Short Reflection on the 1st Vipallasa & Guided Meditation including parts of a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye| Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene IV | Online Wednesday-Morning

Gil’s first connection to Buddhism in Santa Cruz goes back 49 years, two years after he was introduced to Zen Practice. His involvement with Buddhism in Santa Cruz has been an important part of those next 49 years. He shares his personal stories and lessons from his half century adventure with Buddhist practice in Santa Cruz and beyond.

Adam will give the talk. Over the past seven months, Adam traveled through Bali, Nepal, and Japan on a pilgrimage that became both an outer journey and an inner exploration. At the heart of this journey was a simple question: What allows a human being to feel truly at home within themselves? Drawing from meditation, spiritual pilgrimage, and somatic practice, Adam reflects on how love transforms shame and restores our innate dignity and belonging. He will share how he sees the journey through the lens of the five elemental stages of SomAwaken that he teaches.

We begin with a short account of some of the history of Juneteenth and its origins in Texas, as well as how it developed in the decades after 1865, including under Jim Crow. We ask how consideration of Juneteenth and the ensuing history informs our practice, considering the three main elements of our practice: Training in wisdom (particularly in understanding the roots of racism in greed for power and wealth and a "divide and conquer" approach); meditation (both in examining our conditioning and working with difficult emotions), and ethical practice (developing care and addressing harm, for the benefit of all beings). The talk is followed by discussion.

This dhamma talk, comments, questions and responses was offered on June 20, 2026 for East Bay Dhamma. Dhammapada verses 146 -156 Old Age was discussed. The text can be found here: https://suttacentral.net/dhp146-156/en/buddharakkhita?lang=en&reference=none&highlight=false 00:00 - 1:36:32 DHAMMA TALK, COMMENTS, QUESTIONS & RESPONSES

Short Reflection on the 2nd Vipallasa & Guided Meditation including parts of a poem by Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī | Earthworm Practice for the Anthropocene IV | Online Wednesday-Morning