What does studying with MMC offer you?

Transcription

1 I believe deeply that we must find, all of us together, a new spirituality. This new onept ought to be elaborated alongside the religions in suh a way that all people of good will ould adhere to it H.H. Dalai Lama Mihael Gregory, the founding diretor of Mindfulness Meditation Centers (MMC) has been alongside students on the path to awakening for nearly twenty years. Sine its ineption in 2000, Mindfulness Meditation Centers has been providing no-nonsense, plain speaking meditation instrution, hospie volunteering, in-depth spiritual and personal ounseling and extensive media arhives of all its past teahings online. What does studying with MMC offer you? An introdution to an unfolding, step-by-step proess to fully develop ourselves and to be more onsious, aware, gentle and peaeful. The foundation of all lasses follows a traditional urriulum known as, Lamrim the gradual path to enlightenment. MMC has developed a ompelling modern vernaular that delivers alongside this traditional proess, a non-setarian fully dependable set of simple instrutions that are easy to pratie. When followed for a six-week period, we begin to enounter an inreasing flexibility in our emotional and mental states so we may begin to shift into expressions of living with surety, ease and even elegane. We begin to have a onfidene in what feels healthy, loving, and wholesome. Step by step, we lead ourselves, through pratiing the instrutions, toward ever inreasing mindfulness, ompassion, and awakening. Learn in a warm and weloming environment, alongside people who are produts of your ulture who have studied and understood how the Buddha s teahings pertain diretly to our experienes here and now in this ontemporary Amerian ulture. Learn to inorporate these step-by-step methods of release and renewal through meditation. Understand through ontemplating in non-esoteri, topial and lively on-line disussions, all within a dediated ommunity of ompassionate, like-minded students/pratitioners through weekly live and 100% interative lasses. MMC has ompiled a signifiant and extensive arhive of video teahings. This aessible arhive is soured through a state-of-the-art video and audio tehnology doumentation of MMC bi-monthly live short-term weekend retreats, and longer-term meditation retreats produed at our beautiful meditation enter in Palmetto, Florida. On-going series lasses are held live every Tuesday evening, and distributed worldwide onsite, through our state-of-the-art broadast quality retreat enter faility, and by attending in person in lassrooms and loal ommunity loations in the United States and throughout the world.

2 This ourse is based on Mihael Gregory s six-week Introdution to Mindfulness Meditation lass. It s supplemented with written material, exerises and refletions for bringing the pratie into daily life. Six-Weeks of Personal Class Support is Available with Various Community Teahers and Senior Pratitioners The ourse material is both interative and live, (the live lass is held on Tuesday evening s from 7-8:30 pm EST). Eah week s lass is also reorded so it an be viewed at any time most onvenient. The ourse may also be Audited without personal teaher support. If you hoose to register for teaher support, please take this ommitment seriously: a volunteer experiened meditator will be reserving weekly time for you. Further Course Details and Time Commitment Frequently Asked Questions: Q: What does this ourse ost? A: As with all MMC programs, this ourse is offered by generosity only. That means there is no fee, but there will be a donation button on the ourse s website if you wish to offer support for the teahers and the program. This is available due to the sustained membership of the larger MMC ommunity. Please ontemplate the benefit these teahings may bring and ontinue to bring to your lives and make donations based on that ontemplation. All Donations are welomed! If you wish to beome a sustaining member whih is enouraged, please visit our homepage and use the donate button: To aess the MMC benefits whih inlude the video library, retreats and lasses, those interested will need to beome a sustaining member of the ommunity and offer some monthly reourring donation based on their means and onsiene after a serious refletion. Donations an be made via the page or by alling Teresa Sullivan at (703)

3 View on YouTube: Q: How do I enroll? A: Online aess information is obtained by ontating Davita at: davitamoodley@gmail. om and then you will be provided with easy to use online instrutions. Q: May I wath from anywhere or start an MMC meditation and study group in my area? A: Yes, and we enourage you to do so. All you need is a omputer, a projetor and high speed internet aess. Q: Do I need to purhase materials? A: No, material are provided on-line as well as the homework and meditation assignments for teaher training. Prayers and Aspirations Refuge Prayer (Taking refuge in the Three Jewels) Until I reah the state of enlightenment I take refuge in the Buddha (Teaher), the Dharma (Teahings) and the Sangha (Community). By the power of all the goodness that I do, in giving and the rest, may I may I too dispel the misery of the world (reah Buddhahood), for the sake of every living being. Bodhiitta Bodhiitta is preious, may it arise in whom it has not arisen One arisen, may it ever grow and flourish!

4 Mahamudra Lineage Prayer (The Short Prayer To Vajradhara, invoking the blessings of the Kagyu Lineage) Great Vajradhara, Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Mila, Lord of Dharma Gampopa, Knower of the Three Times, all-knowing Karmapa, Holders of the four great and eight lesser lineages, Drigung, Taglung, Tsalapa, these three, glorious Drukpa and others, Masters of the profound path of Mahamudra, Unequalled protetors of beings, the Dakpo Kagyu, I suppliate you the Kagyu teahers. Grant your blessing that I may follow your example and hold your lineage. Detahment is the foot of meditation, as is taught. To this yogi who is not attahed to food and wealth, Who uts the ties to this life, Grant your blessings that I have no attahment to honor or gain. Devotion is the head of meditation, as is taught. The teaher opens the gate to the treasury of oral instrutions. To the yogi who ontinually suppliates you, Grant your blessings that genuine devotion is born within.

5 Non-distration is the body of meditation, as is taught. Whatever arises is fresh, the nature of realization, To the yogi who rests simply in naturalness, Grant your blessings that my meditation is free from oneptualization. The nature of thought is dharmakaya, as is taught. Nothing whatsoever, it arises as everything. To the yogi for whom all arises in uneasing play, Grant your blessing that I realize samsara and nirvana as inseparable. Through all my births, may I not be separated from the perfet teaher and always enjoy the splendor of Dharma. Perfeting the qualities of the paths and stages, May I swiftly attain the state of Vajradhara. The Four Thoughts That Turn One s Mind to Dharma First, a preious human birth favorable for Dharma pratie, is hard to obtain and easily lost. I must make this life meaningful. Seond, the world and all its inhabitants are impermanent. In partiular, the life of eah being is like a water bubble on a fast-moving stream. It is unertain when I will die and beome a orpse. At that time only Dharma an help, so I must pratie now with diligene. Third, when death omes there is no freedom, and karma takes its ourse. Sine I reate my own karma, I should abandon all unwholesome ations, and always devote my time to wholesome ations. With this in mind, I must observe my mind stream eah day. Fourth, just like a feast before the exeutioner leads me to my death home, friends, pleasures and possessions of samsara ause me ontinual torment by means of the three sufferings. I must ut through all attahment and strive to attain Enlightenment.

6 Loving Kindness Aspiration (Metta Sutta) And this is what should be done By one who is skilled in goodness, And who knows the path of peae: Let them be able and upright, Straightforward and gentle in speeh, Humble and not oneited, Contented and easily satisfied, Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways. Peaeful and alm and wise and skillful, Not proud or demanding in nature. Let them not do the slightest thing That the wise would later reprove. Wishing In gladness and in safety, May all beings be at ease. Whatever living beings there may be; Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none, The great or the mighty, medium, short or small, The seen and the unseen, Those living near and far away, Those born and to-be-born May all beings be at ease! Let none deeive another, Or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill-will Wish harm upon another. Even as a mother protets with her life Her hild, her only hild, So with a boundless heart Should one herish all living beings; Radiating kindness over the entire world, Spreading upwards to the skies, And downwards to the depths; Outwards and unbounded, Freed from hatred and ill-will. Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down Free from drowsiness, One should sustain this reolletion. This is said to be the sublime abiding. By not holding to fixed views, The pure-hearted one, having larity of vision, Being freed from all sense desires, Awakens from suffering, and rests in everlasting peae.

7 Four Boundless Forms of True Love (The Four Immeasurables) Loving-kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity. May all sentient beings have happiness and the root of happiness, May all sentient beings be free of suffering and the root of suffering, May all sentient beings never be separated from sorrow-less bliss, May all sentient beings rest in limitless equanimity, free from attahment and aversion to those near and far. May all sentient beings have happiness and the root of happiness Loving Kindness is the intention and apaity to offer joy and happiness to yourself and others. The intention is that the person be happy, peaeful, ontent, light in body and spirit, safe and free from injury, feel loved, and feel onneted. Having the apaity means you understand someone and have the skill to atually bring them joy and happiness. Loving-kindness is not attahment. Attahment is a way of using someone else to manage our own emotions. Attahment auses us to try to ontrol others so that we or they will never feel suffering. True loving-kindness does not try to ontrol. May all sentient beings be free of suffering and the root of suffering, Compassion is the intention and apaity to relieve and transform suffering and lighten sorrows. The intention is to bring freedom from all forms of suffering freedom from anger, fear, despair, hatred, onfusion, worry, anxiety, and all unwholesome mental formations. Compassion is not pity, whih involves a feeling of superiority to others. Compassion involves the understanding of how deeply onneted we are to others. May all sentient beings never be separated from sorrow-less bliss, Joy is well-being, gratitude, peae, and ontentment in the mind in the here and now. In regards to others, it is the intention and apaity to rejoie when others are happy. Joy is not omparison. When we ompare, it an easily lead to a superiority- ( I am better beause I have more ) or inferiority,-( I am worse beause I have less ). May all sentient beings rest in limitless equanimity, free from attahment and aversion to those near and far. Equanimity is non-attahment, non-disrimination, non-judgment, letting go, loving all equally, aepting ourselves as we are without onditions, giving ourselves and others spae to make mistakes, to experiment, to be ourselves, to be happy, to be sad, or to experiene whatever it is that we are experiening. It is neither old nor indifferent. Nor does it mean that we do not see differenes between things. We still see and understand that everyone has different skills and apaities, and yet we aept others as they are.

8 Mindfulness of Eating Prayer In this food I see learly the presene of the entire universe supporting my existene. (Looking at the plate of food) All living beings are struggling for life. May they all have enough food to eat to day. (Just before eating) The plate is filled with food. I am aware that eah morsel is the fruit of diffiult labor by those who produed it. This meal is a gift and I am the fortunate and grateful reipient. This is food, I am food, may this food nourish me so that I may nourish others. (Beginning to eat) With the first taste, I promise to utilize the energy taken from this meal to pratie loving kindness. With the seond, I promise to utilize the energy taken from this meal to relieve the suffering of others. With the third taste, I promise to help others find joy more than my own. With the fourth taste, I promise to deepen my relationship of non-attahment and equanimity. (After the meal) The plate is empty. My hunger is satisfied. I regard this meal as mediine to sustain our life. I vow to live for the benefit of all living beings. I have taken this meal for the sake of enlightenment for all. The Dediation of Our Good Efforts (Merit) And by all this merit, may all sentient beings be free from suffering, May it defeat the enemy of wrong-doing, From the stormy waves of birth old age sikness and death from the oean of samsara, May I free all beings. meditationsarasota.om meditationdenver.om info@meditationroaringfork.om meditationevergreen.om meditationsummitounty.om