NEW!
EBMC Regular Office Hours
The meditation center will have regular office hours from Monday through Friday,
10 am to 2 pm.
Different staff members will be available each day to talk to people
who drop by asking for information about EBMC and to answer
the office phone.
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The EBMC
Lending Library Needs More Books
Our beautiful library is expanding our requests for books. Please join in by donating books for children that reflect our values and our diversity. Our Library Sangha (the group of volunteers who created and who maintain the library) also requests donations of books on spiritual approaches to grief, sickness and caretaking, dying and death for a new section on these topics.
We will also open a section for books in languages other than English. For each book donated, we will need a word processed statement in English, with the title of the book and a synopsis of the content from you. These books should be in the same topic categories as the current library collection of books in English. Stop by the library and browse around to see what's there.
Thanks to all of you who have so generously donated books, borrowed them and
returned them!
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Center Beautification
EBMC continues to grow more beautiful, thanks to our Sangha!
Francisco Del Toro, volunteer, paints an "orange sherbet" accent wall in the Compassion Room. Color designed by EBMC staffperson
Mahogany Moton;
no-VOC, nontoxic paint custom mixed at EcoHome Improvement in Berkeley. Some of the painting equipment was donated by EBMC volunteer Tee Clare.
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Center Director's Report from Brenda Salgado
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Beloved Community,
As I prepare to finish my second year as EBMC's first center director,
I want to share my "State of the Center" reflections with you, looking back at 2015 and forward to 2016. What a rich and eventful year this has been!
Fundraising news
I'm so thankful to our community for turning out for the Oct. 23, 2015
Power to the Planet fundraising event. We generated
$6,400 net through this inspiring and substantive conversation with our distinguished speakers, Paul Hawken, Konda Mason, Charles Eisenstein and Lawrence Ellis! Kudos to our development coordinator, Cassandra Shaylor, for her skilled hard work, and to the team of volunteers, including "behind the scenes" graphic designers and social media volunteers, who helped make this happen!
For those of you who couldn't be with us, "
Power to the Planet: Mindfulness, Earth Justice and Stories for a New Humanity" really connected the dots -- that the lack of response to global climate change is connected to the murder of Black people in the U.S. and is connected to gentrification in Oakland. And, one of the most powerful forms of activism lies in our storytelling. We often seem to operate under an ideology of separation, a stance of ignoring how each of us is connected to the environment and to suffering in our society. We need to let go of this old story of separation, to disrupt it and to cocreate a story that is both new and ancient. Because the dominant story is not working for our communities, what's needed in this moment
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P
eople of EBMC:
Xiao
jing Wang, Assistant Director
EBMC: Hi Xiaojing, what brought you to EBMC and could you tell us a little more about your job position as Assistant Director at EBMC?
Xiaojing: A dear friend forwarded an email to me 9 years ago, announcing a meditation class series for people of color led b
 y Anushka Fernandopulle. I didn't know then that this was the inaugural EBMC class (I believe). The class was held in a space at Kaiser Oakland, and was so packed that Larry Yang joined in the second week to teach half of us. While in that class series, I went on my first 10 day retreat at the California Vipassana Center. In combination, these two events changed my life.
After being in several volunteer roles over the years, I joined EBMC staff in 2011, at first to work exclusively on operations and program publicity (a nice mesh with my volunteer role on the Program Committee). In the ensuing years, the programming piece has taken on a life of its own, and I also focus on finance, HR, and data management. For reasons that are somewhat of a mystery to me, I also take on a lot of our "techie" projects. I must be more tech savvy than I thought.
EBMC: What are you passionate about?
Xiaojing: It gives me great joy and satisfaction to be of service to others, whether it's through somewhat mundane tasks like scheduling meetings or providing acupuncture and herbal treatments at my clinic,
Bitter Melon Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine. I was raised with "justice" as a foundational value, focused on political and social change. Even though I no longer work directly in politics and public policy, examining the concept of justice through a Dharma lens is still my passion. I also love to learn, which has a flavor of "taking" and want to challenge myself to be on the "sharing" end of that spectrum more.
EBMC: What's something about you that you're willing to share, that most folks at EBMC might not know about you?
Xiaojing: Hmm... well, I don't have a secret skill or talent... but I love sports! I use to play a lot when I was younger. These days I follow basketball, football, and some soccer and tennis. I have to maintain some strong boundaries around this or it will easily take over my life. I'm still trying to recruit a teacher to lead a "Dharma and Sports" class. While I don't necessarily agree with the famous Marx quote that religion is the opiate of the masses, I'm afraid that sports might play a similar role for me.
EBMC: Is there anything else you'd like the EBMC Sangha to know?
Xiaojing: I have to share these photos of my loves.
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Three Board Members
EBMC Leadership Sangha (board of directors) chairperson Kimi Moj
ica, board member JD Doyle, and vice-chairperson Christy Leffall are stepping down from the "LSangha" at the end of 2015, having completed their 3-year terms of service. We are grateful to all of them for having supported EBMC's growth and sustainability with hard work, grace, and goodheartedness in community.
Christ
y Leffall commented, "I'm honored to have served on the LSan
gha for EBMC over the past three years. It's been a beautiful and humbling experience to practice dana deeply within t
his role. M
e an
d my fellow board cohort oversaw policy and lea
dersh
i
p transitions, w
h
ich we hope continue to a
dvance the acce
ssibi
lity and sustainability of the Center and the
Dharma for our communities."
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Volunteer Testimonial
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I volunteer for EBMC because I value and respect what the Center is doing to make the teachings available to all through the all-dana (gift economics) model. I want to support that effort, in whatever small way I can, to ensure that the doors to EBMC remain open to all who wish to come here because I believe that it's important to have a space where people can gather in peace and community.
Two of the key benefits that I've found as a volunteer at EBMC are meeting people that I would otherwise not meet and having an opportunity to further my own spiritual practice through the development of generosity and service to others.
Carolina Miranda,
Teacher's Event Assistant (TEA) volunteer (volunteer event manager)
May 2015
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Community support for Shahara
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Shahara Godfrey, one of EBMC's beloved teachers, is having major health issues. She won't be teaching or otherwise working at least through the end of 2015.
Shahara has been a core teacher of EBMC's Alphabet Sangha and has taught widely at other EBMC weekly groups and events since EBMC opened its doors in 2007. She has shown up for sangha members in need, and even sat by their bedsides when they were dying.
In order to embody the living teachings of Dana, please consider offering dana to support Shahara.
If you'd like to give other support and stay in touch with Shahara's journey, please visit the Caring Bridge site:
Shahara expresses her gratitude for all of your ongoing support.
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Midday Sangha
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Will you practice with us on Wednesdays at 12 noon?
The EBMC Midday Sangha is a newly formed, peer-led multicultural sangha dedicated to broadening our opportunities for meditation in community. Join us at the East Bay Meditation Center on Wednesdays at Noon. There are no fees; donations are welcomed.
11:45 AM Center opens
12:00 Noon Welcome, guidelines, and dana (generosity) talk
12:05 PM Sitting meditation begins
12:25 PM Sitting meditation continues or walking/movement
meditation begins
12:45 PM Meditation ends, dedication of merit
12:50 PM Potluck lunch begins
1:35 PM Lunch ends
Midday Sangha coordinating committee:
Bang Nguyen, EBMC Teaching Staff | Ann Marie Davis | Jennifer Biehn | Johnny Manzon-Santos | Kam McCallum | Karen Jackson |
Manuel Vásquez
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EBMC's Mission Statement
Founded to provide a welcoming environment for people of color, members of the LGBTQI community, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented communities, the
East Bay Meditation Center
welcomes everyone seeking to end suffering and cultivate happiness. Our mission is to foster liberation, personal and interpersonal healing, social action, and inclusive community building. We offer mindfulness practices and teachings on wisdom and compassion from Buddhist and other spiritual traditions. Rooted in our commitment to diversity, we operate with transparent democratic governance, generosity-based economics, and environmental sustainability.
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