How wonderful you are in your being! I delight that you are here! I take joy in your good fortune! May your happiness continue and increase! (From a Sinhalese Ms of the 19th century. Monks' and nuns‘ practice upon receiving alms).

The weekly practice groups are designed to be a cornerstone for one's practice by providing ongoing instruction and teachings that will help illuminate the simple but challenging practice of mindfulness. The Buddha taught that mindfulness is the way to go beyond habits of distraction and grasping. To walk this path of wisdom and compassion, we need the support of a community that shares this intention. Each session includes a guided meditation, dharma talk, and discussion. Both experienced and beginning meditators are welcome. No registration necessary. Led by Mark Nunberg and guest teachers. Mark Nunberg began his practice in 1982 and has been teaching meditation since 1990. He co-founded Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis in 1993 with Wynn Fricke and continues to serve as the center’s Guiding Teacher. Mark has studied with both Asian and Western teachers and finds deep inspiration in the teachings of the Buddha. Mark practiced as a monk for five months in Burma and completed four three-month retreats at Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center, as well as many months of intensive retreat practice at The Forest Refuge. Mark continues to be a grateful student of Buddhist practice.

The weekly practice groups are designed to be a cornerstone for one's practice by providing ongoing instruction and teachings that will help illuminate the simple but challenging practice of mindfulness. The Buddha taught that mindfulness is the way to go beyond habits of distraction and grasping. To walk this path of wisdom and compassion, we need the support of a community that shares this intention. Each session includes a guided meditation, dharma talk, and discussion. Both experienced and beginning meditators are welcome. No registration necessary. Led by Mark Nunberg and guest teachers. Mark Nunberg began his practice in 1982 and has been teaching meditation since 1990. He co-founded Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis in 1993 with Wynn Fricke and continues to serve as the center’s Guiding Teacher. Mark has studied with both Asian and Western teachers and finds deep inspiration in the teachings of the Buddha. Mark practiced as a monk for five months in Burma and completed four three-month retreats at Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center, as well as many months of intensive retreat practice at The Forest Refuge. Mark continues to be a grateful student of Buddhist practice.

This dhamma talk and Q&A was offered on April 5, 2025 for “How do I apply the Dhamma to THIS!?!”

The deepest kind of peace: what it is, what it isn't, how it relates to boundaries and action in the world, and how to find it.

Saddhā - trust or confidence - is a fundamental quality that we need on our path. Why can it be difficult to trust? What is actually trustworthy? How does it manifest in our mind and in our actions?

A review of the Channa Sutta (S.22:90) in which Bhikkhu Channa receives Dhamma through being open and welcomed - despite his bad reputation. The teaching he receives from Ven. Ananda points to the openness beyond affirmation or denial of conditioned existence. This instructs us to handle our intentions, interpretations and perspectives carefully without fixation.

A meditation, reflection, and responses to questions on the power of conceiving of ourselves as interconnected. With examples from Palestine, the meditation cushion, and living with illness and loss. In all cases, perhaps this transformative idea is more potent than it is true. Some links from this session: Essential Surgery in Palestine: https://chuffed.org/project/123753-essential-surgery-for-palestinian-medical-student James Skeet, from Just Stop Oil, talking to Scroobius Pip on Distraction Pieces Podcast: https://www.scroobiuspip.co.uk/dp-player/?fl=https://embed.acast.com/$/ad4e2f12-9862-4cf6-b6af-3ae392c45fad/612jso&dl= Sacred Places with SanghaSeva | Meditation in Action: https://www.sanghaseva.org/comingup.html#sacred

Relationship of different instructions to each other. Many spices, but we don't cook with all of them at once. Orientation: how to find out and recognize what's going in your mind. (Using the satipaṭṭhāna map) Relationship: a) getting reliably in touch with and b) learning to relate skillfully to the states. Shifting attention away from habits. Mindfulness does not mean 'no discernment' – it is quite capable on discerning what is wholesome and unwholesome.

In this talk, we explore compassion as a liberating force—one that allows us to stay present with suffering so we can respond with wise action. Drawing on the myth of Avalokiteśvara, the science of empathy, and the felt experience of care, compassion becomes a courageous presence rooted in tenderness and connection. We also reflect on how a deep understanding of dukkha, paired with a direct knowing of freedom, strengthens our compassion and helps us see the wish for liberation as real and available—even in the most difficult places.

Sensing into a field of support and care hat can hold it all, even the enemy.

Metta can be seen as turning toward with friendliness. This talk explores how to turn toward charged experiences.

How the practice of dāna, generosity, supports a sense of abundance rather than lack, then looking at the wider societal and environmental benefits of bringing more awareness to not taking what's not freely offered

The interplay of three functions of the mind in helping the contemplative practice. Appamada – an attitude of care Sati - a relationship: mindfulness as creating presence Sampajañña – a value context

This guided meditation is inspired by John Makransky's Field of Care meditation where we practice first receiving kindness and care from a benefactor or kind moment and then include others into that field of care.

The overstretching of the visual metaphor for mindfulness ('observe, witness, get in perspective, look at' can leave us with the (erroneaous) impression that mindfulness can only 'observe' and wait. Let's not turn mindfulness in the John Silver's parrot on our shoulder.