Triangle Insight Meditation Community |
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November 2021 Newsletter
triangleinsight.org
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If you're going to let go of anything, you first have to see its drawbacks. If you just tell yourself, "let go, let go," the mind won't easily obey. You really have to see the drawbacks in the thing you're
holding on to, and then the mind will let go of its own accord. It's like grabbing hold of fire. When you feel the heat, you let go of your own accord and will never grasp it again.
Upaksika Kee Nanayon
Pure and Simple:
The Extraordinary Teachings of a Thai Buddhist Laywoman
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Our home is the
Episcopal Center at Duke
505 Alexander Ave. | Durham, NC 27705
(when safe to gather in person)
Morning meditation: Monday and Thursday
Wednesday meditation with Dharma Talk, or as Insight Dialogue (below)
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Wednesday Evenings
6:30 - 8:00 pm (Insight Dialogue: 6:30 - 8 pm)
November 03 - Ron Vereen
November 10 - Daya Breckinridge (Insight Dialogue)
November 17 - Karen Ziegler (Guest Teacher)
November 24 - No Meeting (Holiday)
December 01 - Ron Vereen
December 08 - Scott Bryce
December 15 - Cornelia Kip Lee (Guest Teacher)
December 22 - Lori Ebert (Insight Dialogue)
December 29 - No Meeting (Holiday)
Monday and Thursday Morning Meditation
7:00 - 7:45 AM (click here for more info)
Zoom locations to be emailed.
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If you would like to receive an invitation to one or both Zoom meditations, please subscribe on our Schedule webpage, or tell us the Zoom list(s) you would like to join.
To receive this monthly newsletter, please complete the newsletter subscription on our Newsletters webpage, or send your request to the info email above.
If you would like to change any part of your subscription(s), please email us and we will make this change for you.
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The Practice of Insight Dialogue at Triangle Insight |
Insight Dialogue is an interpersonal meditation practice and is offered at Triangle Insight once monthly, usually on the fourth Wednesday of the month. It brings the mindfulness and tranquility of silent meditation directly into our experience with other people.
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The new website for Insight Dialogue is an excellent resource for learning more about the practice: www.insightdialogue.org.
The evening begins with silent meditation practice, followed by gentle mindful movement, and then shifting into dyad practice where interpersonal mindfulness is explored with a partner in response to a contemplation that is offered. The dyad practice is optional so that anyone who chooses to remain in silent practice may do so, rather than shifting into dyad practice. One can investigate the guidance of the contemplation internally, noticing the moment by moment unfolding of internal experience. Note that the ID practice goes from 6:30 to 8:00 pm while meeting on Zoom. When it is possible to resume in-person meetings the time will return to 8:30 pm, to allow for more spaciousness and time for questions. We hope you will be able to join us.
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Reference Notes for Wednesday Dharma Talks
Triangle Insight Meditation teachers invite us to consider these notes to the references they used for their Dharma talks. Please click on the link below to see teacher notes for the current month.
Oct. 06 - Ron Vereen
Oct. 13 - Scott Bryce
Oct. 20 - Sarah Bryce
To find teacher notes for previous Dharma talks, go here, on the TIMC website.
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RETREATS and SPECIAL EVENTS |
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TIMC Community Connections Committee Newsletter Announcement
NEW !
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In response to suggestions from the TIMC sangha, the Community Connections Committee (CCC) has been formed to provide a resource for outreach to the local (Triangle) community [see "Board meetings," September 2021 Newsletter]. Beginning in January 2022, one Wednesday evening per season will be designated as a dana night for a specific local organization. The CCC will choose a local organization for suggested donations in lieu of dana to TIMC for that evening. Donations can be made by cash, check made out to the organization, or through a link included in the Zoom invitation for that night’s meeting, in the newsletter, or on the website. Donations will not be made from the TIMC account. There will be an announcement in the newsletter regarding upcoming dana nights.
The CCC has identified several categories of needs, including food insecurity, housing assistance, refugee and immigrant assistance, racial justice, women’s needs, and women and children. The CCC will develop a resource list of organizations for the website. Suggestions from the sangha are welcome and can be directed to cynthia@triangleinsight.org.
The CCC will check in with the treasurer each season to be sure that there are enough funds in the TIMC bank account to pay ongoing expenses. On TIMC's designated Wednesday evenings, all regular TIMC expenses, such as rent and honorarium for the speaker, will be paid out of the regular TIMC account.
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TIMC continues to welcome your support for our technology budget
To make a financial donation, please click this button:
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To volunteer your expertise and organizing energy,
please email the Board to explore how your dana may best be utilized:
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OPPORTUNITIES
Community Engagement
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Community members--share here your ideas and events for volunteer activity to engage our Buddhist values and spirit. Send to the newsletter any opportunities you may know about, or those in which you participate. |
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IF YOU HAVE A GROUP, EVENT or ACTIVITY to share in this section, please send an email to the board@triangleinsight.org, including main details and relevant links.
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NOTE that Financial Support is available for Training Programs and Workshops in Racial Justice and Diversity to individuals in the TIMC community. Please contact us to apply: board@triangleinsight.org.
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Please use these links to visit the website for this information |
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Welcome Committee and TEAM INFO
Sangha means spiritual community, and it is treasured because without it awakening cannot be sustained.
–Jack Kornfield, After the Ecstasy, the Laundry
The Welcoming Committee wishes to foster the experience of belonging to a diverse, tolerant community connected through mindfulness practice, where all feel welcome and safe. We seek to link all participants and newcomers to ongoing activities and to ensure the Zoom connection is available. You are welcome to Visit our Webpage!
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Having admirable people as friends, companions, and colleagues is actually
the whole of the holy life. - The Buddha
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In The Winds of Love: Taking Refuge in Conscious Relationship, Tara Brach says, “Relationships can be place of healing and awakening, a sacred refuge. We can learn to share our truths, hold space for each other, and look behind the mask to see the one who longs to love and be loved. Sharing our own vulnerability and learning to see the inherent goodness in others are some of the most beautiful practices I know for waking up with each other.”
Our KM groups provide a special opportunity for this relational practice. With the group’s care and mindful sharing, we deepen our understanding, our hearts soften, and we move from judgment and separation to compassion and connection. A beautiful aspect of this process is that as the heart of the dharma is enriched in our own lives, we are contributing to the spiritual journey of others. This is the gift of the third jewel of sangha, a jewel that illuminates the path we travel together.
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Current KM Groups
Openings are available in these KM groups: Insight Dialogue and Raleigh.
Waiting Lists are available for Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Secular Dharma.
If you would like additional information, or want to join a group, be on a waiting list, or start a new group, please contact Sarah Tillis, KM Coordinator: sarah@triangleinsight.org.
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The Kalyana Mitta (KM) Coordinating Team of Sarah Tillis and Tamara Share expresses deep gratitude for the dedication of our sangha.
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May our Kalyana Mitta groups be of great benefit to all. |
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Known as RAGs, Racial Affinity Groups allow people to deepen self-awareness around issues of race in small, racially homogeneous groups. As we face our long history of systemic racism and violence against people of color, RAGs provide a safe space where participants can integrate the dharma into their exploration of racial belonging and racial habits of harm.
Announcing a New RAGs Coordinator
Kathy Shipp, long-time participant of the Triangle Insight community, is now the coordinator of TIMC's Racial Affinity Groups. Kathy will keep the sangha aware of on-going RAGs and the opportunities for practice that they offer, through newsletter, website and meeting announcements. She will be available to answer questions about RAGs formation and RAGs experience, and she will be a resource of information about racial equity training and practice. Among other coordinator responsibilites, she will maintain an up-to-date list of active RAGs, and connect people who are interested in forming a new group, To reach out to Kathy, email her at kathy@triangleinsight.org.
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Sangha Support: Caring Circles. Helping Hands.
A TIMC Sangha Initiative connecting and strengthening the bonds of our shared practice.
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Caring Circles offers the Triangle Insight Meditation Sangha a simple framework for requesting and providing services to cope with the uncertainties and needs of everyday life.
Knowing there is a helping network for sharing and receiving is a great joy and safe haven. Requests for assistance from the TIMC community will be connected with TIM regular practitioners who are ready to volunteer their assistance as a form of dana service.
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Financial Support
Scholarships for Training Programs and Workshops in Racial Justice and Diversity
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Our goal:
To help individuals and our community deepen the understanding of how unexamined views of race can limit the mind and human systems.
A Scholarship Fund for this purpose exists through donations from the TIMC General Fund and the generosity of several Triangle Insight participants.
If Triangle Insight sangha participants would like to receive scholarship support for training with OARNC, White Awake, or other programs addressing racial injustice, please email the Board at board@triangleinsight.org.
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We invite the community to join this initiative by contributing directly to this scholarship fund.
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For your convenience, you may use the dedicated PayPal portal,
Or visit our website
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TIMC BOARD | NEWS AND REPORTS |
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Board Meetings
Cynthia, Leah, Martin and Ron convened an open board meeting on October 9, 2021, on Zoom. The minutes will be forthcoming, but here's a brief summary: .
--In addition to contracting with Zoom (Zoom Video Communications, Inc.), the Board voted unanimously to contract with Owl-Pro for an audio/visual system (Meeting Owl-Pro). This system is fully compatible with Zoom for remote accessibility and session recording; it captures a high-definition image of our setting, and the Owl camera is able to rotate 360 degrees with some vertical flexibility.
--Discussion of the request for TIMC to engage in a participant-observation project with a Duke research lab in their study of the presence and impact of Asian religious traditions in North Carolina (Joseph / Perry Schweitzer project).
-- The board continues to share leadership for preparing the agenda and guiding the meetings on a rotating basis. Leah has volunteered for this role for the next meeting.
The next open board meeting will be held on Zoom, Saturday, Oct. 20, 12-2 p.m.
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Newsletter Submission Pointers |
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At least two weeks prior to the month in which you wish your announcement to appear, submit new items to info@triangleinsight.org.
- Include in your request a short statement of your relationship to TIMC.
- New requests submitted in the last week of any month may not be accepted if time is a factor in preparing a final copy.
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Changes to existing entries may be incorporated if submitted early in the last week of any month.
- All authors are encouraged to update their newsletter entries and to resubmit, clearly indicating all changes in text and lay-out to minimize error and design time.
- Keep the text crisp and short, but include important details and attachments. Instead of longer texts, refer the reader to websites for additional information.
- Indicate how many months you want your entry to be published, and
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Stay in touch with updates if any specific details change. You are responsible for calling in any changes in time, special dates and/or end dates for ongoing classes, groups or other continuing entries.
- Special circumstances may require adjustment of the deadlines indicated here; early submission is a best practice and helps the newsletter editors determine where, how and if the item submitted shall be published (please see #1 in the Guidelines).
Please contact us through info@triangleinsight.org, and include "Newsletter" on the subject line. We will help you get your item published. Thank you for helping us!
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The Triangle Insight Board is looking for interested sangha participants to help us build a Communications Network for our whole practice community
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Build a Communications Network around
the Newsletter & Website .
Newsletter Editorial Committee
To all interested sangha participants, we are forming a Newsletter Editorial Committee and hope you will volunteer to help develop and maintain the Newsletter. Email www.board@triangleinsight.org. noting Editorial Committee in the subject line.
Website
Plans are in the works for refreshing the website with advice from. a professional website designer. If you are interested in working on planning the website, send us an email: ww.board@triangleinsight.org.
Thank you!
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You are welcome to contact me directly with any comments or suggestions to improve the newsletter and website.
In humor and good intention,
Leah Rutchick, leah@triangleinsight.org
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