: our old WEB-SITE ~ http://www.zentrance/ ~

is under Massive RE-CONSTRUCTION ..This Blog is Best for now.
Please use the phone Noon to 6 pm - to ask any questions you have.

And please leave us your email e-dress also, so we can send you updates.
.Leisurely Read at length in this Buddha-blog and graze round n' round
~ it's interesting - we'll have our new main site up soon to serve your various
Buddhist Resource needs on your path of awakening realizations ~ Enjoy !.
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. . . and a compassionate welcome to you
. ..........in these troubled times . . .
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.....~ meditation can certainly help !

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.................~ currently ~

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...................MONDAYS

.....................Santa Monica 7:30-9:30 pm.

"
It was the best of times ~ It was the worst of times

It was the age of wisdom ~ It was the age of foolishness

It was the epoch of belief ~ It was the epoch of incredulity

It was the season of Light ~ It was the season of Darkness
It was the spring of hope ~ It was the winter of despair

We had everything before us ~ We had nothing before us

We were all going direct to Heaven ~

We were all going direct the other way." ..A Tale of Two Cities ~ 1859

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Charles Dickens' 19th-century opening lines perfectly describe today's climate.
Undeniably, we all now know deep in our bones, these are difficult times.
Yet come to recognize that these times are ALL a Good 'Practice Opportunity' !
They may as well be.... we're all going thru it together anyway.....

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"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted.
.Only in a quiet mind is a more adequate perception of the world."

~ Hans Margolius.

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We are very, very sincere about encouraging you
to take up or continue with full strength & faith ~
a Meditation sitting-practice - here or elsewhere - 
as a great preventative, or as an adjunct to other healings, or as a powerful 'antidote/vaccine'...

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_____________________________________________________________________.The Laughing Buddha Sangha • Santa Monica_____________________________________________________________________We’re So Glad Your Accrued Good Karma Brought You Here !. .

"The Doors of Perception will open  w i d e  for you" ~ Aldous Huxley.

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Getting Started to Go 'Nowhere' . . . well, that's Buddhism for ya'.

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*Hey, if this Blog seems to get like all TOO much reading ~

.....well then, just don't read all of it ~ go to our side-bar

........select & read only some pieces and parts of it

...........and just enjoy - read very slowly - slow is good
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..........Planning to Attend our Class for the First Time ?

.....Full DIRECTIONS & DETAILS: see # 6 on side-bar,

also read # 2 & # 3 to get some flavor of what we're about

....Call us: 310-450-2268 ..~.. Email: AkasaLeviZZ@msn.com

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Upcoming Retreat ANNOUNCEMENTS

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You can always go to #5 on this blog's sidebar up top for more

complete L.A. Class, Retreat & Event details, descriptions & schedules

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..TBA soon: our next Against The Stream  

Daylong Retreat - Updated Details Soon 

http://www.againstthestream.org/programs/day-long-programs/

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Buddha said: "Just as the Elephant's Footprint is the biggest footprint on the whole jungle floor - in human life "Impermanence" is our biggest teacher". Conscious or not, our relationship to impermanence colors absolutely all our other relationships. Young or old - when well-practiced - you can be at peace and 'present' during your big, small, or whatever your 'final' moments of any experience is. "Let the Truth of impermanence  overcome your fear of impermanence. Include "Impermanence" mindfully in your very own life."

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" The Path of

NO Expectations !"

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More About One Day Retreats with Akasa Levi

"In the stillness – space for a rebellious spirit "

. at Against The Stream Buddhist Meditation Society

On Quarterly Saturdays TBA ~ 9 am - 4:30 pm
see section 5 on this blog

on Melrose at Heliotrope ~or~ on Colorado in Santa Monica

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Learn Buddhist Path-techniques
to mindfully, skilfully and wisely balance

What's Not Enough -with- What's Enough

Cut thru Am I Good Enough ? Old Dead Stories &

Judging-Mind about Perfection or Imperfection

by building-in & compassionately applying

Buddha's "Wisdom of Instability Teachings"

'Receiving' ALL of yourself with Kindness.

"No Expectations - No Disappointments"

( Less Demands, less Entitlement & less Preferences ) 

Becoming User-Friendly with Flaws, Failure,

Upset & Betrayal. Skillfully dealing with

the Transitory, Illusory and Painful.

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A 'Big-Mind' - strengthened & sweetened -

Full Mindfulness to Whatever is Happening

Allowing Everything that we experience

moment to moment to simply be Here

– because it already is.

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"The Present Moment itself,

is always Good Enough."

Perfectly Imperfect. Imperfectly Perfect.

Being really OK with 'The What Is'. As it is.

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Growing a 'Mind' you actually like.

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Akasa Levi - went to live in Asia for the full decade of the 70's to be with the last living spiritual teachers of the pre-global era. Initiated by Lama Thubten Yeshe in Nepal - Sri Munindra in Bodhgaya, India - and Goenka & Nisargadatta in Bombay. He was a Buddhist forest monk for six years in Sri Lanka, trained & ordained by Bhante Ananda Maitreya. Akasa is now a Bodhi-Acharya 'lineage-holder' of the Theravada teaching-transmission.

( please see full profile on sidebar )

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Retreats Always Offer the necessary deeper "immersion-time experiences" often missing in somewhat shorter meditation sitting – a more committed working 'relationship' with the meditation practice in an urban sanctuary setting to safely lay aside all daily-demands. An easy-going day of instruction & discussion, sitting meditation and walking awareness practices. These retreats are suitable for both beginners, and more experienced meditators.

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There's No evaluating or 'judging' your meditation. No urgency. Actually living a 'practice' through a mature philosophy of "It's All Good" that is NOT just a cliche – a life now trusting and receptive. Continually being clarified, strengthened and sweetened by a Dharma-informed meditation practice. 'Undemanding-mind' with
a fine critical-thinking wisdom capacity. .

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"Good Enough to be present in the moment

when I am present in the moment.

And that’s enough."

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...and we will discuss the main "Buddhist Teaching of Sufficiency" – starting

to mindfully moderate 'Not Enough' with 'What's Enough' in our everyday lives.

A very reasonable practice-path of realizing that all this leads to true freedom.

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Monday Classes . . . . .

Monday Classes . . . . .

Monday Classes . . . . .

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IN LOVE WITH LEARNING ?

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Why are you so unhappy?Because 99.9 per cent
Of everything you think,
And of everything you do,
Is for yourSelf –
And there isn't one
~ Wei Wu Wei

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BUDDHIST MEDITATION:

.....Simply The Power of Much More Inner-Silence

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Getting Quiet Inside: Classes to Nourish an Iconoclast Intelligence

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♦ The Purpose of Vipassana Insight Meditation Practice
Vi.pass.ana in the Pali-language of the original Buddhist teachings –
is the simple and direct practice of ‘moment-to-moment’ mindfulness.
Through careful 'sustained observation', we experience directly for ourselves
the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. This keen awareness leads us
to accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness
that life inevitably brings to all our ‘experiences’. As Insight-Awareness deepens,
we develop greater equanimity and peace - in the face of Change. Wisdom and
Compassion increasingly become the major Dharma
guiding-principles ‘informing’ our lives.

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~ Joseph Goldstein

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..OPEN CLASS: 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm Monday Evenings Include:
– Guided Instruction – a 35 minute Silent Meditation – after-sit pointers
– Dharma Talk – and theory-study with Q&A, Satsang group discussion
– Metta-style 'Loving-Kindness' meditation or sacred poetry to conclude
• Buddhist Awareness Meditation Class • Dharma Talks & Wisdom-Understanding Study • Plenty of Q&A, Dialogues, Discussion & Satsangis 'A Path With Heart' by Jack Kornfield, one of America's foremost Buddhist



• Vipassana Insight Meditation • Mindfulness Deep Inner-Work.
The highly popular Buddhist meditation instruction-book for all classes we do

teachers. This is our only 'required' text for group-study + plus some optional

occasional free handouts & some free online readings.

.
~ ONGOING Winter 2009 / Spring 2010 ~ in Santa Monica
....Please Plan Ahead - Make your Phone Inquiries now ...
......it's sort of an eccentric, odd class ~ at least check it out !
.Class is a small, intimate 'salon'-setting & sometimes space gets limited.
Come ANY Monday... at least for a one-time visit ~ see if it works
for you, your heart & intellect. Please read more in this Buddha-blog.
.
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......~ BUDDHIST INSIGHT MEDITATION ~

..
Simply The Power of Much More Inner-SilenceSilent Sitting in Stillness with your own evolving "Dharma 'Informed' Mind" .• Buddhist Awareness Meditation Class • Dharma Talks & Wisdom-Understanding Study • Plenty of Q&A, Dialogues, Discussion & Satsang• Vipassana Insight Meditation • Mindfulness Deep Inner-Work

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Intro section # 2 on side-bar has some good, brief Definitions of Meditation.

DHARMA SATSANG: 'CONVERSATIONS' on AWAKEN.MENT ~Getting out from behind "Belief" as a whole & The Grand Delusion of "Self".We offer BUDDHISM WITHOUT ANY BELIEFS
towards an authentic Uncompromised Awakening.A more Outside-The-Box-Buddhism
for a much more Maverick Spirited Inner-Quest
Yet, with strong regard for individual spiritual experiences,
an open heart and free thought and creative expression,
"The Laughing Buddha Sangha" strives to be both erudite,
eclectic, enlightening & entertaining in it's relation to the "illusory".

The Laughing Buddha Sangha offers the original Traditional Buddhist
Theravada Lineage-based Practice of Vipassana Insight Meditation for
an un-decorated clarity of view to 'The Presence of Mindfulness' within...____________________________________________________________
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Please Read ...

this little part is uber-important ~ About . . ..
The LAUGHING BUDDHA SANGHA in Santa Monica offers
a very eclectic "Inquiry into Self'" meditation sitting practice -
combining the calm sobriety and observation approach of
traditional Vipassana Mindfulness with the 'crazy wisdom'
irrationality of Zen Non-Duality which short-circuits the
tenaciously obsessive self-identified, self-absorbed mind.
.This practice-group encourages highly inquisitive, unruffled,
curious people with a natural, deep love of learning – who invite
and even relish the profoundly abstract, and even the absurd,
with a genuine taste for the indefinable 'existential' stuff.
.Or you may be a more 'experienced meditator' who is now seeking
a deeper questioning into the 'Idea of Self' - and a more de-mystifying,
open-minded, caring 'conversation' into Wisdom, Empathy and what is
Spiritual 'Reality' in our Western life-style today + poetry, and laughing!
Yet our modern, eclectic practice is informed by the unembellished,
ancient, traditional Theravada Buddha Dharma for clarity of view.
."BUDDHA: A JOYOUS ICONOCLAST" Class Series ~
A Dharma-Study Series offers a much more outside-the-box-Buddhism !
Rebellious, heart-filled 'heresy' for a more maverick spirited inner-quest - by
nourishing an iconoclast intelligence & compassionate critical thinking
with a tender, caring heart - thru some refreshing, risky, even 'radical' spiritual considerations of Absolute 'Reality' that opens us to the uncompromised truths
of a developing "Dharma 'informed' mind"..
.When I see I am Nothing – that is Wisdom.
When I see I am Everything – that is Love.
And between these two, my life flows . . . . .
~ Nisargadatta ..
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NEWCOMERS: Beginners very welcome for a Six-week Practice-Series.
You will be very patiently guided and gently coached during the whole course.
Newcomers are asked to please inquire first by Phone, so we can talk a bit
and see if this group is possibly even for you. Class is once a week. Thank You

.

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.Maybe graze around now in other sections # 2 or # 3 –

or just continue to read – there's Poetry & Prose Quotes - scroll below

For more information please use the phone to speak with Akasa directly
about these smaller, more human-sized, intimate classes. Don't be shy –
speaking with the teacher is ½ the 'practice'. You accelerate your learning !
.Best phone-times: Noon to 6 pm M-F - 310-450-2268 ~ if VM answers,
plz leave a complete message: email too, if you wish.
._______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________.
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. . . . so from here on till the end of this Homepage section

there's provocative Poetry & Prose Quotes

that may help motivate you to come visit us,

or that certainly will scare you away....
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"While one person hesitates
because they 'feel' inferior & ‘think’ insecure thoughts –
the other is just busy making mistakes a p l e n t y -
and becoming quite superior"
~ The Tao .So ...
.“How Far Down The Rabbit Hole Do You Really Want To Go ?"
~ Lewis Carroll - 'Alice Through The Looking Glass' ..
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ultimately . . .
" All philosophies are 'mental fabrications'.
There has never been a single philosophy
by which one could enter the True-essence of things."
~ Nagarjuna ( India, 1st century AD ) .
.“There are No Answers” –
our practice, as Rilke says:
is "To Live & Love the Questions themselves."
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please be encouraged ! You CAN Do this . . .
.
." Good timber does not grow with ease.
The stronger the wind ~ the stronger the trees."
~ Willard Marriot ..." Eighty percent of success is just showing up! "
~ Woody Allen .
." The Greatest Risk Is Not Taking One "
._________________________________________
.."Even tho' the Buddhist Practice Path is always
all about an Uncompromised 'Awakening' –
either all at once – or
as a gradual Awakening over time –
yet you certainly CAN do this ! . . .
or WHY would The Buddha
ever even have taught it –
If it couldn't be done? Duh ?"
~ Ven. Bhante Kassapa - Rockhill Hermitage, Sri Lanka
"Duh?" was picked up from years of teaching Westerners
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." The mantra I continuously say to myself is –
..........I Will STOP Searching Outside."
........................~ Sri Ramana
._____________________________ .
some more wise words for you ~
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.Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry,
the philosophy which does not laugh,
and the greatness which does not bow before children . . .
~ A Path With Heart ~ Kahlil Gibran "Kindness" is more important than 'Wisdom' -
and the 'clear recognition' of this -
IS the beginning of Wisdom."
~ Theodore Issac Rubin
"Your task is not to 'seek' for Love -
but to seek and find all the 'barriers' within yourself,
that you have built against Love." . .
~ Rumi
"Love and Compassion are Necessities -
Not luxuries.
Without them humanity just cannot survive."
~ The Dalai Lama

The Lotus has its roots in the dank dark mud,
Grows up through the cloudy deep water,
And finally rises to the surface.
It blooms into perfect beauty and purity in the sunlight.
It is like the mind unfolding to perfect joy and wisdom.
~ Lotus Sutra

By learning the Path of Wisdom-Silence you can
Break through the illusory world of 'worldly' words
So that The Flower of 'Just Being' may freely bloom.
Allow yourself to become suddenly still, inside and out
So that you may pierce through the thin shell of the 'world'
And now fill the entire cosmos with a truly free mind ––
and thus the healing of the world may begin.
~ Ji Aoi Isshi – 13th cen.
Since everything is but an 'apparition',
Perfect in just being 'What It Is' ~ as it is.
Having nothing to do with 'good' or 'bad',
'acceptance' or 'rejection' –
You might as well just burst out laughing!
~ Longchenpa (1308-1369 AD)
BE the changes you want to see in the world." . .
~ Gandhi
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.MAY WISDOM & COMPASSION FOREVER FLOURISH !
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.THE LAUGHING BUDDHA SANGHA ~ Phone: 310 - 450 - 2268
web: www.zentrance.com
email: AkasaLeviZZ@msn.com -

Please try n’ inquire mostly by phone:
310-450-2268. Email if ya' have to ... Emails do tend to get lost in the inbox,
Contact by phone is still really the best.
Best phone-time Noon to 6pm, Mon/Fri
or leave a Voice Mail, with your email too.
Let's really talk n' see if this 'odd' class
is possibly even for you.
If you do wish to leave your email address,
speak slowly, very clearly –
we can email Info & Directions to you.
Let's talk first if we can... Thanks folks ~
.
."There Are NO Answers" We're so glad the sense of ‘Inquiry’ in you is well, alert & alive !
Be most welcome . . . maybe we'll C Ya'

Visit our BuddhaWeb-site when it comes fully back on line:
www.zentrance.com/ and read some more on this Buddha.blog
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.-:¦:- VIPASSANA & ZEN MINDFULNESS ~ Mondays 7:30 - 9:30 pm
......MEDITATION Practice & DHARMA Study - guided by Akasa Levi
......Opening the "Iconoclastic-Mind" - Buddhism Without Any Beliefs.
......Outside~The~Box~Buddhism for a Maverick Spirited Inner-Quest.
......http://buddhistmeditationsantamonica.blogspot.com/ ( meets weekly )
.
.-:¦:- The SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD THERAPY & COUNSELING Project
......Buddhist-based, more Alternative Approach to Relating with Your 'Self'
......Individual One-On-One Therapy & Relationship Counseling for Couples,
......Partnerings, Friendships & Workplace "Reaching Out to Reach Deep In"

......http://buddhistcounselingtherapy.blogspot.com/ ...( free phone consult )
.
.-:¦:- The ZEN MEN Inner-Growth Groups explore a Man's Deeper Core Issues

......"Every Guy could use being in a Men's Group at some time in his life"

......Men learning to trust & support each other in making important changes

......"Good Men Becoming Even Better Men !"..( group meets once weekly )

......http://zenmensgroup.blogspot.com/

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Please GO READ MORE ! Enjoy ! ~ select at the sidebar

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. SEEKING AN INTELLIGENT SPIRITUAL PRACTICE ? ~ Gosh, We Hope So..

" TO KNOW THY SELF • CONSTANTLY QUESTION ~ Take Nothing On Belief "

....." What is accepted by the majority of people ~ does not mean it is Real "
~ The Buddha 500 BC ~
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( 2 ) INTRODUCTION # 2 • Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation • DEFINITIONS and some enlightened Moon Poems

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____^________________________________________

..q(~?~)p .THE .LAUGHING .BUDDHA .SANGHA

...................nourishing an iconoclast intelligence

........_____________________________________

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Planning to First Time Attend our Class ?

Full DIRECTIONS & DETAILS: see # 6 on side-bar,

also read # 1 & # 3 to get some flavor of what we're about

.

Phone: 310-450-2268 ..~.. Email: AkasaLeviZZ@msn.com ________________________________________________

.

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www.zentrance.com is Still Under Massive RECONSTRUCTION
into a Buddhist Resource Site - then you'll find much more expanded,

fuller sections to read quite a lot about the 'Meditation' itself ~ and about

'Buddhist Iconoclastic Thought' that may be very 'enlightening' for you

as to what some of 'Buddhism' is surprisingly really about.
.
Be welcome to go keep checking out how our main site, zentrance is doing –

It'll be awhile yet. It's going to be an informative, fun site to graze in the Dharma,

full of ancient & modern realization-treasures & poetic inspirations !

..............~ thank you for your interest & kind patience ~

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The Laughing Buddha Sangha • Santa Monica

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For Ease of Viewing – please MAX your screen - top right
-or- re-set your zoom, if you can, from 100% to 125%

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.....~ currently ~
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MONDAYS 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

..

The “BUDDHISM” Weekly Class for Insight Meditation:
Actually Doing the "WISDOM-PATH OF NO EXPECTATIONS”
is truly a Path of Abundant ‘Practice Opportunities’ that surround you.
.
ALL Levels: First-timers, Newcomers & Beginners,

Experienced Returners, Regulars or Irregulars

Spring / Summer 2009 continuously Ongoing

Please Be Welcome to Inquire
.
Info for Retreats & Events are always found at section # 5 via our sidebar up top

because of The National Depression Epidemic, Akasa-ji has to work most weeknights, and so

• The OPEN Weekly Evening Class with Akasa Levi - is now combined
with an ( all levels ) Study-Group Nite for Beginning Students,
as well as more 'experienced' meditation students with a 'practice'.
MONDAYS • 7:30 - 9:30 PM • Santa Monica • 310-450-2268
Best phone times to inquire – on any day – Noon to 6pm
• Join our Ongoing Classes at Any Time •

.a more Outside-The-Box-Buddhism

~for~

..a much more Maverick-Spirited Inner-Quest !

____________________________________________________ _______________________________________________

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and also Retreats . . .

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like * "LOVE & Other Difficulties". . .

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Ask about our periodic

Relationship Daylongs*

.

Compassionate Mindfulness Meditation

inspired by a deeper exploration into our

'Relationship-dharma' using some

of the radical poetry & teachings

of Rilke, Rumi & The Buddha

.

A Daylong Retreat into Silent Sitting
in Stillness & Satsang with Akasa Levi

..

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* What Retreats Always Offer: TIME to Sit ! ! !

and the necessary deeper "immersion-time experiences"

often lacking in somewhat more 'casual' meditation sitting.

Meditation is an acquired taste - a short retreat is a

quick way to get it. Offering yourself 'periodic intensives'

could make all the 'experiential-difference' in really

establishing yourself in an authentic 'relationship' with

the meditation 'practice'. When your meditation sitting time

is over for the day, you're in a whole new place with yourself...

.

Beginners: A 'Daylong' is really the very BEST way to Begin!

.

.....also see much more description about upcoming

Retreats & Classes at section 5 via our sidebar up top

.

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"Courage is the choice that something else is more important than Fear." ~ Ambrose Redmond

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" The Journey Itself
....IS the Destination ! ".

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...Buddhism was born from the life-changing experiences of Siddhartha Gautama,

the indulged son of a benevolent Indian king. Gautama, who historians say probably

lived between 580 and 480 B.C., renounced the advantages of his high social caste,

traveling teacher to teacher to fully comprehend the true meaning of human suffering.

In an 'ultimate revelation', Gautama became the Buddha, laying down an elaborate

set of sophisticated psychological ideas without reliance on a Diety. That human

beings themselves had, through reincarnation's cycle of death & re-birth, developed

the wholesome capacity to consciously break from their basest urges and peacefully

achieve the freedom of complete enlightenment known as Nirvana.
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The idea of this 'search for wisdom' and its application to everyday life exerted

a tremendous pull on Gautama, who had never been fully satisfied with the

shallow explanations and exhortations of the 'religions' of his day. When some

wandering monks agreed to teach him, he said he found himself among men

who lived their faith and made him understand that he could share what he

learned, too. This was his true higher education, reality-wisdom for Life.

He fully understood the absolutely inclusive inter-dependence of all of us.

"How can I be happy if there are so many who aren't?" He decided to teach.

~ Mark Lisheron

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The Laughing Buddha Sangha • Santa Monica

___________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________

.
SEEKING AN INTELLIGENT SPIRITUAL PRACTICE ? ~ Gosh, We Hope So !
...

.

." What is accepted by the majority of people ~

does not mean it is Real " ~ The Buddha 500 BC

.

..

..

About . . .

.

♦ The Purpose of Vipassana Insight Meditation

.

Vi.pass.ana in the Pali-language of the original Buddhist teachings –

is the simple and direct practice of ‘moment-to-moment’ mindfulness.

Through careful sustained observation, we experience directly for ourselves

the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. This keen awareness leads us

to accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness

that life inevitably brings to all our ‘experiences’. As insight-awareness deepens,

we develop greater equanimity & peace in the face of change. Wisdom and

Compassion increasingly become the major guiding principles ‘informing’ our lives.

~ Joseph Goldstein

.

.

"River Ganga has received hundreds of reports from people who have tried

and trained themselves with this simple movement of looking inward to

their actual nature. They tell us how, over time, the fear of life that is the

source and substance of all human misery and hatred of life - has dissolved

for them. Most are taken by surprise by the quietness with which equanimity

and ease of being emerge from the shadows. Many are tickled to see how

easy it all is, after all. It’s not at all uncommon for someone from whom the

fear of life has departed - not even to notice it - until the change in their

demeanor is called to their attention by a friend or relative.

.
Many come to a new appreciation for the beauty of humanity's religious,

spiritual and philosophical efforts for all these thousands of years to say

something true and helpful about reality - and to a sad new astonishment

at how little practical help all that overlooked beauty has yet provided us.
The only thing that really recommends this work is that it actually works -

people actually fall in love with their lives, not with some magical future

state of perfection, but the 'actual perfection' of present-reality. ~ John Sherman

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About ~ The Laughing Buddha Sangha

read more about us here below & in the various posts

on the sidebar like #3 Overview, #5 Class Updates

.

.

♦ BUDDHIST MEDITATION: Simply The Power of Much More Inner-Silence.
Practicing Silent Sitting in Stillness with your own evolving Dharma 'Informed' Mind
.

Meditation Classes • Satsang • Q&A Dialogues • Dharma-Wisdom Study
Buddhist Awareness • Vipassana Insight Meditation • Mindfulness Inner-Work

SATSANG: DHARMA 'CONVERSATIONS' on AWAKEN.MENT ~

A Community 'Practice of Inquiry' into the Grand Illusion of "Self"
We offer a BUDDHISM WITHOUT ANY 'BELIEFS' whatsoever ~

calmly de-conditioning ourselves towards an Uncompromised Awakening

..

The Laughing Buddha Sangha offers the original Traditional Buddhist

Theravada Lineage-based Practice of Vipassana Insight Meditation for an

un-decorated clarity of view to cultivating 'The Presence of Mindfulness' within...

.

Yet, with strong regard for individual spiritual-experiences, an open heart and

free thought and creative expression, The Laughing Buddha Sangha is both

erudite, eclectic, enlightening & entertaining in it's relation to the " illusory ".

.

.

彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時時示時人，時人自不識彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時時示時人，時人自不識彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時時示時人，時人自不識彌勒彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時時示真彌千百億，時時示，時人自不識彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時時示時人，時人自不識彌勒彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時時示時人，時人自不識彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時時示時人，時人自不識彌勒真彌勒真彌

.

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Mindfully Awakening
the Compassionate-Insight
Naturally Deep Within Us All
.

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"Just the Rational Deeply appreciating the Mystical,
and the Mystical Deeply flavoring the Rational."
~ Bhante Ananda Maitreya

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.

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• Join our Ongoing CLASSES & PROGRAMS •

.

Weekly Classes Ongoing thru Winter/Spring 2009

Please Plan Ahead - Make your Phone Inquiries now -

at least check it out ! - as space here does get limited.

Yet, we can always try 'n squeeze in one more mind –

Join our ongoing classes at any time – so call us first

.

The LAUGHING .BUDDHA .SANGHA Programs

with former Buddhist monk Akasa Levi, DhMA (D.Min)

.

BUDDHIST MINDFULNESS MEDITATION

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• Co-ed Beginner's Meditation Sitting Groups

....Vipassana Insight Awareness Meditation

.....Buddhist Non-Duality Inquiry into 'Self'

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• "The Power of Much More Inner-Silence"

and "The Path of No Expectations"

.

• ZEN MEN :: Men's Inner-Growth Groups

.

• Large Resource Website & Archive

.

– The "BUDDHISM" Class –

Weekly Theravada Zen Dharma Study Class

.

also ~ "The Spiritual Adulthood Counseling Project"

Buddhist-based Therapy & Relationship Counseling
http://buddhistcounselingtherapy.blogspot.com/
.

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.

" Meditation helps to keep us

from so identifying with
our own 'movies' of the mind."
~ Joan Borysenko, M.D.
.
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Please use the phone to make your initial inquiry • email: akasalevizz@msn.com

web: http://www.zentrance.com/ • 310-450-2268 • Santa Monica • CA 90405
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Here's More About . . .

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Buddhist • Vipas'sana • Insight • Awareness
Bha'vana • Sati.pat'thana • Mindfulness • Meditation
.
Above are the various Names in use - that our

Theravada Buddhist Meditation is often referred to by ––

.

'Vipassana' ( 'to turn deeply inward' ) Mindfulness is

a softening, Silent Sitting-style Jnana 'Yoga of The Mind'.

It Observes. It doesn't try to fix, tamper, judge or psychologize.

Gradually training yourself to just simply Sit Still in the midst of it all.

'Sati' - ‘Mindfully’ attentive of the constant 'becoming' ( 'bhavana' )

within the entire body-mind-process – Watching – Witnessing – Observing
Observing without Reacting. Softly allowing Stillness to arise within you.
.
After group-sitting, we do a “Dharma Satsang” - a Group Discussion about Reality.

Dharma/Truths/Natural Law - Satsang/Sangha/Community - exploring the "What Is".

Often bringing forward insight-recognition and realization of the 'true nature of things'. .

We will also help you understand some of the powerful ancient sacred psychologies
of the basic Indian root-traditions of traditional Buddhist Vipassana, Hindu Raj
Yoga, Advaita Jnana Yoga, and the wonderfully irrational Zen practices with
a touch of pithy Tao.
.

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~ here's a good buddhist DEFINITION of meditation

MED•I•TATE – Latin: medi’tatus – from MEDI - to be right here in the MIDDLE OF -
and yet be of neither this side nor that side; 'to be meta-physically poised on the fence'
– exquisitely balanced. To be in an alert semi-trance-like state of relaxed observation,
where physical action is voluntarily suspended. This enhances the ability to deeply
observe, witness, consider, contemplate or simply watch without judgment, without
commenting or the impulsive 'need' to arrive at any choice or any decision or simply
to arrive anywhere. The meditator develops the ability to 'space-out' (space-in) while
being fully mindful & keenly awake, reducing that nagging 'obsessive' thought activity; an alert, wakeful but deeply restful attentiveness without the driven impulse to action;
to be serene, sublime, divine, tranquil and be calmly passive BUT by voluntary choice
– until a Wisdom-Informed Intent of a 'skillful action' that is entirely appropriate to the
situation naturally arises & unfolds . . .

"Becoming a true disciple of your very own Awareness" ~ as Bhante says.
Ideally, to be more & more free of 'self-identified', self-conscious thinking – by choice.
To allow a letting-go – and to just sit there free of 'compulsive' desire, impulse and
attachment. The Ideal Meditation: all ‘demands’ cease – to be still and at peace within.
~ Akasa Levi

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♦ Practicing Meditation

.....Is To Keep The Heart Open

.

Coming to our senses & opening our hearts -

is the basic sacred work of meditation.

Meditation is a way of experiencing the world without aggression and fear.

A path of cultivating sanity and generating compassion, which leads to peace

in ourselves – which we can then, each individually, extend boundlessly

and un-compromisingly out into the world.

Meditation, is in itself, an "act of resistance" to the inhumanity of violence,

war and misguided human politics – whether you feel it is a ‘just’ political

environment or not. How do you keep your heart open in the face of anger,

fear, disappointment and sorrow? During meditation we experience ways

spiritual practice can realistically express our love of life & bring a peaceful

co-existence to this world – in a skillful, responsible, pro-active way - as we

‘train’ ourselves outside of our usual framework of time & space and daily

responsibility - and then go back in !

~ Sharon Salzberg
.

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"Yes, this 1000 year-old wisdom-quote below
has enlightened many student-yogis down
through the centuries upon it's realization."
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♦ "If you don't clearly understand
that ‘Whatever’ appears IS meditation -
Then what can you achieve by applying
a divine or spiritual ‘antidote’?
’Ideas’ & ‘conceptions’
are not abandoned
by just discarding them –
but are spontaneously freed
by themselves when they 'recognize'
and 'realize' themselves
as simply only an illusion."
~ The Dakini Niguma 1025 AD
.

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..

Tricky Stuff, this Zen Mind !
If you want to be truly free
Get to know your
"No-Self-Consciousness" that
is no longer self-conscious Self.
But how? Just 'Know' that
‘The real Real’ has No form, No root,

No basis, No abode, No appearance.

"What is the true shape of a cat ?"
But it is lively and buoyant.
It responds with versatile facility.
But how? Just 'Know' that
Its function cannot be located...
Therefore when you look for it,
You become further from 'It'.
When you seek 'It' - since 'It' isn't
You turn away from ‘It’ all the more.
~ Rinzai 850 AD
.
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• Meditate • Inner-Inquiry • Study • Contemplate ___________________________________________________________
..

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Your true ‘Authentic Being’

is always shining and free !

But human beings go make

a ‘Something’ out of absolutely Nothing.

And get so attached to that non-something

– and then automatically enter the ocean

of ‘suffering’ of that illusory 'something'.

It's ALL in your mind.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Only without 'attachment-thinking'

can you return to your true Non-Self,

which is the authentic 'No' self.

Practice "Don't-Know-Mind".

Practice "No-Surprise-Mind".

The mountain is always blue.

White clouds coming and going.

~ Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn

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MOONS & PONDS as Metaphors

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The Moon is one –

but on agitated water

it produces many reflections.

Ultimate Reality is One –

yet seen through a mind

agitated by thoughts,

it ‘appears’ to be many.

Complexity appears –

ripples radiating across

what was once a still pond.

~ The Ramayana

.

.

The Lotus has its roots in the dark mud,

Grows up through the dirty deep water,

And as it rises to the surface.

It blooms into perfect beauty

and purity in the sunlight.

It is like the mind unfolding

into perfect joy and wisdom.

~ The Lotus Sutra

.

.

Enlightenment is like

the Moon reflected in the water.

The Moon does not get wet

nor is the water broken.

Although its light is wide and great,

the moon is reflected

even in a puddle a single-inch-wide.

The whole moon and the entire sky

Are reflected in one single

little dew-drop on the grass.

~ Zenmaster Dogen 13th century AD

.

.

Solitude is such a beautiful thing !

but it really needs someone to tell you

that 'Solitude' is such a beautiful thing.

~ Honore de Balzac – 1840

.

______________________________________________________________

.

.

http://www.zentrance.com/ is Still Under Massive RECONSTRUCTION

into a Buddhist Resource Site - when done, you'll find much more expanded,

fuller sections to read quite a lot about the 'Meditation' itself ~ and more about

'Buddhist Iconoclastic Thought' that may be very 'enlightening' for you as to

what some of 'Buddhism' is surprisingly about.

.

It is highly recommended that you read in this Buddha.Blog First – and see if

you relate to some of what we have to say – as the really distilled down version

is actually right here ~and~ be welcome to go keep checking out how our

Main Site, zentrance is doing – It's going to be an informative, fun site to graze

in the Dharma, full of ancient & modern realization-treasures & poetic inspiration

................................~ thank you for your interest & patience ~

.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Please Go Next to "OVERVIEW" # 3 on menu... or wherever you like...

.

..

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OVERVIEW of the Class • The Philosophy & The Nature of the Student • Buddha the Rebel "Iconoclast"

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..
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Buddhist Meditation ~
the power
of much more inner-silence
.
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BUDDHISM WITHOUT ANY "BELIEFS" *
An Ongoing Study-Series for a more Radical Inner-Quest
and Deep Inquiry into 'Self' – thru Silent Sitting Meditation,
as you increasingly cultivate your own Dharma 'Informed' Mind.
.
*Anything you study or hear - has to make 'absolute' sense to specifically You,
. .or the 'realization' isn't Yours ... in Buddhism there is nothing to 'believe' in –
.....Buddhists don't do 'Belief'.
.
___________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________


MONDAY Class:
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
.
.
HERE's an Important OVERVIEW ~
please scroll & read very slowly ~slow is good~ there is more
about our view in other sections of this blog also: see sidebar

Santa Monica ~ The LAUGHING BUDDHA SANGHA
offers a very eclectic “Inquiry into Self” meditation sitting practice ~
combining the cool, calm sobriety and 'observation' approach of
traditional Vipassana Mindfulness Meditation – with the abrupt
'crazy wisdom' irrationality of Zen Non-Duality Realizations –
which can short-circuit even the most tenacious, obsessive
self-involved, self-absorbed, self-identified ego-mind.
.
"The Meditative-Mind trains us to
undo blind-impulse 'reactivity' –
'Knowing' first, not just 'acting'.
Clarity of "Intent" is everything !"
.
"One easily-made, very common mistake
is to think that 'your reality’ is THE Reality.
You must always be prepared to bravely
leave 'your' reality for a greater one." ~ Meeraji
.
Our 'practice-group' encourages highly inquisitive, unruffled,
curious people with a natural, deep love of learning – who invite
and even relish the profoundly abstract, and even the absurd,
with a genuine taste for the indefinable 'existential' stuff. .
.
Or you may be a more 'experienced meditator' who is now seeking
a deeper questioning into the 'Idea of Self' - and a more de-mystifying,
open-minded, caring 'conversation' into Wisdom, Empathy and what is
Spiritual 'Reality' in our Western life-style today + poetry, and laughing!
Yet our modern, eclectic practice is informed by the unembellished,
ancient, traditional Theravada Buddha Dharma for clarity of view.
.
"BUDDHA: A JOYOUS ICONOCLAST" The Class Series ~
A Dharma-Study Series that offers a much more outside-the-box-Buddhism !
Rebellious, heart-filled 'heresy' for a more maverick spirited inner-quest - focused
on nourishing an iconoclast intelligence & compassionate critical thinking
with a tender, caring heart - thru some refreshing, risky, even 'radical' spiritual considerations of Absolute 'Reality' that opens us to the uncompromised truths
of our own process of developing a "Dharma 'informed' mind".
.
.
Monday Meditation Evenings Include:
.
INSTRUCTION & SITTING – 7:30pm ~ 9:30 pm
• a 35-40 minute Silent Sitting Meditation on cushion or chair –
• a Dharma Talk or Text Study with Q&A, Satsang or Discussion –
• a Metta-style 'Loving-Kindness' meditation or Sacred Poetry
....or a mini-ritual to conclude at 9:30 pm –
.
Your individual, personal access to the teacher is easily available.
Nothing ever aloof here – just unconventional – Buddha was.....
.
.
NEWCOMER'S INSTRUCTION & Pointers:
Newcomers :: Please plan to come 15 minutes early at 7:15 pm
the first few times to meet with the teacher - for some instructive
pointers for the first couple of weeks.
.
.
Everybody: please.. BE..M I N D F U L .of..TIME !!!
Sitting begins at 7:30 pm prompt ~ much thanks
.
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"Please Arrive On The Early Side of Your Nature"
– so you have generous time to settle-in & settle down
.
.
"True ‘generosity’ towards the Future -
is to give everything now - to the Present."
~ Camus
.
.
NEWCOMERS / First-Timers
Beginners are very welcome!
You will be very, very patiently guided.
You are asked to inquire by phone first -
n’ let's see if this group is possibly even for you.
.
This Sitting & Study Group encourages highly inquisitive,
progressive-minded people, with a natural, deep love
of learning - who relish the abstract, and even the absurd –
and Buddhism is playful too. . .
.
". . . ever notice, that it's Always NOW "
.
~ Alan Watts suggests you repeatedly keep noticing this daily, breath by breath ...
.
.
"Our deepest fears are like dragons
guarding our deepest treasure." ..
~ Rainier Rilke 1908
.
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A Path with Heart
.
Keep me away
from the wisdom
which does not cry,
the philosophy
which does not laugh,
and the greatness
which does not bow
before little children .......~ Kahlil Gibran
.
_________________________________
.
.
.......................“The Spiritual Warrior
..........chooses A Path with Heart and follows it.
He 'knows', because he 'sees' – he sees that his life will be over
altogether too soon. He really knows that nothing is more important
than any 'thing' else is. It all is important. And then he rejoices and laughs.
A path is only a 'path' - and there is no affront, to oneself or to others,
in dropping it - if that is what your heart tells you. Look at every path
closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary.
Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question –
“ Does this Path have a Heart? ”
If it does, the path is good - If it doesn't - It is of no use.”
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge – Carlos Castaneda (1968)
.
.
and just 'consider' . . . not accept or believe - just consider

"Even tho' the Buddhist Practice Path is really
always all about a truly Uncompromised 'Awakening' –
either all at once – or as a gradual Awakening over time –
yet you certainly CAN do this !
.
. . . or WHY would The Buddha ever even have taught it ?
– If it couldn’t be done? Duh ?".
.
~ Bhante Kassapa – Rockhill Hermitage, Sri Lanka
"Duh?" was learned from his years of teaching Westerners.
.
.
All Conscious Beings are essentially Buddhas.
As with water and ice, there is no ice without water.
Apart from Conscious Beings, there are no Buddhas.
Not knowing how close the truth really, really is,
we struggle to seek it so far away ~
You yourself are 'Buddha-mind' !
Buddha is here now.
~ Hakuin Ekaku Zenji
.
.
.
Empiricism + Altruism = Buddhism
___________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Below is The Complete Buddhist Dharma Practice in two sentences:

" Let a Dharma-based Compassion
keep influencing your Wisdom ~
.
and Let a Dharma-based Wisdom
keep informing your Compassion."

~ Bhante Ananda Maitreya

___________________________________________________________
.
.
"The ICONOCLASTS" – the mavericks, innovators, rule-breakers,
heretics, rebels and ground shakers – an 'Iconoclastic-tone'
always flavored Buddhist Wisdom Practice.
.
ICON ~ an 'Icon' or 'Image'
and CLASTIC ~ 'To Break'

Definition: a 'view-opposing' to the ordinary accepted:
one who challenges or 'breaks-with' traditional 'beliefs',
entrenched customs, rituals, religious practices, icons,
dogma, Deity or old paradigms

To Break ( and to make new Paradigms ) It's more global now,
and maybe now the 'force' or a critical-mass of New Thought,
a healthy planetary mind-set or paradigm is pro-actively working.

So, here's an 'Old Image-Breaking' introduction-class to a
modern "Buddhism" that may turn-off some romantic seekers,
the spiritually-sensitive, or scare away & discourage others
~or~ maybe find a really ready-mind.
.
..
REBEL SAINTS ~ Buddhism can be an Iconoclast's Path.
Within 'Buddhism' there are also gentler, softer, sweeter,
devotional pathways also... but let's get some of the 'hard' stuff
under our belts, first – the mellow will come on it's own. Buddha
was a heretic, a pioneering "Iconoclast": an Angelic Troublemaker. . .
.
..
" Every community needs a group of angelic troublemakers "
...~ Bayard Rustin - a gay, black social activist & counsel to MLK during the 60's
.
..
QUESTION EVERYTHING ! – BELIEVE NOTHING ! – KNOW When You KNOW !
.
__________________________________________________________________


*more About The "Buddhism" Class & You . . .
.......there is more about our 'views' scattered
...........in other sections of this blog: see sidebar....


"BUDDHA: The JOYOUS .ICONOCLAST"
.
♦ Buddhism Without Any 'Beliefs' whatsoever.
Buddha was a total Iconoclast ~ A Quietly Joyous 'Radical',
a Quietly Maverick Ole' Monk ! ..."The Great Empiricist"
.
Our core-practice is solidly-informed by the earliest traditional
Pali Theravada Sutras to insure Buddha’s original Insight-Process –
without any cultural-beliefs or add-ons for a clean, 'un-decorated'
clarity of view – that is 2500 years old – plus some of Zen and
later Mahayana mind-altering contributions.
We keep it inclusive, yet profoundly simple.
.
The "BUDDHISM" Class: What we offer is a 'Buddhist Classroom'
where you may continually refine your Beginner's Practice of
Silent Sitting Meditation with a clear-cut understanding of
'What IS Buddhist Philosophy?' or is it a Psychology?
– and 'What DID the Buddha actually teach?'
We offer the opportunity to sit a deeper meditation with an
American Buddhist teacher, a former ordained Buddhist monk
who lived for years in Asia – and trained in this multitude of often
unfamiliar Eastern transformative practices. And why & how they
work within your very Being.
_____________________________________________________________
.
There are just a few 'seekers' already out there now who are ready –
and really 'seeking' to do a much deeper questioning into the 'False-Belief '
in an abiding 'Self'. We offer a de-mystifying, open-minded, caring
'conversation' into Wisdom, Empathy and a Spiritual Reality
in our Western life-style - plus some poetry & laughing!
____________________________________________________
.
Already some Experience with meditation sitting-practice?
Meditators with already more consistent 'sitting experience' - or
some background in a teacher-led practice, actual retreats, etc -
are always welcome to come sit & join in with us at anytime.
Now may be an excellent opportunity to re-connect with a
group-sitting practice or to further develop your training
in the Dharma. You are always welcome to come and
do 'sittings' with us and join in the Dharma discussion
with us at anytime without any 'class commitments'.
This is also true for our Sangha-posse of
"Irregular-Regulars" who have previously
attended frequent meditation classes &
sittings on a regular basis in the past.
.
.
Some Lapsed Practice ? . . . .
So – come renew, refresh, review, revive – or
even challenge your current meditation practice –
or maybe you've been spiritualy hibernating ...
At an Impasse: Stagnated?
Stale? Stymied? Sleepy?
Stumped? Slumped? Stuck?

A really sincere, very real, good 'Practice Opportunity'
is to fully experience your 'resistences' while actually
sitting meditation. Now that's Practice ! The very best
way to ‘maintain’ real, progressive continuity of mindful
Insight Practice – is to be in stillness & silence with
silent group support - and the presence of a teacher.
You are always very welcome to come sit & join in
with us at anytime. Already some experience
with meditation ? Come on over.
_____________________________________________

And ~ please ask about The Core Study Group Nite.
Here's an Informal Deep Study Series offering a much more
way Outside-the-Box-Buddhism. Heart-filled 'heresy' for a
more Maverick Spirited Inner-Quest - nourishing your evolving
'Iconoclast Intelligence' & Compassionate Critical Thinking,
with a tender, caring heart – through some refreshing, yet even
'radical' spiritual 'new' considerations of Reality empathically
‘de-constructioned’ - as you cultivate your very own
Dharma 'Informed' Mind.
.
Core-Group is usually limited to more sitting-practiced students,
previous students who've attended here, or those few folks who've
got more of a mixed Dharma-background.
.
" What is accepted by the majority of people ~
......does not mean it is Real " ...~ The Buddha
.
.
_______________________________________
.
.
The Buddhist Path to Freedom:
Breaking the 'Addiction' to the Mind
.
Buddhism is a path to freedom from suffering. That 'suffering' originates
in the 'addictive quality' of the mind - our habitual tendency to grasp & attach
to pleasure and push away pain. All addictions stem from these same roots.
.
The Path offers a spiritual and psychological process of transformation
that has proven to be a most effective treatment for our human addiction
to thinking - and all the suffering we create with the mind. And Buddhist
meditation is the most potent tool we've found for recovering our original
wholeness or what is called 'Buddha Nature'.
.
Buddhism is a way of life. The practices of meditation, ethical behavior and
compassionate engagement with the world are to be developed and lived in
everyday life. Buddhist meditation and Dharma discussions focus on the
application of mindfulness and compassion in everyday circumstances.
Freedom is not a mystical destination, it is a moment-to-moment choice
of how we respond to our own lives in this world.
.
Wisdom resides within all living beings, Compassion is our truest nature.
Spiritual 'Practice' is the path to uncovering our innate wisdom by settling
into present-time-awareness. Compassion will arise as we delve into
the heart of emotional intelligence and investigate our old conditioning.
.
The Buddha referred to his Awakening as having been "Against the Stream".
The Spiritual Path is one of revolutionary acts of non-violent rebellion against
greed, hatred and delusion - both positive and negative forms of subversion
of the dominant paradigm - and elucidate the Buddhist path of wisdom and
compassion that leads to Freedom.
____________________________
.
We offer an introduction and overview of the philosophy and practice of
the ancient teachings of the Buddha. All of the Buddhist world revolves
around the 'core teachings' of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.
Explore the teachings of the Buddha and how they can be applied to life in
modern society. Guided meditations will be offered - and at the end of the
course an optional ceremony of empowerment and refuge may be offered
for all who wish to continue to deepen their commitment to Awakening.
.
Our meditation classes are intended for all levels of interest.
Classes will explore Buddhist teachings on finding more inner freedom
and ease, even amidst turbulent times. Classes and retreats, appropriate
for new or more experienced meditators, will offer systematic instructions
in mindfulness meditation. The format will include silent and guided sitting
meditation, walking meditation, loving kindness meditation, dharma talks
and small group meetings with a teacher. We will build a deeper sense
of understanding and connection through dyads and small group sharing.
.
Participants will be guided in integrating ancient Buddhist practices with
modern psychological and emotional exercises as an invitation to wholeness.
We will encourage and support a warm, wholehearted, embodied "mindfulness
practice" with instructions in sitting and walking, as well as loving-kindness
and forgiveness practices - highlighting a transforming-potential for how
to embody a wise, compassionate and easeful relationship to our lives.
.
Make a radical change in your life by discovering what it means to be Truly Free.
..
~ Noah Levine, teacher/author of "Dharma Punx" and "Against the Stream"
.
.
.
" INNER-STILLNESS ITSELF ! . . is really
what Awakens Your Deep Radiant Heart
of Natural Grace, Compassion & Wisdom. "
.
.
____________________________________________


PS: If you know someone else in your life who just may
also benefit by our offerings, be very welcome to put them
in phone contact with us. 310-450-2268 ~ Noon to 6 pm M/F
.
BUT - Please Ask Them to visit this Buddha-Blog FIRST –
Or email them this Link: http://buddhistmeditationsantamonica.blogspot.com/
Then they can graze around this little site for themselves, as you probably did –
Either a casual perusal -or- a more focused-reading in here may make such
a big huge difference in the quality of the phone-conversation we have -
it can help raise the level of 'informed-decision' simply by the talk we
and your friend may have together ! We love to raise questions
and share responses. Reading this blog could enhance that...
Thanks ... and enjoy the rest of our Buddha-Blog . . . _________________________________________
..
.
Next – there is a Class-Commitment requested
for Beginners & New-Comers just learning to meditate.
Let's explore that....


PLZ . NOTE ~

www.zentrance.com is Still Under Massive RECONSTRUCTION
into a Buddhist Resource Site - as well as you'll find much more expanded,
fuller sections to read quite a lot about the 'Meditation' itself ~ and about
'Buddhist Iconoclastic Thought' that may be very 'enlightening' for you
as to what some of 'Buddhism' is surprisingly about.
.
It is highly recommended that you read in this Buddha.Blog First –
and see if you relate to some of what we have to say – as the
really distilled down version is actually all right here ~and~
be welcome to go keep checking out how our main site,
zentrance is doing – It's going to be an informative,
fun site to graze in the Dharma, full of ancient and
modern realization-treasures & poetic goodies . . .
insight into a site growing all the time !
...thank you for your interest & patience ~

.

.

.

Teacher BIO • our Contact Info • About Bringing a FRIEND • about the Teacher/Student Relationship

.
.

TriCycle Press Bio.
___________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
.

.
( 1 ) short

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Akasa Levi - an ex-pat American filmmaker of the Sixties Counter-Culture generation that went to live in Asia for the full decade of the 70's to be with the last living spiritual teachers of the pre-global era. Akasa became a Buddhist forest monk for six years in Sri Lanka, trained & ordained by Bhante Ananda Maitreya.

First initiated by Lama Thubten Yeshe & Zopa Rinpoche in Nepal - Sri Munindra in Bodhgaya, India - and Sri Goenka & Nisargadatta Maharaj in Bombay. Akasa is a Buddhist counselor-therapist in private practice, and is a Bodhi-Acharya 'lineage-holder' of the Theravada teaching-transmission. He is known for his spontaneity and wry unpredictable humor.

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( 2 ) longer - reads fuller

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♦ Akasa-Maitreya Levi, DhMA ( D.Min ) ~ SUNY Harpur College / Binghamton University, New York – an ex-pat American of the Sixties counter-culture generation that went to live a full decade in Asia during the 1970s - to be directly with the last living spiritual teachers of the pre-global era.

He was a Vipassana Buddhist forest monk for six years – trained and ordained into the Theravada monastic lineage by the revered Bhante Ananda Maitreya, the Amarapura Maha Nayake of Sri Lanka - and by his disciple Polpitiya Kassapa Maha Thera.

Originally arriving in India in 1972 as a filmmaker & student of the Gurdjieff 'Work', Akasa became a Vajrayana initiate of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery in Nepal – later, a Vipassana student of Sri Anagarika Munindra and S.N. Goenka, and sitting Zazen with Subhuti Shibuya Sensei: all in Bodhgaya, India – and practicing Non-Duality Advaita in satsang with Nisargadatta Maharaj in Bombay. He is so very grateful for the gift of these long ’practice’ experiences.

Akasa studied Western analytic therapy at UCLA after returning to America. He teaches Mindfulness Insight-Meditation at The Laughing Buddha Sangha - and leads ZEN•MEN inner-growth groups - and also offers private therapy & counseling sessions at The Spiritual Adulthood Project. Akasa is a 'Bodhi-Acharya' lineage-holder of the Theravada teaching-transmission. He is known for his spontaneity and wry unpredictable humor. 1-310-450-2268 - akasalevizz@msn.com

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( 3 ) really short . . .

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Akasa Levi - lived in Asia for the full decade of the 70's to be with the last living spiritual teachers of the pre-global era. Initiated by Lama Thubten Yeshe & Zopa Rinpoche in Nepal - Sri Munindra in Bodhgaya, India - and Goenka & Nisargadatta in Bombay. He was a Buddhist forest monk for six years in Sri Lanka, trained & ordained by Bhante Ananda Maitreya. Akasa is now a Bodhi-Acharya 'lineage-holder' of the Theravada teaching-transmission, and is known for his spontaneity and wry unpredictable humor..

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Also, for another short bio see the profile on this Blog sidebar.

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CONTACT

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-:¦:- Weekly ZEN MEN's Inner-Growth Groups

...Compassionately & Intelligently Explores

a Man's Deeper Core Life-Issues

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"Yup, EVERY GUY COULD USE BEING

IN A MEN’S GROUP at some time in his life"

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"Good Men Becoming Even Better Men !"

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Guys learning to trust & support each other in making important life changes

• HONEST TALK • HEART-FELT LISTENING • MEANINGFUL FEEDBACK

• STRONG FELLOWSHIP • Men's Blog http://zenmensgroup.blogspot.com/

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Please make ALL inquiries by phone • Best phone times: Noon to 6pm, Mon-Fri
310-450-2268 – unfortunately, emails do tend to get buried & we like to talk 'live' _________________________________________________________________

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-:¦:- The SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD THERAPY & COUNSELING PROJECT

Buddhist-based, more Alternative Approach to Relating with Your 'Self' & Others.

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• Private One-to-One Individual Personal-Growth Therapy

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• Relationship Counseling for all kinds of 'Partnerings' ~

Couples, Marriages, Friendships & Workplaces experiencing

Emotional and Communication Breakdowns & Breakthroughs

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Befriending the 'Heart of the Mind' to find

the truly sane, loving & alive part of you !

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"Reaching Out to Reach Deeper In"

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Buddhism • a 2500 year-old mental-wellness tradition

http://buddhistcounselingtherapy.blogspot.com/

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“You take care of the Inside

~and~

the Inside will take care of the Outside”

~ The Tao
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....WISH LIST :: A NET VOLUNTEER, an IT Person . . .

....We're lookin' to welcome a volunteer 'Spirit' or a Tech-angel

..who's a web-designer or web-master / blog mistress or meister

with ideas – and that feels an odd-affinity for what we're about.You?

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About Bringing a Friend !

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PS: If you know someone else in your life who just may also benefit
by our offerings, be very welcome to put them in phone contact with us.
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BUT - Please Ask Them to visit this Blog FIRST – Or email them this Link:

...................... http://buddhistmindfulnessmeditation.blogspot.com/

Then they can graze around this site for themselves, as you probably did

– as a casual perusal, or a more focused-reading in here may make such

a big huge difference in the quality of the phone-conversation we have -

It can help raise the level of 'informed-decision' simply by the talk we and

your friend may have together ! Often a good start begins with a phone chat.

We love to hear the many interesting questions raised and share responses.

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Thanks ... and hope you're enjoying our Buddha-Blog . . .

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The Mindful-Listening © Project

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The Teacher/Student Responsibility

by Yvone Rand Sensei
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Some years ago I was studying with the late Tara Tulku Rinpoche. I asked him to teach me practices pertaining to death and dying. Clear that his training did not include this aspect of Buddhist training, he sent me to find a Nyingma Lama who could guide me. So you can see that a teacher needs both the wisdom and the latitude to recognize that sometimes s/he may not be suitable for a particular student.

I find that seeing my relationship with a student in terms of a beginning, middle and end helps me clarify my roles as a teacher. In the beginning I ask the student to tell me what he or she is looking for. I can then decide if I am an appropriate teacher for that student. Often we will make a contract for a set number of months with an explicit set of mutually developed goals. At the end of the period we review our relationship and evaluate how things are going for each of us.

A teacher benefits significantly by having peer relationships. Peers can help a colleague consider how to handle a relationship with a student that gets out of balance or when a 'transference' occurs that challenges the teacher. Transference problems and potential boundary violations are common areas of difficulty that are inherent to teacher-student territory. Active and honest participation in a feedback loop is essential - if a teacher sincerely wishes to keep teacher and student alike out of trouble in their relationship.

Rudimentary training in Western psychotherapy is critical for Buddhist teachers; advanced work is preferable. Training in family systems theory, in boundaries, and in transference and counter-transference are especially important. If, as a teacher, I have not done my own psychological work I need to do in order to understand my own behavioral patterning and my own mental and emotional tendencies, I may easily become confused about what a student needs and fail to differentiate what is primarily psychological work, on the one side, from authentically spiritual work, on the other, and I shall have little chance to understand the border zone where the two merge and blur.

Teachers need to be rigorously clear and consciously explicit about their reasons for 'teaching'. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has listed three ways in which one might become a teacher: being authorized by one's own teacher; being asked to teach by students; and having a strong inner impulse to share one's own spiritual experience. Issues of qualification and authorization, whether formal or informal, vary from tradition to tradition. I encourage students to ask about a teacher's authorization and training. Both the tone and the content of the response can be informative.

The teacher must also be clear about where to teach, whom to teach, what one is ready to teach, and what additional training and experience one needs before beginning or continuing to teach. I have often worked with teachers who are fearful about one-to-one meetings with students or about giving formal dharma talks. Working with a more experienced teacher can foster proficiency and confidence. Developing effective communications skills is another important area.

Teaching has a business side. Whether the venue be large or small, the teacher should understand the legal and financial dimensions of teaching. Failure to acquire such pragmatic knowledge can lead to confusion and chaos, not to mention wrongdoing.

When someone comes to me for advice about finding a teacher, I recommend observing a number of different teachers in different settings. I advise watching to see if the teacher is open to being questioned. Does the teacher demonstrate in his or her own conduct the qualities the teacher is teaching? I advise people to honor their intuitive responses to both the teacher and the teacher's settings. One can learn a lot about a teacher by observing the teachers' students.

Students frequently confuse enthusiasm for 'Buddhist practice' and 'enthusiasm for a particular teacher'. Students can be dazzled by mere charisma. Impatience and longing may lead them not to test what actually fits for them and for their spiritual life.

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, the Zen teacher around whom the San Francisco Zen Center started, said years ago that, "sometimes I am the teacher and you are the student. And sometimes you are the teacher and I am the student." This pointing out has been invaluable to me over the years. Suzuki Roshi's lecture ( in Zen Mind Beginner's Mind ) on how to control your sheep or your cow has also been invaluable. There he talked about giving the student a big pasture yet keeping 'present' with the student all the while.

For students and teachers alike I recommend listing out all the 'teachers' and 'teachings' one has received in one's lifetime. The exercise can clarify what constitutes effective teaching, no matter which seat one is taking at any given time.

I have been fortunate to have had a number of extraordinary teachers in my years of study and practice on the Buddhist path. I have also studied with teachers who caused great harm as teachers. From the latter I learned, painfully, about what does not work and what is not effective or wholesome in a teacher-student relationship.

The teacher-student relationship is based on Trust. As a teacher I want to build a relationship with the student that will withstand trouble over time. I must know how to hold the container within which the relationship occurs, one that protects both parties. Therefore I must not engage in confusing, dual relationships with my students. I find not having an active social relationship with students crucial to this end. The special intimacy that is possible in the teacher-student relationship is precious and worth safe-guarding. For both parties there is a need to be respectful, to pay attention to one's own experience in particular - and to not turn away from what arises as difficult within the relationship.
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2002 Yvonne Rand
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Optional - yet very Important ~ A PATH with HEART ~
in Jack Kornfield's book - chapters 16,17,18 on Students & Teachers
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The Optional Beginner's "CLASS-COMMITMENT" - an option that we only Suggest to you - is fully Explored

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♦ Very IMPORTANT, folks –
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Please – do not feel intimidated or shudder 
or shut down at the mere mention of 'Commitment' -

or the word 'dedication' or by the reasons & encouragement

about ‘why’ we do a 'practice-commitment'. Music lessons

or Martial Arts are the same way - anything you learn anew.

Some people struggle with the difficulty of ‘commitment’.

Others simply relax and just hang-in there. We do wish

to maintain maximum 'attendee-continuity' –

at it's best optimum-level of learning.

      ( this is all only a suggested option for you -

           1. a steady class commitment

                 or 2. a more casual attendance...) 

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A Misson-Statement
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of a 'Self-Dedicated Intent' for

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the more motivated Beginner:

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for a sturdy, steady, strong

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start in Meditation practice.

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A Once Weekly Beginner's

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“Practice Class-Commitment”

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of Six-Weeks ~ an option for a reasonable,

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yet a steady 'CONSISTENCY' of Practice -

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is sincerely recommended to you ~

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and that's not a lot to ask for .. or of yourself.

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But, you've gotta wanna sit your own butt down

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to fairly frequent, regular 'immersions' in meditation -

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IF you really wanna' turn the corner on this...

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Once weekly in Class ~And~

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2 or 3 or 4 times weekly at Home.

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~ You choose how much time you sit ~ 

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15 or 20 minutes or 1/2 hour each time

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to really make this meditation 'practice' 
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begin to work for you !   It's a 'Practice'. 

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. . . and you do want this to work !

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If you have ocassional Life or Work-related problems
with keeping up a steady consistent class attendance,

please speak directly with the teacher openly ~

maybe other arrangements can be made.

We'd like to do all we possibly can to

help you to learn to sit meditation.
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"Good timber does not
....grow with ease.
......The stronger the wind ~
......~ the stronger the trees." ..~ Willard Marriot
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“Commitment” for some - it’s a Difficult, Big Loaded Word . . .
Yet it affects everything we do as human beings – be it commitment

to a satisfying ‘relationship’, or to an art, or to your life’s-work, or

to a skill or sport, or to cello lessons. Deication to a 'Practice'.
In the Sanskrit sacred-language of India – one major word for

the whole 'idea' of "Commitment" is the now well known word 'Yoga' –

Yoke: which means one's 'uniting-with', or 'coming to one with' –

be it Hatha Yoga Asanas (postures) or advanced Jnana Yoga

Realization thru Advaita Non Duality practice – or practicing

Buddha's Anicca Anatta Dharma Teachings of Insight Meditation.

'Commitment' is itself the basis of ALL Yoga 'Sadhana' ( Practice ).

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.:: Yoga ::.
like 'Yoke' in English 

That which Links,

Joins the 'individual-one'

together with the 'Whole One'.

( makes Holy - makes Whole - same word )

Buddhist Yoga ~ is Yoga of the Mind.

Like the 'Yoke' that links the horse to the wagon.

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Join with us in utilizing this natural, expedient, effective,

enlightened 'methodology of inner-practice'. Mind-Yoga.

Certainly it's a stretch, but it's a slow, loving, gradual stretch.

Practice, practice, practice – just doing your reps in stillness.
Without making all this something dauntaing or driven... 
just gentle n' easy practice - yet with Consistency.
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* Initially of course,

you are always welcome
to come for a check-it-out Visit.
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Attend One Class. Then after a first visit - or second 
– You decide if this ‘growth-setting’ - this challenging,
off-beat, oddly unorthodox Buddhist class is possibly
even for you.
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This Weekly Class is a small, intimate, 'salon'-style,
in-depth Buddhist meditation and study group.
So come to our little Buddhist meditation shrine-room
to begin meditating. Simply, just come one time and 
see if you like it. It's an acquired taste.
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Certainly the teacher is bit 'odd' & so is the setting:
Would you come back ?
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" You don't have to see the whole staircase –
...just take the first step in faith "....~ M.L.King
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...
Beginners are encouraged to be sincere, very steady attendees –

committed & willing to being present each week for an initial Six-Week

Class-Commitment – that’s really not a lot. It's a highly recommended

option you'll want to give Initial Meditation Practice about 2 months.

For a new, sincere 'Beginner', that's quite reasonable to ask –

AND we understand that you may occasionally, miss your class

due to other important plans. Always a class can be made up.

No hurry. You can't rush Enlightenment.
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Beginners ~

AFTER your 'Beginner-Status' is over – after having immersed yourself

in steady weekly attendance doing this ‘Yoga’ of the Mind – then of course

you are most welcome & certainly may want to continue to practice meditation

with us on a regular ongoing-basis AT ANY TIME thereafter – come on your own,

purely on your own terms & schedule –

with NO further class commitment.

The door is simply open to you –

you simply come when you want.

We really do want to make it very easy . . .
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"Arriving with 'The Gift of Good Intent' toward your own Success"
~ Old Irish Blessing
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Right along with your Weekly Beginner's Class - you're now cultivating

your own steady 'Home Practice' – frequent Sitting Meditation ‘Practice’

becomes gently integrated into your life - as your own special 'Quiet-times',

along side your weekly Meditation Class Night – as you start to really build-in

your own sense of “Meditation-Practice-Opportunities” that are all around you

& within you. A really motivated Meditation takes a willingness to actually

‘practice’. You need to have the meditation 'experiences' that only a frequent

meditation sitting-practice can bring to you. Maybe now, maybe later.
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It is an IMPORTANT sense of deep personal 'satisfaction' for your own

learning-curve efforts, to responsibly attend to your "Meditation Class

Commitment" for a steady 6-weeks - or as you've pre-arranged with the

teacher. A solid 'Consistency' of practice can be a very warm, hearty & hardy,

necessary 'working-virtue' for establishing the steady continuity of insight &

comprehension - that is so necessary for seeing Truth. Along-side a steady

'immersion-practice' there develops a much deeper integrated experience of

Compassionate Insight of one's very own 'self' ~ and of the world itself !
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." Whatever the Question ~
Love and Kindness is the Answer !"
~ The Dalai Lama
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So Please – do not feel intimidated or ‘shudder’

or shut down at the mere mention of 'Commitment' -
or the word 'dedication' or by the reasons & encouragement

about ‘why’ we do a practice-commitment.   Music lessons

or Martial Arts are the same way - anything you learn anew.

Some people struggle with the difficulty of ‘commitment’.

Others simply relax and just hang-in there. We do wish

to maintain maximum 'attendee-continuity' –

at it's best optimum-level of learning.
.

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"Tradition should be a guide, not a jailer."
~ W. Somerset Maugham “The Razor’s Edge” 1931

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. . . . so please be encouraged !
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" You began as a ‘creation’.
Now become a Creator.
Never, never just wait at a barrier "
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~ Mawlana Jalal-ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi Rumi ( 1207–1273 )
13th century Persian poet, mystic, Islamic jurist and theologian

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" Eighty percent of success is just showing up! "
...~ Woody Allen

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"While one person hesitates because
they 'feel' inferior & ‘think’ insecure thoughts –
the other is just busy making mistakes a p l e n t y -
and becoming quite superior" ~ The Tao

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" The Greatest Risk is Not Taking One "
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Please go Next to DETAILS .. or another section
______________________________________

ALL DETAILS • DIRECTIONS • LOCATION • WHAT to BRING • TIMES • COST • Evening Schedule

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人自不
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"Like a handsome tree –
Come to Meditation slow
with the heart of youth
and grow slowly into it.
Why are you impatiently
in such an irritable hurry?
Time is simply a useful illusion.
An illusion of 'appearances' none the less."

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–

..... :: ARRIVAL INFO / CLASS DETAILS page ::
ALL OTHER DETAILS / FIRST-TIMERS / NEWCOMERS / ALL COMERS
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" What is accepted by the majority of people ~ does not mean it is Real "
~ Buddha

"One common mistake is to think that 'your' reality is THE reality.
You must always be prepared to leave your reality for a greater one."
~ Amaji Meera
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~ Currently ~

MONDAYS
MONDAYS
MONDAYS
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
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....
Driving Directions in bright RED ~

scroll down way near bottom of this page
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___ ^ __________________________________
q(~?~)p THE LAUGHING BUDDHA SANGHA
............ nourishing an iconoclast intelligence
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INFORMATION MEMO
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Weekly MEDITATION & DHARMA Study with Akasa Levi
and other Retreat Programs / Groups & Individual Sessions
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AkasaLevizz@msn.com ~ 310-450-2268 ~ Santa Monica 90405
www.zentrance.com/ ( is still under massive re-construction )
.
...
On your 'Favorites' List,
please SAVE this Buddha-blog link:
...... http://buddhistmeditationsantamonica.blogspot.com/
.

( 1 ) It will get you to The "Buddhism" Class the first time -

.

( 2 ) It will outline the Readings that you may be doing here

during your attendance.  ...

..

( 3 ) Beginners are really encouraged to try n' dedicate themselves

..to a weekly-class attendance to really learn to sit meditation.
.
Have you seen section ( 4 ) on the sidebar ? Stuff to consider...

The Optional Beginner's 6 Week "CLASS-COMMITMENT"

that we only suggest as a good 'learning option' is fully explored.

( Meditators with already some 'sitting' experience may also find

a class 'commitment' very helpful towards gaining consistency -

or you may just simply come to sit with us at any time you choose.) ..

.

( 4 ) Maybe you'll want to return to re-read this Buddha-blog repeatedly

for the brief meditation instruction-reminders & reading outline etc.
.
( 5 ) Please just for now read only what you need in this blog at this time...

...

Be welcome for a one-time visit. See if this 'class' could work for you.

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"Again, traveler - you have come a long way led by that star.
But the 'Kingdom of The Wish' is at the other end of the night.
May you fair well, compan'ero - Let us journey together joyfully -
Living on catastrophe, eating the pure light."
~ Thomas McGrath
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What do Traditional Buddhists Actually 'Worship' ?
In 'The Original Buddhism', to what do we give 'Worship' *
is what we call "The Beginner's Mind" - in other words:
The Present Moment that is Here Now 

~ The awareness-clarity of a perpetually ever-present
compassionately Being in the Now ~
at least we're gently & patiently trying to,
then we have a better opportunity
of being in the Know ... Now !"

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*Worship ::

Worth - Worth-ship, something very Worthy of reverence
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Hi & Welcome to You 'Newer' Folks ~
.
We are all Newcomers to these 'American-style' Spiritual Journey-ings,
these Pilgrimages of Holy Consumption that we seem to be nationally on
- comparison-shopping the Spiritual Emporiums. Awkwardly at many times.
A sort of 'Fumbling Towards Enlightenment'. So be aware of your longings,
projections, and especially any of your impatient 'expectations'. Go slow.
Eventually you'll travel 'informed', calm, savvy & kindly. Be welcome to
come sit & walk with us for awhile. It's a long road. Did'ya think it wasn't?
.
...and HEY, please . . . Do Not Make Any of What's Written in Here into
'SOMETHING DAUNTING'. ~ Heck, It's Just Information - data - you can
skip most of it for right now, if you want. And as we all get to know each
other better, as you become a 'student' again for awhile & dedicate yourself
to being in a 'class' for awhile, we'll help you find your way thru the unstable
fascinations of the 'spiritual jungle'. That's our job as a Dharma Safari Guides
or Spiritual Coaches...

You do NOT have to be 'book-smart' or very intellectual to 'get' it.
Just like to ask lots of questions. If you're willing to give it a try -
you'll enter class, catch up & catch on quite fine. Be patient.

Be welcome at any time... for a one time visit -or- to start class.
Just phone that you're coming. ~ 310-450-2268 ~ That's about it.
Questions ? Phone us, absolutely no bother. Ask away !
.
C Ya' at your First Class... ~ Akasa

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Driving Directions :: in bright RED ~
scroll down way near bottom of this page

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Meditation Evenings Include:

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INSTRUCTION & SITTING – 7:30pm ~ 9:30 pm
• a 35-40 minute Silent Sitting Meditation on cushion or chair –

• a Dharma Talk or Text Study with Q&A Satsang-Discussion –

• a Metta-style 'Loving-Kindness' meditation or Sacred Poetry

....or a mini-ritual to conclude at 9:30 pm –

Your individual, personal access to the teacher is easily available.

Nothing ever aloof here – just unconventional – Buddha was....
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NEWCOMER'S INSTRUCTION & Pointers:

Newcomers :: Please plan to come 15 minutes early at 7:15 pm

the first few times to meet with the teacher - for some instructive

pointers for the first couple of weeks.

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Everybody: please... BE...M I N D F U L .of..TIME !!!

Sitting begins at 7:30 pm prompt ~ much thanks

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"Please Arrive On The Early Side of Your Nature"

– so you have generous time to settle-in & settle down

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"True ‘generosity’ towards the Future -

is to give everything now - to the Present."

~ Camus

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About Beginning . . .

......"Everything is freshly approached with a Beginner's Mind"
.

:: WHEN to START ? Sincere Beginners may enter our Ongoing Classes

At Any Time that works for you. You do NOT have to be 'book-smart' or

very intellectual to 'get' it. Just like & enjoy asking lots of questions !

If you're willing to give it a try - you'll easily catch the drift, catch up &

catch on quite fine !
..
:: WHICH EVENING ? always phone us ahead to inquire which weekly evening

is the OPEN Class Evening. 310-450-2268
.

:: CLASS DATES: You choose. Well, since you may join our Ongoing Classes

At Any Time – You can freely choose the most suitable dates for yourself.

Or that’s when you pick your own 6-Week Beginner's Class-dates to attend.

If you think you like the Class, just start coming for a bunch of weeks.

Have you seen section ( 4 ) on the sidebar ? .. it's where

"The Optional Beginner's CLASS-COMMITMENT" that we suggest is explored.

.

Do you need to set a Class-Start or End-'Date' for yourself ? ...

to fit in with your other plans – please speak with us upfront about

making that work for yourself. We'd like you to like being in a class

to really dig in and learn the Basic Sitting-Practice & Dharma-theory.

Learning meditation is going to take some 'doing' - some work ! 
And give it about 2 months!

.

:: IF you'd like to talk – to really see if even this 'odd' class is for you...

Please phone us first – a week or a few days ahead at least – with

enough lead time to phone tag - It could be a meaningful yet brief,

enjoyable and fun conversation . . . 1-310-450-2268

.

• Also we always enjoy & like to personally connect with potentially

new meditation students ‘live’ on the phone about these classes & also

about you – so can we talk a bit ? – if you'd like to talk...

call us old fashioned....

.

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" Good timber does not grow with ease.

The stronger the wind ~ the stronger the trees."

~ Willard Marriot

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:: WHAT to BRING & Some Housekeeping ~

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If you're a First-Timer / Newcomer - just come ... bring yourself !

.

:: WHAT to BRING ~

Bring your Willingness ! Bring your Bravery ! Always Bring your Open Heart !

In future, maybe you'll create a 'meditation tote bag' that has everything in it you'll

need, like your "Path with Heart" book & any handouts you'll be given.

Bring your own Water Bottle !! You may want to bring a Light Blanket or Shawl

to cover your lap, legs or wrap your body – try it, you'll like it. Wear loose clothes

so nothing binds, so breath & body-tensions can fully relax and fall away - and

shoes that come off easy. Bring a Notebook & pen. Chair-seating is very OK –

or we also have floor sitting or zen cushions, or bring your own.
.

:: CLASS FEE ~ 'DANA' - Your current Class is voluntarily & totally $upported by

your 'Gift of Kindness'. The usual 'suggested' donation of $15-$20 is for a full evening

class - and does feel quite fair & reasonable to ask -AND- No one is ever turned

away for lesser or lack of funds. 'Money' in relation to 'donations' is often a sticky,

awkward big issue for some. Good ! It's what's called a good "practice opportunity".

This could be a part of your 'practice' also ! Integrating Dana-Practice into our overall

everyday life-meditation practice – sometimes sweetly willing, at other times resistive

and begrudging. Notice it all. It is all basic 'Practice'.

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We so appreciate your very kind 'Dana' ( 'Gifting' in Pali ) donations that make

a difference by contributing to help cover our class-time & operating-expenses

~ Gracias ! "Dana" is the Pali word for the 'Practice of Generosity'. Most teachers

traditionally do not 'charge' a fee for their instructions because 'The Dharma

Teachings' themselves are considered priceless - and are thus given freely.

Instead, Western teachers also do rely for their own support, like monks do,

on the kindness and generosity of others - mostly students who receive these

precious Teachings. "Dana Practice" gives both teacher and student the

active 'practice-opportunity' to apply what is most often difficult for some of us -

un-prompted generosity and open-heartedness.

~ We are always grateful and we so thank you !

Please be very most welcome to phone and talk with me about any of this !

( Noon - 6pm daily best phone times ) ~ 310-450-2268 ~

.

_________________________________

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driving directions in bright RED ~

scroll way down near bottom of this page

_________________________________

.

.

........ :: Some Basic HOUSEKEEPING Requests ::

.

.." PLEASE ARRIVE ON THE EARLY SIDE OF YOUR NATURE ! "

.

...We really do want to begin sittings promptly at 7:30 PM each time.

Come Early - We all really need some time to settle in & settle down.

.

FIRST-TIMERS NOTE: Class Space is very often at a premium here ~

it is more like a small cultural 'salon' - rather than a large zendo or a yoga studio.

So we request that you phone in ahead, first time, if you intend on coming - thanks ! Space here gets very limited. We generally have only a few places open

for potential new learners. When we offer Daylong Retreats, the space

we use is usually much more spacious.

.

:: IF something should get between you & being here - IF you can't make it

to the meditation class as you planned, please let us know asap by phone or email -

so we'll know - and we can arrange our small 'shrine' room accordingly.

And, please be prepared to stay for the whole class-evening: as the overall class

group synergy supports each other's meditation. Simply let the teacher know

if you do need to leave earlier, so there are no sudden, surprise-departures. Again, Thanks for your understanding... So always helpful to stay connected . . .

.

AkasaLevizz@msn.com ~ 310-450-2268.

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.

.

LITTLE or BIG HUGE QUESTIONS? or HESITATIONS?
.

....• FIRST-TIMER • NEWCOMER • BEGINNER • OLD-TIMER
....INDIVIDUAL PERSONAL QUESTIONS ? COMMENTS ?

..EXPERIENCES ? DOUBTS ? CONFUSIONS ? HESITATIONS ? CONFIRMATIONS ? JOY ? REALIZATIONS ? EPIPHANIES ?
Ask Absolutely ANYTHING at all !

.

.

....“Ultimately, there are No Answers”

Our practice, as Rilke says is:

"To Love the Questions themselves! "
.

.
:: "Doubts & Hesitations"

Those too are ALL a major, major part of your Meditation practice path.

We call it “THE PRACTICE of GREAT DOUBT” - and from a Buddhist perspective, that's a very good thing ! We encourage you to examine &

question absolutely everything! ( Not like other ‘religions’, huh ? )

Buddhists Love Doubt ! Our website has a whole section on Doubt.

.

"Inherent in a 'Question is often a disguised form of 'Suffering'

that is now revealing itself. Questions are good healing-opportunities."
.
Dragging your feet about your coming ???

Class will also be fun ! We laugh a lot while deeply considering some

very serious issues about Life: ‘living’ & ‘dying’ & ‘existing’ & ‘suffering’

& 'joy' in ‘transcending’ the Ego-Life of the Mind. Create 'Time' for it !

.

:: More Questions? - Use the phone ~ be very welcome to phone us ! . . .

during the afternoons ( please, no email-dialogues: it really gets too laborious )

Talk with us about anything 'spiritual' or 'religious'. QUESTIONS ? ....pick up

the phone - Just Call & Ask 'em !!! No fee, no obligations at all for calling & asking.

We'll gladly give ya' a little phone-time. Any meditation class-related topics, questions,

spiritual-confusions or practice-issues. We'll offer you some pointers & direction,

or maybe suggest a resource for you, here or elsewhere. You can just run stuff by us.

We'll tell ya' what we know – jus 'cause we've been around that spiritual block before you.

Don't hesitate to call n' ask, no charge to ask...
Best phone times: Noon to 6pm any day ~ 310-450-2268 ~
.

"If they ask you where you heard that piece of sage advice,
..tell 'em you bumped into the Rabbi on the street." ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer

.

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.
.

BOOKS & READING :: "A PATH WITH HEART" by Jack Kornfield -

is our core class hand-book, our gold standard meditation reference-guide,

for all classes we offer. Really use it as an ongoing 'Operating-Manual'

( not just as a straight read-thru ). This is a teaching 'primer' - mostly about

actual meditation practice-experiences & their emotional integration - along

with your developing meditation practice to help you develop a clear Informed "Dharma" Mind - to make a whole 'potential' for you that may lead to a new, clear 'experience' of a shifted understanding into a more True Reality for yourself.

.

Please see section # 7 on this blog's sidebar for Reading Catch-Up Outline

.

.

ultimately . . .

.

"All philosophies are 'mental fabrications'.

There has never been a single philosophy

by which one could enter the True-essence of things."

~ The Buddhist Yogi Nagarjuna ( India, 1st century AD )

.

"A Path with Heart" is the one & only required 'must-read' Buddhist book

for all our classes. Newcomers: please Wait till after your first class to purchase it,

if you wish. You’ll read most of this one purchased book - and also read parts of

2 other FREE online small booklets. That’s it ! All other reading is entirely optional.

.

On our main Laughing Buddha Resource Site www.zentrance.com/ - there is

an extensive book-list there for your resource use. You might phone and also

ask us about our Weekly Core Study-Group Nite, mostly limited to somewhat

more 'practiced' students or newcomers with some past Buddhist experience.

Hey, don't eliminate yourself - phone us and let's talk together about this & you.

.

.

BTW: None of our Book-List readings are required or necessary for attending

our classes. If you can create the 'reading-time', go to www.zentrance.com –

find the Book List and peruse what's there. Also you can choose the other, much more expanded full sections to read on 'Meditation' ~ and about 'Buddhist Thought' ~ that may be very surprising & 'enlightening' for you as to what some of 'Buddhism'

is really about - helpful for your in-depth or overall understanding as your 'relationship' with Practice begins to grow & develop a richer fullness.

.
_________________________________________________________

.

But what's on our Laughing Buddha Sangha Resource Site ??
www.zentrance.com/ is definitely a Buddhist "Megillah" – big & chock full

of wise information, extensive resources, wonderful learning-quotes & poetry –

all for you, whether of not you wish to attend our programs or not –

please feel most welcome and free to really use here what works for you –

or even challenges you at your comfort-zone edges or deep in your opening heart.
( the site is now under massive reconstruction / keep checking on it )

.

.
時人自不識彌勒彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時人自不識彌勒彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，彌勒真彌勒，時時示時人，彌勒真彌勒，時人自不識彌勒彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時人自不識彌勒彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，彌勒真彌勒，時時示時人，彌勒真彌勒，時人自不識彌勒彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，時人自不識彌勒彌勒真彌勒，化身千百億，彌勒真彌勒，時時示時人，彌勒真彌勒，時人自不識彌勒彌勒真彌勒
.

..

WISDOM-GNOSIS ~ KNOWS WISDOM

Wisdom really likes Wisdom. It thrives on it.

Wisdom when Awakened likes to stay Awake !

Wisdom when Awakened prefers Wisdom to my old EgoSelf.

Wisdom when Awakened begins to replace my neurosis & inner-noise.

Wisdom when Awakened expands and multiplies ! Wisdom changes me.
.

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.
.

Reminders for Absolutely Everyone

.

:: BEWARE of EXPECTATIONS ! ::

..about your seeking, searching, and

even finding a spiritual direction or path.

.

.

" The genuine essence of a true 'Adventure'

is that one really doesn't know the outcome.
The essence of a true 'Spiritual' Adventure

is that one shouldn't need to know the outcome -
and that one absolutely can't know the outcome!

And that there really aren't ever any 'outcomes'. "

~ Alexander Carpenter

.

.

"When you just stop 'e x p e c t i n g

'Realizations & Reality to manifest for you

through a very 'special experience',

or with a 'specific' definable form,

or through a secret 'esoteric teaching',

or even a highly 'enlightened' teacher -

you will then discover True Reality

showing up within every experience

and shining through all manifest forms."
~ Metta Zetty

.

.

"The brilliant Buddhist Non-Attachment

"Teachings On Emptiness" can save you

from being caught in any notion whatsoever.

But IF you get caught

in the 'Notion of Emptiness' itself ~

Nothing can save you !"
~ Thay

.

.

"Be Here to 'cultivate' a Quiet-mind

without so much urgency ~

~ a mind without demands

Stop Expecting stuff..."

.

.

"If you are irritated by every rub,
how will you ever be polished ?"
~ Rumi

.

.

"Individual people stumble over pebbles,

never over mountains."
~ Emilie Cady

.

.

"To Be Free of 'Desire and Attachment' -
is to be FREE of 'the desire'

and to be FREE of 'the attachment' to
'Being Free' of Desire and Attachment. "
~ Ram Dass

.

.

"Take the first step in faith.

You don't have to see the whole staircase

~ just take the first step."
~ Martin Luther King

.

.

.

ultimately . . .

.

.

" The Greatest Risk Is Not Taking One "

.

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" INNER-STILLNESS ITSELF ! . .

is really what Awakens Your Deep Radiant Heart

of Natural Grace, Compassion & Wisdom. "

.

That's really all it's about ! .........~ Bhante Ananda Maitreya

__________________________________________
.

.

"While one person hesitates

because they 'feel' inferior

and 'think' insecure thoughts -

the other is just busy

making mistakes a p l e n t y -

and becoming quite superior"

~ The Tao.

.

_______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ _________________________________________________
"80% of Success Is Just Showing Up."

~ Woody Allen

.

D I R E C T I O N S . & . P A R K I N G

Print Out • DIRECTIONS • PARKING in Santa Monica

Meditation Classes are currently held near 14th St. & PICO Blvd

in Santa Monica, CA 90405 in a Sunset Park private residence.

We are a block west of Santa Monica College. Leave Time !

Leave yourself plenty of time to find us your first visit.

Ask us about ANY other Details that may concern you.

Best phone times are Noon to 6 pm – Mon/Fri.

.
________________________________
Parking during DAY-TIME APPOINTMENTS Only - Parking ONLY
for Individual or Couples Day-Time Sessions, Business or Interviews -

.

~ 310-450-2268 ~ email: akasalevizz@msn.com  

.

2046 14th Street, # 4
~ at 14th & Pico Blvd.

Santa Monica, CA 90405

near Santa Monica College

.

10 Freeway West

to 26th Street / Cloverfield Exit - top of ramp go Left -

go down Pico towards beach.

14th Street - is just past Santa Monica College

Turn Left onto 14th Street (going south) about 1/2 block -

Look for the YWCA at Bay St. We're on 14th across the street.
2032-2046-2048 is a long white building on west side of street.

Find a pair of gray security gates - tap GATE CODE 6 4 0 2

Our ground floor unit is # 4 on LEFT side of courtyard bushes.
________________________________________________________

.

We have a 'PARKING PERMIT' for you, so you can park right out front.

Cell Phone us from your car 310-450-2268 - and we will come out

to open gate -- or use the GATE CODE 6 4 0 2 yourself.

_________________________________________________________
.

.

EVENING CLASSES / GROUPS:

please follow Parking Directions very carefully !!!

Residential Restrictions due to Santa Monica College nearby

.

PARKING :: Where & Where Not !!

.

NOTE :: Anywhere SOUTH of Pico & 14th ~ is a NO

NORTH of Pico Blvd & West of 14th on Pico ~ YES ! YES !

.

+ NO PARKING: DO NOT PARK ON 14th Street SOUTH of Pico Blvd. Not Ever ! There is NO Parking On Any of the SOUTH of Pico side streets. Not Ever !
.
+ BEST Parking is now arranged at Byron Woodley TIRE DEALERS small lot on Pico just West of 14th, just around the corner from us. Park very tight, make space for others.
Don't worry about blocking someone in, it's just us monkey-minds parking there.

.

+ Only for the WOMEN ~ Sometimes easy parking can happen at the YWCA lot

right across the street from us on 14th - this is not for the Guys ! Girlz only !

Ladies, you can try, if they don't shoo you away -- but they won't ever tow.

+ ON 14th Street itself, NORTH of Pico Blvd alongside the Woodlawn Cemetery - 'eastside' side has no meters - the 'westside' meters end at 6 PM. But always check. .

.

+ ON Pico ITSELF - West of 14th - the meters end at 6 PM.

.

.

.

MAPS.

.

MAP link for The Laughing Buddha Sangha in Santa Monica
click directly or copy/paste enter it all in: don't break into it !

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1001+colorado+blvd+santa+monica&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.909425,79.101563&ie=UTF8&z=17&iwloc=addr

.

.

MAP link for Santa Monica Meditation Center on 1001 Colorado in Santa Monica

home of Against The Stream, Dharma Punx & InsightLA

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1001+colorado+blvd+santa+monica&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.909425,79.101563&ie=UTF8&z=17&iwloc=addr
.
.

MAP link for Against The Stream Meditation Center 4300 Melrose/Hollywood
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=4300+melrose,+los+angeles,+ca&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=30.544155,59.765625&ie=UTF8&ll=34.094321,-118.289881&spn=0.007784,0.014591&z=14&iwloc=addr&source=embed

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BIG Announcements • CLASSES • RETREATS • Events • UpDates • some good Poetry & Prose from former Retreats

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.
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BTW: . .
The two powerful RILKE pieces on 'Love' from the February
Valentine's Relationship Retreat, just scroll about 2/3 the way down....

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___^________________________________________
q(~?~)p THE .LAUGHING .BUDDHA .SANGHA
...............nourishing an iconoclast intelligence
......._____________________________________
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.
• Join our Ongoing Classes at Any Time •
.
MONDAYS 7:30 pm ~
The Weekly Meditation Class Series
Ongoing thru FALL / WINTER '09 / '10 . . .
Join us for a One-Time Visit - Questions? - Phone us !
.
At least check it out ! - as space here does get limited.
Yet, we can always try 'n squeeze in one more 'Seeker.'
There are NO starting-dates for class, it's simply ongoing.
Join our ongoing classes at any time – just call ahead.
.
.
.
~ current ongoing weekly classes ~
.
The “BUDDHISM” Class for Insight Meditation.
Training in the Wisdom "PATH OF NO EXPECTATIONS”
is truly a daily Path of Abundant ‘Practice Opportunities’.
.
ALL Levels: First-timers, Newcomers & Beginners -
Experienced Returners, Regulars or Irregulars
.
• The OPEN Weekly Evening Class with Akasa Levi -
is now combined with an ( all levels ) Study-Group Nite
for newly-beginning students, as well as more 'experienced'
Dharma students • Ongoing MONDAYS • 7:30 - 9:30 PM
• Santa Monica • 310-450-2268 • Come see if you like it !
Best phone times to inquire – on any day – Noon to 6pm
.
• Join our Ongoing Classes at Any Time •
• see Details/side-bar section # 6 .
.
__________________________________________________ _________________________________________________
.
.
• announcements •
.• periodic retreats •
day-longs • workshops
.
Please scroll down & read a few paragraphs
for more description of the most current listings.

our next retreat: complete details click here
http://www.againstthestream.org/programs/day-long-programs/akasa-levi-daylong
.
.

~ " DEATH is Not The End ! " ~

.
A One Day Retreat with Akasa Levi

A Pre-Halloween Daylong of The Dead
a non-attachment practice in impermanence
Saturday - October 24 - 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

.

This Daylong Retreat is at Noah Levine's Dharma-Punx

Against The Stream Buddhist Meditation Society

4300 Melrose Ave, CA 90029 www.againstthestream.org

.

" Can we really understand Life -

with all it's changes, transitions & loss -

if we don't thoroughly understand Death?

Buddhist methods and theories do."
~ Bhante Ananda Maitreya ~

.
A "Big Death" could really happen at any time. Just like an authentic 'Awakening' can. Death is a fact of life. You know that. Yet many "Little Deaths" are happening all the time in the form of personal loss: big or small endings, careers, disappointments, violence, abandonment, big & little break-ups and breakdowns of people, places and things. Sadly yet often, our daily 'Living' is dead: "Death is simply refusing the Gift of Life".
.
So we need to intelligently explore the mind's subtle misconceptions and phobias that have created such a fear of Death in our anxiety stressed culture - and yet we're so over-saturated with it, we go numb. We emotionally die. "Minds that just refuse to understand." Un-aware, fear-based notions are gradually, cognitively replaced with Dharma: kinder, more empowering, less frightening 'working-concepts' of Death, Dying and Rebirth.
.
This can successfully calm and cut through the multitude of sufferings and stings of all our daily 'smaller deaths' - begin accepting the unacceptable - our minds fully willing or not. Properly understood, 'realization' of Death and Rebirth can effectively stimulate much better life choices, generous responsibility, and be a real impetus for meaningful personal growth - gaining profound peace from this work.
.
"Death-knowledge" can open us up, not close us down !
.
Buddha said: "Just as the elephant's footprint is the biggest footprint on the whole jungle floor, 'Impermanence' in the form of Death is our biggest teacher". Conscious or not, our relationship to death colors absolutely all other relationships. Young or old - when well-practiced - you can be at peace and 'present' during your big, small, or whatever your 'final' moments of an experience be. "Let the truth of death overcome your fear of death. Include your death in your own life."
.
Gettin' Off n' On n' Off The Wheel of Life: we'll explore key-ideas like Rebirth versus Reincarnation, Bardo Limbo-states, Karma, Multiple Heavens and Hells, Divine Deva Realms, Hungry Ghosts, Kali, The Pure Land Western Paradise, The Six Realms of Possible Existence as Form or Formless-states, Samsara and Nirvana. Are these possibly only just Metaphors, or possibly not ?
.
http://www.againstthestream.org/programs/day-long-programs/akasa-levi-daylong
.
What Daylong Retreats Always Offer: is the necessary deeper "immersion-time experiences" often missing in somewhat shorter meditation sitting. Meditation is definitely an 'acquired' taste - a short retreat is a quick way to begin to get it - a deeper, more dedicated working 'relationship' with the meditation practice. Retreats offer a temporary urban monastery to lay aside most daily-demands - with a good balance of both movement & stillness for a 'mindfulness' day.
.
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.
Past Post-Retreat Posthumous Poetry & Prose:
..yummy leftovers for good eatin' the next day
.... and the next . . . .
__________________________


"The Path of NO Expectations" !
A One Day Retreat with Akasa Levi
Saturday July 18, 2009 @ Dharma Punx
9:00 am to 4:30 pm in Santa Monica
.
Learn & practice Path-techniques to mindfully and wisely balance
what's Not Enough -with- What's Enough in our everyday-lives
of what really is a 24-7 life-practice – building-in & compassionately
applying the Wisdom of Instability teachings - and rediscovering
your own middle path to No Expectations - No Disappointments.
Becoming User-Friendly with Flaws, Failure, Upset & Betrayal.
Skillfully dealing with the Transitory, Illusory and Painful.

... all the while knowing that ...

an only just

"Good Enough Meditation” is very OK !
.
Ideas about Perfection or Imperfection ?
Let go of your imaginary meditation goals.
You will not achieve them by striving for them.

"Don't let the Perfect become the enemy of the Good." ~ Voltaire

Clinging to old fashioned mind-states of anxious 'Striving' to achieve something through 'Meditation' undermines the cultivation of Mindfulness, which involves a clear, undistorted, no- agenda, present-moment fluid attentiveness to whatever is happening. Having the Dharma-Realization of allowing everyone & everything that we experience from moment to moment to be Here – because it already is. Our ongoing 'growth-practice' training is to non-reactively, simply sit & observe it all.

With too much Non-Dharma-thinking about ‘thinking’ - you've decided that you need to 'improve' - or you need to spiritually 'get someplace' – which means that 'who you are' and 'where you are right now' is Not Good Enough. That'll spin you back into self-criticism – a bumpy slide into being lost in the un-reality of some old story-content, again – and now you've introduced 'judgment' back into your meditation again.
Just Keep Sitting. Gradually thru the 'practice' there is much more 'receiving' ALL
of Yourself with authentic kindness. Meditation gently trains a 'mind-in-process' - now continually being clarified, strengthened & sweetened by a Dharma-informed-practice:
a softer, sane, stable, more easy-going-mind - a mind without urgency - a mind without demands - a mind without expectation & disappointment.
A Big-mind. A 'mind' you actually like !
..

Let's move from the tedious, endless work of your "Who Am I ?" attempts
at 'self-definition' – to the endless awareness-adventure of an ever
unfolding "I Am" self-discovery in each moment !


"The Moment itself, is always Good Enough.
Perfectly imperfect. Imperfectly perfect.
Being OK with 'The What Is'. As it is."

_______________________________
.
.
What Retreats Always Offer: is the necessary deeper "immersion-time experiences" often missing in somewhat shorter meditation sitting. Meditation is definitely an 'acquired' taste - a short retreat is a quick way to begin to get it - a deeper, more committed working 'relationship' with the meditation practice. Retreats are a temporary monastery urban sanctuary to safely lay aside all daily-demands – with a good balance of both movement & stillness in silent living for a day.

The general format for a one-day meditation retreat: an easy-going day of instruction & discussion, sitting meditation and walking awareness practices in the Buddhist Dharma-tradition of cultivating wisdom & compassion through a developing 'mindfulness-of-the-present'. These retreats are suitable for both beginners, and more experienced meditators.
.
___________________________________
.
.
"Only Good Enough" ! ? !
.

An ONLY
JUST "GOOD ENOUGH MEDITATION" is OK !
It's 'The Holy-Imperfection' parts of 'The Practice-Path of NO Expectations'
.
Just “Good Enough Meditation” ? But what about my 'Spiritual Attainment' ?
There is a big difference here in our teaching of this 'form' of sitting Vipassana.
Cultivating a truly no-striving 'appreciative-mind' that simply says it's 'Good Enough'.
Actually living a practice through a mature philosophy of "It's All Good" - that is not
a cliche – a life now continually being clarified, strengthened & sweetened by a
Dharma-informed meditation practice: receptive, softer, a more easy-going-mind,
an undemanding-mind. A 'mind' I actually like.
.
"It's Good Enough to be present in the moment
when I am present in the moment.
And that’s enough."
.
The moment itself, is always good enough. Imperfectly perfect.
Of course it is - it simply is what it is - right there to be realized.
I'm OK with 'The What Is'. As it is. The Heart Sutra's 'no preferences'.
I simply practice a “good enough meditation”. But I do have to practice !
.
“But don’t do too much Labeling or Naming –
.............especially in the beginning . . .
.............................~or~
'Naming' will just become more 'Thinking'.
Learning to sometimes leave the witness be.” ~ Sensei Yvonne Rand


And all this ‘thinking’ is Thinking that thinks it’s not ‘thinking’ !
It could be come obsessive vigilance. Too complicating. 'Oiy !
Too much red-alert all the time. Too much thinking about ‘thinking’.
That'll spin you back into self-judgment – becoming too self-conscious –
for that is a set up to slide into being lost in content, judgment and fear again.
Meditation practice that is simply 'good enough' – rather than a ‘perfected’ one.
.
.
" The NOT GOOD ENOUGH Meditator ! "
...and I so hated meditation - and yet monks meditate.
But I wanted to become a monk in Asia so bad -
that I trained myself into it - overbearingly trained,
awkwardly trained and at times simply loving myself
into it - the simple magic of it - with my teacher's
quiet, gentle patience. I'm so glad I did !" ~ Akasa Levi.
.
.
...
...and we will discuss & explore the main Buddhist "Teaching on Sufficiency" –
mindfully moderating Not Enough with What's Enough in our everyday lives.
A very reasonable practice-path of realizing that all this leads to true freedom.
What a relief !!! ....'Nuf said....
.
________________________________________________________________
.
.
"So I don't get to be The Buddha this life-time,
but I can sure get some kindness, peace and quiet into my life ..
and a little bit of applied Buddhist wisdom going .. and that sure feels good !"
~ jennifer
.
.
Day-long retreat 'practice' will focus on mindfulness meditation.
We will train our minds in present-time-awareness by bringing
attention to the breath and body and our inner-relationship to
the pleasant and unpleasant physical, emotional and mental
states that arise. This allows one to gradually understand
the Truth of the constantly changing nature of all things
and how to respond with compassion and friendliness
to the inevitably difficult experience of being human.
~ Noah Levine
.
Retreats Always Offer the necessary deeper
"immersion-time experiences" often lacking
in somewhat more 'casual' meditation sitting.
..
Just beginning to offer yourself periodic 'gentle intensives' ~
could make a big 'experiential-difference' in really establishing
yourself in a deeper, authentic working 'relationship' with the
meditation 'practice'. When your meditation retreat-sitting
is over ~ even just for only this one-day ~
you're in a whole new place with yourself...
.
Short retreats ~ .
To be able to reasonably & responsibly allow 'a trial letting-go'
of obsolete 'worldly' limits & 'beliefs' - that only 'appear' in the Buzz
to be needed day-to-day. And yet your 'reactions' to Life just may be
too embedded and enmeshed to normally set aside. Maybe an attempt
to be a 'monk' or a 'nun' for a whole full-day as a meditative 'Time-Out'
for a gentle, simple retreat could really be eminently possible !
.
'Awakening' takes 'Everyday-Bravery' and a dose of 'Will-power' –
combined with the awkward 'grace'-filled beginnings of a saintly 'Patience'.
Remember, we are swimming somewhat strong n' steady upstream now -
yet each of us with our very own habituated, addicted, over-conditioned,
fully loaded consciousness still in tow. It's always all about letting-go ! Always !
.

_________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
.
Past Post-Retreat Posthumous Poetry & Prose:
goodie leftovers for eatin' the next day .. and the next
___________________________________________________
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.
.
Post'humously: Spring Equinox Event in Malibu
March 21, 09 The Wright Land EQUINOX Ritual Ceremony
& Grand Potluck Dinner & Homemade Music ~ Plan to Come ?
.
Out of The Cave
of Winter at Last !
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future contact info . . .

The Wright Land / Malibu - Details: http://www.elwright.net/wrightway/calendar.html
.
For more technical Equinox times & Details ~ thanks to SouledOut
http://www.souledout.org/nightsky/springequinox/springequinox.html

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and here's some Spring Poems ~ springing . . .
. .
.
"The Flower
is a Leaf gone
Mad with Love!" ~ Goethe
.
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.
.
" Ahh, the springtime air smells so good today,
straight from the mysteries within the inner courts of God.
The trees in their prayer, the birds in praise,
the first flowers open wide in surprise !
Whatever came from Being is caught up in being,
drunkenly forgetting the way back to winter! " .......~ Rumi
.
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. .
"SPRINGING AHEAD" ~
with thanks to Native American author Cory Wilson
.
I cannot escape the feeling that I am being forced out of The 'Cave' of Winter.
Spring is here, but do I really want to leave? Do I really want to 'Spring Forward' ?
As I write, I think of the décor I've surrounded myself with all this winter, my spiritual
adornments, if you will. I think about how difficult it was going into the 'Winter Cave'
in the first place, how much I fought it, and now - how I can't help but feel the same
way upon leaving. How was your journey into the Winter Cave? How do you feel
about coming out, or "Springing Forward"? What did you learn this time 'within' ..
this time through? It is with great fascination that I ask these questions of you too,
my sisters, my brothers, in hopes we can 'gleam off' each other ways of moving
through the Sacred Seasons with greater bravery, ease & depth - and greater
acceptance. To be fluid, like the tides. To be a part of, not apart from .. to be With!
And with the 'rest' of it all? Well, the rest will be what it will be... and You?
- just Loving What Is! ......Ah-ho To All Our Directions !
.
" The onset of a new seasonal cycle teaches gradualness and deliberation,
and how one gives birth to oneself slowly, very slowly " ..... ~ Rumi
.
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In these dark waters drawn up
from my frozen winter's well ...
Now so, so glittering of Spring! .....~ Ringai
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"It's such a wond'rous
inner-trickery of Mother Nature
to get us to love the Spring so much !
I just love being an April Fool !"

~ Sr. Anne Higgins, DC
Emmitsburg Rural Convent, Maryland


new beginnings
.
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything
that will assist and assert your integrity of purpose
and imaginative vision beyond the play-it-safers,
the creatures of the conditioned commonplace,
the sleeping slaves of the ordinary.
~ Sir Cecil Beaton (renown British photographer 1927)
.
.
Stuck in the world of the small 'we' ~
so trying to push through the small 'we'.
Just go directly to the 'Greater We' ~
that's where the Resources are !
~ Frankie Lee Slater .
..
.
BE the changes
you want to see in the world !
~ Gandhi


early march
.
It's been so wet and rainy this late Winter,
but now the coastal sky is big & blue again.
And ah yes! .. there it is .. at last ! .. at last !
At Last ! I can clearly hear it now....
far, far away in the warming distance,
heading it's unswerving course towards me
down the vast vernal expanse
of the grassy lawn out front -
the steady engine burrrrr of
the gardener's vintage lawnmower
tossing up grassy tips of green glitter,
coming closer and closer
to the Spring Equinox.
~ Akasa Levi
..
.
The Day of the Spring (or Vernal) Equinox
......has equal times of Daylight and Darkness
We are almost now at that very 'present-moment point' in the yearly cycle
when an exquisite Balance exists between Light and Dark. As the Sun
slowly moves from Pisces to Aries, it crosses the Earth's equator,
and a momentary balance of day and night is achieved.
Thereafter, the hours of light will predominate -
the hours of dark will let go, fade
and settle into the background.
.
The Equinox, then, is a time for us to examine our own Balance.
Does a Balance exist between your poles of yin and yang,
or are you prisoners of images of how you "should" be ?
As we move toward more mindfully balanced parts
of our outer-nature ( the light ), do we respect
and honor parts of our inner-nature ( the dark ) ?
.
It was Carl Jung that reminded us -
"that without the Darkness,
we could not see the Light
given by a candle flame."
.

* Spring's Here,

Wake Up Hibernation-Head !

.
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~ post'humously ~ march 14/15 - 2009
.
a Haiku reading — a Haiku teaching
. .
one breath long ~ Haiku is the world's briefest literary form
— and the most well-known 'Asian' poetry of the 21st century.

If you love poetry or ever thought about learning Haiku -
this is going to be the best Buddhist poetry / literary / writing
workshop-teaching event ever ! ...and at almost no cost.
This is one weekend just not to miss. Come for all or part.
Bring pen, paper & just listen & learn & fall back in love again
with words that express ! Gary is a great influence & mentor.
.
Buddhist Haiku poet & translator Gary Gach
will be reading with award winning poet Amy Uyematsu
on Saturday March 14 at 7:30 PM at the
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center - 681 Venice Blvd
Venice - CA 90291 - (310) 822-3006 - web link: beyond baroque
.
Gary Gach's Buddhist lineage is in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh.
Gary, a prolific writer, is editor of the immensely popular "What Book!?
Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop" ( American Book Award )
and has published the translations of Ko Un, Korea's unofficial
poet laureate, Songs for Tomorrow (Green Integer), Flowers
of a Moment (BOA), and Ten Thousand Lives (Green Integer).
He's co-editor of World Haiku Review and has contributed to
Brick, Drunken Boat, Fish Drum, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Jacket,
The Nation, The New Yorker, Poems for the Millennium, and
Words Without Borders.
He is also author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buddhism.
Gary himself is an approachable, sweet & gentle soul, quietly
in touch with the moment - yet can be powerfully dramatic.
. .
....and teaching
a Haiku
Workshop
at Beyond Baroque
on Sunday March 15
from 2:00PM - 5:30PM
.
SUNDAY Afternoon - 2:00-5:30 PM
The LOS ANGELES URBAN HAIKU WORKSHOP.
"GARY GACH leads a workshop on learning, noticing,
exploring, experiencing, writing, and sharing Haiku" — LA haiku
. . .
The Way of Haiku encourages and supports a genuine life,
intimate with the heart of creation, training us in clear seeing
and deep listening, intuitive wisdom and a warm heart.
We'll map the basics, take a relaxed haiku-walk ( ginko )
right in Beyond Baroque's own splendid backyard, and
develop your written 'work' from this - and share what
we encounter, written and unwritten. With Haiku, we
can learn how to make each word and moment count,
sense our senses, harmonize perception & expression,
train our attention and cultivate our awareness.
.
Gary has led haiku workshops across California
and around the country - at the Asian Art Museum,
Book Passage University, O'Hanlon Center for the Arts,
Otis College of the Arts, Stanford Writer's Studio,
Villa Montalvo, and San Francisco Zen Center.
He hopes to write two or three
immortal haiku in his lifetime.
.
no prior background - writers & nonwriters,
meditation practitioners & the merely curious.
It'll be an inspiring afternoon.
. . .
.
ants
floating downriver on a twig
.................still singing
— issa-Issa, 1795
.
Gary's blog pages:
http://www.redroom.com/author/gary-g-gach
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/where-buddha-meets-freud
http://www.tricycle.com/web-exclusive/riches-a-different-market
.
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. .
.
~ post'humously ~
Archive good reading from retreat 2/14/09
including two Rilke pieces, scroll 1/3 way down
.
POST-RETREAT Comment:
"Everybody was in Love ~ unconditionally for moments !"
.
* Winter Daylong Saturday Retreat
on VALENTINE's DAY ~ February 14
about "LOVE & Other Difficulties". . .
from the title of an essay by poet Rainer Rilke
in the bohemian Paris of Picasso in 1910.
.
Compassionate Mindfulness Meditation
inspired by a deeper exploration into
'Relationship-dharma' using some
of the radical poetry & teachings
of Rilke, Rumi & The Buddha
.
All Practice Levels & for slightly brave Beginners
A Daylong is really the very BEST way to Begin!
Hey, it's a piece of cake ! Please trust that.
.
A Daylong Retreat into Silent Sitting
in Stillness & Satsang with Akasa Levi
9 am – 4:30 pm ~ Santa Monica

*
"Valentine's Day" has too often become,
in our bizarre modern mega-media marketplace, sadly,
The Halloween of Love. And so has how we actually DO 'relationships'.
And that can certainly be 'course-corrected' by beginning to allow an
authentic wise, open heart's expression - strengthened by immersed
retreat-time practice - as we continue to re-learn 'Love' for ourselves.
We'll take a loving, sober look at some of the 'conditioned difficulties'
and 'attachments' around how we DO 'Love' - using an un-hooking,
un-deluding Dharma-approach. Maybe that can lead us up to
the right Questions we must ask ourselves
about what is a 'true relationship' ?
......some savory and profound
Valentine's insight-awareness sweets just may arise!
... and you'll experience the clouds dissolve into clarity.
.
.
"... a Change of Heart changes Everything"
.
.
Compassionate Roses & Insightful Thorns:
a Relationship-themed Vipassana meditation daylong -
enhanced by poetic 'contemplations' of true Love - and the
Dharma's good ole' tough-love teachings based in ancient
Buddhist Attachment-theory. We'll consider the words of Rumi,
Rilke & Buddha on our # 1 Leading Delusion: 'Relationship' & 'Romance'.

This retreat could certainly assist 'partnerings' of all kinds, couples, those
dating, as well as troubled friendships - and yes, those of us who are single -
actually, all our 'relationships' with the world ! Buddha's sustainable formula for
Love & Happiness that is not based on any inner or outer 'situations', 'conditions',
'circumstances' or 'outcomes' whatsoever.
AND we are all getting part-way there already !
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.
.
Rilke excerpts ~
.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke, (1875-1926)
the world-renown German existential philosopher, poet and author
of "On Love & Other Difficulties" and "Letters to a Young Poet"

Highly mature, sobering letters and poems on love - show Rilke's
profound understanding of men and women and his ardent spirituality.
His radical books, were written over a hundred years ago in the avant-garde'
bohemian Paris of Picasso. Rilke introduces the contradictory concept
of solitude as a blessing. He seems to have this way of reaching into
your inner- soul and grabbing ahold of 'your reality' and making you face it,
in a tone of controlled urgency, in an exhorting, passionate sort of way.
Experimental openness to experience, on comprehending what is most
difficult - and turning what is most alien into that which we can most trust. .
~ John J. L. Mood

________________________________________________________________


from "ON LOVE & OTHER DIFFICULTIES" (1908) by Rainer Rilke
some deep comprehension-reading ~ certainly not for lovers of the naive ...

" The point of marital or any relationship is not to create a quick commonality
by tearing down all boundaries - on the contrary, a good relationship is one
in which each partner anoints the other to be the guardian of their solitude,
and in this they show each other the greatest possible trust. This I hold to be
the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard
over the solitude of the other.

For, since it lies in the nature of indifference or insecurity of the common crowd
to recognize no solitude - then love and friendship are specifically there
for the purpose of continually providing the 'opportunity' for solitude.
And only love and friendship are the "true sharings" which do rhythmically
interrupt our individual periods of deep solitary emotion.

A merging, a true and absolute togetherness between two people
is an impossibility - and where it does seem to exist nevertheless -
it IS still a narrowing, a hemming-in, a mutually-compromised-consent -
that really does limit one party or both of their fullest freedom & development.

But once the realization is accepted - that even between the closest people,
infinite distance continues to exist - a wonderful living side-by-side can then
grow up for them -
IF they succeed in loving the expanse, loving the distance between them -
which gives them the possibility of always seeing each other
as a whole being before an immense wide sky ! "

"On Love & Other Difficulties" ~ the above was adapted, added to, and edited by Akasa Levi
from Translations and Considerations of Rainier Maria Rilke by John Mood; W.W. Norton, 1975
and The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke by Stephen Mitchell & Robert Hass; Vintage, 1989
- both as translated from Rilke's original German editions.
.
.
~ and most famously -
Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" (1903-1908)
.
" Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your own heart.
Try to love the 'Questions' themselves - like locked rooms
and like books that are written in a foreign language.
Do not right now seek for the Answers. The 'Answers'
which cannot now be given to you - because you would
not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything -
Experiencing everything !
At present, you need to live the Questions. Perhaps you will
gradually, without even noticing it, live along some
distant day into the true Answer. Your answer." ~ Rilke
.
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.
.
"The Buddhist absence of 'Attachment' -
.
is not necessarily at all, in any way,
.
the absence of profound loving." ~ Ananda Maitreya
.
.
This retreat is suitable for both beginning and experienced meditators.
Everyone is welcome to our retreats, absolutely regardless of your present level
of meditation experience or practice. One short day is simply a piece of cake !
.

This Day-Long Retreat is hosted by
"Against The Stream"
Buddhist Meditation Society
at the new Santa Monica Meditation Center
1001(a) Colorado Avenue - Santa Monica - 90401
( enter through alley on north side of Colorado,
between 10th and 11th Streets )
Akasa Levi at 310.450.2268
leave messages


"Love' exists only in the True Friendship.
Love is Friendship set on Fire !"

~ Jeremy Taylor, 1650
.
.
ABOUT DAYLONG RETREATS ~
.
Retreats Offer the necessary deeper "immersion-time experiences"