Practice on this Dharma path stresses listening to teachings, reflecting on them, and meditating.  Nowadays, there are books, weekly teaching at IMFW, podcasts, retreats, the internet, magazines, and perhaps more ways to learn about the Buddha’s message.  But it requires pondering to know whether it is true and makes sense for us. If it doesn’t, we can set it aside and contemplate it again later.  It takes pondering and meditating to actualize the teachings in our lives.  That’s the point, right?  Just learning doesn’t take us far on the Four Noble Truth path.  It’s just not enough if we wish to seek transformation, if we wish to go beyond our usual unskillful habits and ignorance to alleviate the discomfort we experience and sometimes bring to others.
 
I can be inspired by a teaching and then forget all about it.  I take notes and never look at them.  Or I look at them later and it all seems new to me.  Sometimes I think I need not read or listen anymore; I need to think deeply about a few things and meditate more.  That doesn’t mean I know it all or understand it all – not by a long shot.  But the reading and listening is dry without the pondering and meditating.  It’s not enough. I’m fortunate that I have my partner at hand to reflect with on the teachings and I have a sangha here at IMFW. 
 
In our retreats, we usually begin with a casual talk to set the retreat.  I like to mention at the start that to see confusion is clarity.  I’m hopeful that it puts retreatants at ease about meditation.  It’s easy and pleasant and sometimes frustrating but just seeing the thoughts arise is excellent meditation right there.  Throughout our days, we usually aren’t aware of the thoughts streaming through our minds.  Meditation gives us a chance to see and habituate that awareness.  Wouldn’t that be fine?  It takes practice to establish that habit; it’s not accomplished with instruction.  So in a session of calm, when we do notice that we have been thinking about the usual or even brilliant new ideas, hooray, we were aware!  We can rest in the calm under the turbulence.  I’d say we could use a lot of that. 
 
We start Tuesday evening gatherings with meditation, we offer meditation each Sunday, there are many retreats to join, and a daily practice is critical. It’s there that we practice awareness and letting go of thoughts over and over and there we can see our confusion as well as our clarity, our innate goodness, our aspiration to awaken to truly be of benefit to ourselves and others.  We can see into our discomfort and ignorance; good to know.  Eventually, if we keep at it, the mind quiets down and we can see the mind itself as emptiness and clarity.  That may take a very very long time.  Better get started.

Save the date!  Our Annual Meeting and Potluck will be Tuesday, immediately following the dharma talk on Tuesday, November 14^th.  Bring a dish to share and enjoy an evening with friends.

Book Group is reading Sharon Salzberg’s latest book Real Life, and they will begin meeting Tuesday, October 17^th immediately following the dharma talk.  They will continue to meet on the third Tuesday of each month through the school year.  If you are interested, please sign up here to receive informational emails about the book-study.

Our fall non-residential retreat with Tri-State Dharma teacher, Joan Staubach, is October 20, 21 and 22.  Friday night the Dharma Talk, beginning at 7 pm, is open to the public.  If you are interested in attending this retreat, Saturday and Sunday, please sign up here. The retreat is offered freely.  Dana is gratefully accepted.

If you have a question, suggestion, time or a talent that you would like to donate to IMFW please contact any board member and let them know.  We are entirely run by volunteers.  We appreciate all help.

Our mission is to provide for the study and practice of Insight (Vipassanā) Meditation according to the Theravāda Buddhist religious tradition and to support and encourage the development of community based upon Buddhist ideals, teachings and practices.

“You are what you think.  Be kind to your mind” – is the theme of the teachings for the IMFW fall retreat.

We welcome Tri-State Dharma teacher, Joan Staubach, back to Insight Meditation Fort Wayne to guide our fall retreat, October 20, 21, and 22.  The retreat begins Friday evening at 7pm with a talk that is open to the public.  Saturday, the retreat is scheduled 9am – 5pm and Sunday 9am – noon.  This non-residential retreat is in-person only at 2332 Sandpoint Road, Fort Wayne, IN.

If you would like to register for this retreat, or get more information please sign up here.  (Registration is not required for the Friday night Dharma Talk.)

Joan is an active member and past president of Tri-State Dharma in Cincinnati, OH.  She is an experienced practitioner of Insight Meditation, having been on over 30 week-long or longer residential retreats.  She has taught and co-taught Tri-State Dharma’s New Year’s Retreat for many years, led daylong retreats, and taught numerous Insight Meditation classes.  She is a student of Matthew Flickstein and has completed his course “Sharing the Dharma.”

We are offering the very popular Introduction to Insight Meditation course. This four week class meets every Monday evening during November, beginning at 6:30 pm lasting for about an hour.  Drew Consalvo, resident teacher at IMFW, is teaching.  This class is offered in person only and meets at 2332 Sandpoint Road, Fort Wayne, In.  If you are interested in attending or would like more information about the course, please sign up here.

Insight Meditation is a practice that trains the mind to be aware of what is happening, when it is happening. When we begin to see our experience more clearly, we become better able to make choices about how we might live our lives with less stress and anxiety.  As the mind settles and can see more clearly into the difficult situations of our lives, the qualities of love, compassion and wisdom naturally arise.  Insight Meditation is a way to help cultivate that state of mind.

Learning to meditate is not about becoming a Buddhist; it is not about adopting new concepts or dogmas.  It is not a scholarly pursuit, nor is it tied to a belief system.  Insight Meditation practice is useful no matter what your religious or spiritual orientation and can support your existing spiritual path, no matter what that is.

Insight Meditation, or Vipassana, has been practiced for over 2,600 years, since the time of the Buddha.  This lineage is practice primarily in Thailand, Burma, India, Sri Lanka and now in Europe, Australia, many parts of African and the United States.

While there is no fee for the class, donation boxes will be available for those who wish to express their gratitude to the teacher, or the Insight Meditation Fort Wayne community for freely offering this class.

Join us for an exploration of the book Real Life: The Journey From Isolation to Openness and Freedom by Sharon Salzberg.  We begin meeting on October 17.  We meet monthly on the third Tuesday, immediately following the dharma talk, usually around 7:15 to 8:15 pm.  You do need to have your own copy of the book and please read the first chapter by the October meeting.

Anyone interested in doing this study of the book, please sign up on line here.  We ask that you do sign up in order to receive any communication about this meeting.  As always at IMFW, all courses are offered freely.  This course is offered in person only at 2332 Sandpoint Road, Fort Wayne, IN.

You can find the book on Amazon or at Bookshop.

Sharon Salzberg is a revered teacher of Insight Meditation and one of the founders of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass. She is also a New York Times bestselling author.  Real Life is her latest book and is currently only available in hardback.

If you are feeling hopeless and bereft about the future of the planet, this may be of help to you and the future of Earth.

Plum Village, Thich Nhat Hanh's sangha, is offering a class called Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet.  I've been to a few of the Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet online meetings and read the book of the same name.  They are both very good and credible and I think this course would be too. (Recommended by Pam Steinbach, teacher IMFW.)

The course, taking place from October 15 - December 5, will be a 7 week online learning journey to nurture insight, compassion, community, and mindful action in service of the Earth.

Throughout this course, you will learn to 
•    Balance personal wellbeing and climate action
•    Join a grounded purpose driven community
•    Transform your climate anxiety into mindful activism  

This course will offer: 
•    7 weeks live (online), and 6 months access
•    Curated talks from Thich Nhat Hanh
•    New teachings from 20 Plum Village teachers 
•    Live events with monastic teachers 
•    Small group sharing sessions within a global community 
•    Daily Zen practices 

This course offers helpful perspectives and practices for holding steady in the multiple crises of our times,  plus connection to a growing community of leaders, climate activists and changemakers like yourself.

Registration for this course is open now, and places are filling up fast so I’d like to invite you to sign-up asap: plumvillage.org/zasp. Let’s work together to bring mindfulness to our climate response in a time when it’s needed most.