You can’t make radical changes in the pattern of your life until you begin to see yourself exactly as you are now. As soon as you do that, changes will flow naturally. You don’t have to force anything, struggle, or obey rules dictated to you by some authority. It is automatic; you just change.

But arriving at that initial insight is quite a task. You have to see who you are & how you are without illusion, judgment, or resistance of any kind. You have to see your place in society & your function as a social being. You have to see your duties & obligations to your fellow human beings, & above all, your responsibility to yourself as an individual living with other individuals.

And finally, you have to see all of that clearly as a single unit, an irreducible whole of interrelationship. It sounds complex, but it can occur in a single instant. Mental cultivation through meditation is without rival in helping you achieve this sort of understanding & serene happiness.”

Bhante Henepola Gunaratana, "Mindfulness in Plain English"

Dear Friends,

Buddhist teachings are filled with the principles of respect, tolerance, and compassion. When community members were sick, the Buddha told his followers to care for them as they would care for the Buddha himself. When those in grief and those who were afraid came to see the Buddha, he welcomed them all without exception.

Our social and cultural conditioning to separate shows up in the way we compartmentalize things. Everything around us we tend to separate out as “us and them” or “subject and object.” Separation permeates our worldview and is reinforced by the cultural milieu in which we all live, with its borders, barriers, cultural and ethnic designations, class delineations, statehoods.

Mindfulness erases all these lines of separation. Our practices of awareness and lovingkindness can steady our hearts to help us embody courage and compassion as motivations for our speech and actions in this very difficult time. Each of us express our care in many ways, and it begins with cultivating a calm and wise presence so we can realize how we each can bring benefit to those in need.

This compassionate and generous spirit has sustained the Dharma for 2600 years and is a principle that has been a part of the finest of American culture. At our best, we have welcomed immigrants, collectively cared for the vulnerable, respected human rights, and promoted tolerance. Let us sustain this spirit during this time of world turmoil.

With love and compassion,

This article arrived in my email box this week. I don’t know about you, but I can tend to feel helpless during times of world crises, and this article reminded me there is always something I can do to help.

Carol Blotter, the primary meditation teacher at Chelsea Meditation, Michigan, will be leading a non-residential weekend retreat at IMFW, 2332 Sandpoint Road, Fort Wayne on October 23 and 24. The silent retreat will begin at 9:00 am both Saturday and Sunday mornings and end at 5:00 pm Saturday and 3:00 pm Sunday. Participants are asked to attend all sessions, if at all possible. To sign up or get more information, please contact Caran Ross at rosscaran@gmail.com. More information will follow.

Carol will offer a public talk Friday evening, October 22 at 7:00-8:00 pm. This is a drop-in session and there is no need to sign up. The talk will be appropriate for beginners as well as more experienced students of the Buddha. The Friday evening session might be a nice opportunity to bring a friend who has been showing interest in the dharma.

For more information about Carol, please visit the Chelsea Meditation website at https://www.chelseameditation.com/

Our next book group begins in October! One Dharma, The Emerging Western Buddhism by Joseph Goldstein is the book we will be exploring in our next book group beginning on Tuesday, October 5th . We will meet in the basement of Sangha House from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month through March 1, 2022. This group meets monthly, immediately following Tuesday mediation and dharma talk. We welcome anyone who is interested in a deeper experience of the book.

We will be meeting in person as well as offering a Zoom option. This is new for Book Group to be offered as a hybrid, so we’ll see how it goes!

You need to procure your own book. It is available here on Amazon or here on Bookshop.

Everyone is welcome.

We have welcomed several wise and delightful teachers to Insight Meditation Fort Wayne. John Steinbach and his wife, Pam Steinbach, along with Caran Ross, all were willing to share teaching responsibilities with Tammy Dyer and Drew Consalvo while we were meeting via Zoom. Now all are teaching live and in person at 2332 Sandpoint Road! Each month, we'll be featuring one. They each have a special way of teaching and interpreting the teachings. Each one is worth coming to hear and experience their special insight into ways to live the teachings of the Buddha.

Pam Steinbach