Triangle Insight Meditation Community |
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February 2022 Newsletter
triangleinsight.org
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What do we most need to do
to heal the world?
To hear within ourselves
the sounds of the earth's crying.
Thich Nhat Hanh
1926-2022
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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)
February 02 – Ron Vereen
February 09 – Scott Bryce
February 16 – Emily Griffith Burke
February 23 – Mary Grigsby (Insight Dialogue)
March 02 – Scott Bryce
March 09 – Ron Vereen
March 16 – Francesca Morfesis
March 23 – Mary Grigsby (Insight Dialogue)
March 30 – Jeanne van Gemert
Monday and Thursday Morning Meditation
7:00 - 7:45 AM (click here for more info)
Zoom locations to be emailed.
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Winter Ice drips from a slender branch, with long buds
(McBride Arboretum, Huron, Ohio)
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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.
Tea Steaming in Morning Sunlight
An excellent resource for learning more about the practice is the new website for Insight Dialogue: 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.
Jan. 05 - Ron Vereen
Jan. 12 - Scott Bryce
Jan. 19 - 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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Planning for Hybrid Meetings |
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In the new year of 2022, we are looking forward to meeting once again at the Episcopal Center and eager to take advantage of the option for joining the meetings via Zoom.
Due to the uncertain health situation introduced by the Omicron variant, the TIMC Board has decided to take a wait-and-see approach toward initiating this new phase in the life of our sangha. At a later point, perhaps in the early Spring, we hope it will be possible to schedule a volunteer group of sangha members to set up and test-run an experimental hybrid meeting. While we are disappointed this change to hybrid meetings can't happen right away, a delay will ensure everyone's health and peace of mind. We also must abide the developing conditions for using the Episcopal Center set by both the Episcopal Diocese of Raleigh and Duke University.
When conditions allow us to start meeting again, we will actively call on you to help test the equipment, either at the EC or via Zoom/phone-in. In the meantime, if you know that you would like to be part of this volunteer tech-testing team, or if you have any questions about what is involved, don't hesitate to reach out to us at board@triangleinsight.org.
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A TIMC Technology Committee is now being formed.
We are inviting anyone interested to serve on this committee to help us determine any additional technology needs and organize and implement our technology/meeting plans.
With gratitude for our community,
The Triangle Insight Board of Directors
(Cynthia Hughey, Marian Place, Leah Rutchick, Martin Steinmeyer, Ron Vereen)
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OPPORTUNITIES
Community Engagement
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Do you have an event or activity that you would like to share in this space? The newsletter welcomes ideas for volunteer activity to engage our Buddhist values and spirit. Email your ideas to board@triangleinsight.org, and please include main details and relevant links.
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Please use these links to visit the website for this information |
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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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TIMC Community Connections Committee |
CCC Winter 2022 Announcement |
As previously announced, one Wednesday evening per season will be designated as a dana night for a specific local organization. As an expression of our heart practice and generosity, the Community Connections Committee is recommending Feed Durham NC for suggested donations in lieu of dana to TIMC on February 9th. More information about Feed Durham NC can be found and donations can be offered through this link https://linktr.ee/feeddurhamnc. The Community Connections Committee extends gratitude to the Triangle Insight Meditation Community for its generous support to this important organization.
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When we resume meeting together at the Episcopal Center, dana baskets will be left out on those evenings, so members have the option of where they want to donate.
Please check our website for updates from this committee. It currently may be found on our Programs 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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Our judgmental mind reacts to and is a source of great suffering, yet it can also be the source of great teaching. As Christina Feldman notes in Silencing the Inner Critic, “We can learn to pause and to listen deeply to the voice of the inner judge, with its endless symphony of blame and shame, and we can surround it with the kindness of mindfulness. We can begin to sense that the inner critic truly warrants compassion, as does any suffering and affliction. Instead of fleeing the painfulness of the judgmental mind we can turn toward it, sensing that everything we are invited to understand in the journey of awakening can be understood within the judgmental mind.”
Our Kalyana Mitta and Racial Affinity groups offer a special opportunity to bring the judgmental mind into relational practice. Rather than turning away or suppressing, we share it with trusted spiritual friends who hold it with tenderness and care. With this support our understanding deepens, our hearts soften, and we move from contraction to compassion, from reactivity to greater wisdom. This is the gift of the third jewel of sangha, a jewel that illuminates our path as we journey together on this path with heart.
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Current KM Groups
We currently have openings in our Insight Dialogue and Secular Dharma groups. Our Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Raleigh groups each have a waiting list. Information about our KM program and links to helpful resources are on our KM webpage. Details about each of our groups are on our List of KM Groups webpage.
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. |
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.
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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 the coordinator's other 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
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 send email to board@triangleinsight.org.
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We invite the community to join this initiative by contributing directly to this scholarship fund.
For your convenience, you may use the dedicated PayPal portal
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Spring 2022 White Awareness: Relational Mindfulness and Race Equity |
The Spring 2022 program for white identified individuals runs nine consecutive Thursday evenings, and begins Thursday, March 3, 2022.
White Awareness (WA) integrates the practice of mindfulness with anti-racism education. With the support of a dedicated online community, we will explore what it means to be white as we deepen our capacity to pay attention in the present moment without judgment. Through relational mindfulness practice and compassion, we may better understand the impact of racism and our own cultural conditioning.
We look forward to creating a vibrant, and wakeful community together.
Direct Links:
*Registration closes Thursday, February 17, 2022. Class size limited, early registration suggested*
How to Register:
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Application: Complete the White Awareness application form, and submit the form to program manager: Susie Clarion: rmawa4@gmail.com.
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Facilitator Meeting: Upon receipt of your application, a facilitator will reach out within a few days to arrange a meeting.
- Program Fee: $375 / $275 / $150. Sliding scale, no one turned away. One quarter all proceeds donated to Equal Justice Initiative: https://eji.org.
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Completed Registration: Your space reserved once: all paperwork is received, facilitator meeting conducted, and payment accepted.
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Financial assistance is available for Triangle Insight sangha participants through the TIMC scholarship fund. Please refer to the section on Financial Support, above.
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KORU Mindfulness 2.0, with Erica Alexander |
For people who have completed a Koru Basic class and want to continue to grow their practice.
Koru 2.0 is also a great introduction for folks who have some familiarity with mindfulness practice AND for people who want to restart a practice.
We review and enrich practices from Koru Basic, and add new practices to bring more ease, presence & contentment.
January 25 & February 1, 8 & 15
Tuesdays, 5:30pm - 6:45pm
Durham Arts Council online
Instructor, Erica Alexander
$105
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TIMC BOARD | NEWS AND REPORTS |
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Currently serving on the Board of Directors: Cynthia Hughey, Marian Place, Leah Rutchick, Martin Steinmeyer, Ron Vereen.
Board Meetings
Cynthia, Leah, Marian, Martin and Ron convened an open board meeting on January 15, 2021, on Zoom. Here's a brief summary of the minutes.
The Board convened at 12 p.m. with additional participants, Cornelia Kip Lee and Robert Seyler, from the Triangle Insight Sangha (both also serve on the TIMC Tech Committee), and Guest Perry Sweitzer, a Ph.D. student from Duke University, Department of Religion.
Mr. Sweitzer, in earlier months, has proposed a cooperative association to the Board on the topic of "Asian Religious Traditions in NC". He would like to conduct a formal research project through his studies at Duke to probe what he calls ". . . the lived experience of American Buddhism . . . [by] focusing closely on a single community." The object would be "... to [capture] the texture and rhythms of everyday life" in this community, and investigate " . . . Buddhism’s relationship to other aspects of American culture." The research method would be that of a "participant-observer" who would interact with Sangha members only in voluntary arrangments. After his presentation and an extended Q&A period, the Board requested a follow-up conversation for clarification of additional questions, and in anticipation of initiating this project in Spring 2022.
Other business included approval of the prior meeting's minutes (Dec. 18, 2021), and agreement to hold the Hybrid Test on March 6, unless Covid-19 conditions make this too difficult. Also sought, a more detailed pricing plan from Mary Ka Powers, the current and long-standing custodian of our website. One option for the website would be to use her expertise with Word Press to undertake a formal redesign of the website, to include general oversight, timely uploads, system maintenance and monitoring of apps, as needed. In comparison, what are the costs and obligations if we chose to use a CMS, such as Wild Apricot, Squarespace, or similar? Further tasks for Board business relate to best practices for (easy) use of the shared Google Drive, planning the March Annual Meeting, and working up a more polished schedule for use on the Hybrid Test Day. To improve our planning, a "Meeting Owl Pro" User Manual was resourced from a web search. The next Board meeting was set for February 19, and the meeting was adjourned a few minutes after 2 p.m.
The next open board meeting will be held on Zoom, Saturday, FEB 19, 12 p.m. - 2 p.m. A Zoom invite will be sent to newsletter members in the week prior.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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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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