Hello Dear Friends, 

What a privilege to be on this practice and learning journey with you.  May our study and embodiment of the paramitas support the flourishing of love within us and around us.  

We wanted to provide a recap for those who missed the first gathering (and a review for those who were able to attend).  This was an information heavy first meeting, as we wanted to orient people to resources and begin to build the container for the coming months of study and practice together.  We have over 150 people from around the world signed up for this course and were grateful for your presence and energy as we marked a shared beginning.    

Orientation Highlights:

The teaching team introduced themselves and we revisited the course description.  We reviewed the course website, which will be updated at least monthly, but likely more frequently with videos from the sessions, session recaps, and other resources to support everyone’s learning.  

Each session will include a combination of Zazen (silent meditation, also known as just sitting), teaching, a guided embodiment practice, small group meeting, and discussion.  We will also plan to engage in the practice of kinhin (walking meditation) around the midpoint of each session, to allow for a comfort break and to have a little movement to break up the two hour session.  

Zazen and Kinhin will both involve the use of a meditation bell.  

• For Zazen, 3 bells will mark the start of our sitting, 1 bell will mark the end.

• For Kinhin, 2 bells will mark the start of our walking (bow on the first, begin walking on the second), 1 bell will mark the end.  

We will end our sitting period by chanting the Intention Verse and we will close each class session by chanting the Bodhisattva Vow.  

Relational Support in Zoom:

• We encourage everyone to keep their camera on as much as possible during the session to increase our sense of connection.  

• You may find it helpful to reorganize the squares to move people who feel relationally settling to your primary screen and/or close to your square.  

• Please put your city/state/country in your Zoom name to provide a sense of geo-location

Paramita Pods:

In the next couple of days, you will receive an email from the mahasangha email address (mahasanghapractice@gmail.com) with the names and contact information of your assigned Paramita Pod, which will include 3-4 people.  While there will be different time zones represented within each group, we hope that you might reach out to your pod-mates and find ways to be in contact between sessions, ideally finding a time to meet.  

Generosity in Art Form:  

During our closure for our first session, Josh offered an encouragement to be on the lookout for an art form that feels connected to/conveys/inspires generosity.  He shared an image of a self-portrait of Rembrandt as an example.  As you find those art forms, please share them with your Paramita Pod.  

Flint’s Teaching:

Deep gratitude to our guiding teacher, Flint Sparks, for offering the Dharma talk to open this course.  You can find a link to that talk here.  

During that talk, he referenced an interview between Krista Tippet and Ocean Vuong from the On Being Project.  You can find that interview here.

Flint also shared an AI generated poem that was stunning, you can find that below:

To the Other Shore

Not in haste, nor in fear,

but step by step through the mist —

the boat is not made of answers,

but of vows.

Each oar-stroke: a letting go,

each breath: a steady bow.

The far shore is not far —

only as distant

as the next act of love

done without clinging.

Video Recordings:

We recorded the entirety of the first session and have shared it on Youtube with links on the course website.  On the website you can find the full-length recordings as well as the recording broken up into shorter segments with hopes that this will allow you to watch/rewatch either the entire session or just a particular segment of the session.  

You can find those recordings on the course webpage here:  https://sites.google.com/view/paramitas-study/resources/session-recordings?authuser=7

Embodiment Practice Instructions:

Trudy facilitated a lovely series of mindful embodiment practices, which you can revisit and participate in here.

If you would like to revisit the practices in your paramita pod, you can utilize the instructions below within your small group. 

Take 2 minutes, without speaking to sit and be with each other, notice whatever it is that is arising in you as spaciously and kindly as possible, We often meet our comparing minds, our not good enough, or know enough minds in these moments, so see if you can just rest and notice that. Then allow yourself to remember that you have all the credentials you need to be here, as  I'm assuming everyone here is a human being…and take your time to feel what it is you would like the others with you to know about yourself, maybe just a few words, see if its possible for it to be  just what you are experiencing right in this moment. 

The paramitas we will be weaving over the coming months can be described as:

generosity, skillful action, patience, energy, stillness, and wisdom.

Take turns having one participant read one to three of these terms aloud, identifying which ones spark some energy or curiosity.  Notice what happens, is there movement towards, some shift within the body or nervous system, an energetic shift, neutrality…

Allow an opportunity for each person to hear the words, and then when each person has heard them and observed their response, share what arose in you...and then just talk to each other. There’s nothing to fix, so be with each other with curiosity and warmth.  Every moment is a moment to practice our awareness of ourselves…

Reading for Next Time:

Depending on which book(s) you elected to engage for this course, the reading in preparation for next month’s gathering can be found on the webpage here or below:

Session 2: Generosity (Dāna-pāramitā)

Suggested Reading:

Anderson - The Perfection of Giving (p. 15-29)

Fischer - Chapter 2 (p. 27-54)

Rizzetto - Chapter 2 (p. 16-40)

Wright - Chapter 1 (p. 18-54)

Thank you:

Thank you for the generosity of your presence, your flexibility with our Zoom surprises during the session, and for the authenticity of your sharing in the live session.

For those who were not able to attend this first session, thank you for signing up to participate in this course and for being with us in spirit today.  Your belonging is not lessened by not being able to attend the first session (or any subsequent sessions).

We hope that the month ahead allows an opportunity to connect with one or more of the books as you read the chapters on generosity, to discover artistic forms in the world around you that evoke either an appreciation of or expression of generosity, and to find pockets of intimacy in the Paramita Pods.  

We are excited to support the learning and practice of this group and we are available for questions, concerns, or clarification at mahasanghapractice@gmail.com.  

May our intention equally permeate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha’s Way.

Hello Dear Friends, 

What a gift to spend time together reflecting on Generosity and exploring the embodied experience of opening to the flow of generosity within, around, moving towards and from us.  May our continued embodiment of the paramitas allow us to tune our attention towards the flow of love that is the nature of all things, including us.

We had a powerful second session and wanted to provide a recap of what occurred and some resources for resources/readings that were shared.  The format for Session 2 evolved even as we were meeting, but included:

• A Welcome and Initial Review of the Intent of the Paramita Pods, including an encouragement to be in contact with your pod as a source of relational connection and support and to email mahasanghapractice@gmail.com if you are having difficulty connecting with your pod or have opted to not participate, so that we can reorganize the pods.

• An Opportunity to Connect in Breakout Rooms and share an observation or witnessing of generosity in the past month.  

• An Introduction to the Exploration of Generosity as a way of being and being with one another

• A Reading of an excerpt from the book - Being-Time: A Practitioner's Guide to Dogen's Shobogenzo Uji by Shinshu Roberts exploring Closing the Gap Is Intimate Practice served as a prelude to Zazen and also transitioned our conversation from Zazen to a further exploration of Generosity and Intimacy.  

• Several Invitations to Explore Somatic Expressions/Experiences of Generosity were offered throughout the session, including an exploration of our Gassho/bow and self-compassion

• An exploration of contraction/self-protection and how through the sharing of a poem The Places Love Cannot Reach by Ryan Van Wyk 

• A further exploration of receptivity and presence and its relationship to generosity

• A reflection on gratitude as mindful receptivity to the flow of generosity that exists in all the familiar places in our lives - The poem Everything is Waiting for You by David Whyte was referenced.

• A second break-out session to share a story of generosity and gratitude.  

Paramita Pods:

You should have received an email from the mahasangha email address (mahasanghapractice@gmail.com) with the names and contact information of your assigned Paramita Pod, which will include 3-4 people.  The encouragement is to connect and find ways to meaningfully offer support to the learning and engagement with the study of the paramitas.  Please email us if you are having difficulty connecting with your pod-mates or if you are not planning to participate in the pods.  

Video Recordings:

We recorded the entirety of the second session and have shared it on Youtube with links on the course website.  You can find those recordings on the course webpage here:  Teaching Recordings

Readings Shared During the Session:

The following poems/readings were shared/referenced during the session and can be found on the session resources page on the Paramitas Class Website:

• Closing the Gap Is Intimate Practice excerpt from Being-Time: A Practitioner's Guide to Dogen's Shobogenzo Uji by Shinshu Roberts

• Everything is Waiting for You by David Whyte

• The Places Love Cannot Reach by Ryan Van Wyk

• Love After Love by Derek Walcott 

Reading for Next Time:

Depending on which book(s) you elected to engage for this course, the reading in preparation for next month’s gathering can be found on the webpage here or below:

Session 3:  Ethical Conduct (Sīla-pāramitā)

 AUG 16th

Suggested Reading:

Anderson - The Perfection of Ethics (p. 31-51)

Fischer - Chapter 3 (p. 55-82)

Rizzetto - Chapter 3 (p. 41-76)

Wright - Chapter 2 (p. 55-93)

Thank you:

Thank you for the generosity of your presence, your openhearted engagement in the session, and for your commitment to living lives of compassionate activity in the world.

For those who were not able to attend this second session, thank you for the ways in which your engagement with the recordings and paramita pods keeps this energy alive throughout the month between sessions..  You are a part of this extended Sangha and we are grateful for your participation.

Between Now and Our Next Gathering:

The Paramitas are often times organized in pairs; generosity is the pre-condition to ethical conduct, in that when we understand the flow of love in the world, ethical conduct is the natural response.  

We look forward to further exploring ethical conduct in our gathering next month (August 16th) and encourage you to again look for art forms, a song, a painting, poem, a scene from a film that evokes ethical conduct for you.  

We hope that the month ahead allows an opportunity to connect with one or more of the books as you read the chapters on ethical conduct, to discover artistic forms in the world around you that evoke either an appreciation of or expression of ethical conduct, and to find pockets of intimacy in the Paramita Pods.  

We are excited to support the learning and practice of this group and we are available for questions, concerns, or clarification at mahasanghapractice@gmail.com.  

May our intention equally permeate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha’s Way.

Hello Dear Friends, 

What a gift to spend time together reflecting on Generosity and Ethical Conduct and exploring the embodied experience of attending to form so that we can continue to be a channel for love in the world.  May our continued embodiment of the paramitas allow us to honor the dignity of self and others as we participate in the flow of love in the world.

We had a meaningful third session and wanted to provide a recap of what occurred and some resources for resources/readings that were shared.  As we continue on our journey through the paramitas, our class is also beginning to come into form with , but included:

• A Welcome to the Session Focus and an Announcement, in which Josh Gifford shared that in responding to some recent shifts in his health and energy, he has decided to step back from being part of the teacher/facilitator team and will be continuing forward with us as a participant.  Becky was not able to be in attendance today and Shelley needed to step away from the session early.

• Check in regarding the Paramita Pods - Shelley acknowledged that we had made an assumption about the feasibility and ease of participating in the paramita pods.  In recognizing that not everyone is able or wanting to participate, we sent out a survey about a week ago to gather some information in support of making adjustments/reorganizing some of the pods.  You can find that survey here:  https://forms.gle/fzwTytMWapF7S8TE7.   If you have not already, we invite you to complete that survey so that we can best support these smaller configurations of support and learning.  The pods are not a requirement for participation in the study, rather they are an optional opportunity for relational support along the way.  

• An Opportunity to Connect in Breakout Rooms and share reflections on the relationship between generosity and ethical conduct.  

• A Reading from Kobun Chino Roshi on embodying the Precepts as transmitting light served as a prelude to Zazen.

• Jessica shared a poem on Ethical Conduct as a conversation   

• An exploration of Ethical Conduct as finding our unique form and allowing our form to be the expression of love in the world 

• An introduction to the practice of Ho’oponopono - a Hawaiian practice of taking responsibility for our place in the world and extending and receiving forgiveness and love.  

  • Trudy shared a quote from a spiritual healer and physician, Dr. Hew Lan - When he asked what caused the patients to change, his simple answer is always “I was simply healing the part of me that created them.” He believed that total responsibility for your life means that everything in your life – simply because it is in your life – is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire world is your creation. If you take complete responsibility for your life, then everything you see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is your responsibility because it is in your life.

• An Opportunity to Connect in Breakout Rooms and share reflections on the teaching and the practice of Ho’oponopono

• An embodiment practice - The River of Generosity

• Invitations for practice - Patience 

• Closing - Bodhisattva Vow

Video Recordings:

We recorded the entirety of the second session and have shared it on Youtube with links on the course website.  You can find those recordings on the course webpage here: Teaching Recordings

Readings Shared During the Session:

The following poems/readings were shared/referenced during the session and can be found on the session resources  page on the Paramitas Class Website:

• Kobun Chino Roshi on the Precepts

• The Invitation of Jukai by Ryan C. Van Wyk

• Agency as Enlightenment by Ryan C. Van Wyk

• Ethical Conduct as Meeting by Jessica Steinbomer

A Podcast Interview on Defiance

The following podcast was referenced by Ryan in case you might be interested in checking it out:

Why You Say Yes When You Shouldn’t — And How To Say No When It Matters Most | Dr. Sunita Sah

Articles on the practice of Ho’oponopono

Trudy provided two articles that explore the practice of Ho’oponopono for anyone curious to learn more about this healing practice.

Dr. Hew Len Clears Out A Criminally Insane Ward Without Therapy – Using Ho’oponopono

Ho’oponopono: “To Make Things Right”

In Hawaiian culture, pono stands for righteousness and balance. If a person is living pono, it means that they have struck the right balance in their relationships with other things, places, and people in their lives. It also means that they are living with a continuous conscious decision to do right by themselves, by others, and by the world in general.

Essentially, pono is a state of existence that is characterized by integrity and a feeling of contentment when everything is good and right. The idea behind this word and this way of life is that moral behavior leads to happiness for the doer and for everyone around them.

Questions to Consider to Align our Actions

Shared in the session:

• What does love look like in this situation? 

• Does this decision increase or decrease my vitality/aliveness?  

• What activity increases the visibility of my luminous nature?

• Does this path enlarge me or does it diminish me?  - James Hollis

• What is the courageous choice? In other words, what is the heartfelt step? - David Whyte 

Other questions that we might consider:

• What action will be in harmony with life as it is?

• What harm might arise from my actions?

• What action is intentional instead of reactive?

• What action is aligned with/reflects my vow (values, commitment)?

• Is this action absent of greed, hate, and delusion?

• What action is in the service of freedom (both ours and others)?

• Does this action reflect an understanding of interdependence (separation is suffering)?

• What action flows from a place of centeredness/balance/uprightness?

• Am I included? 

Reading for Next Time:

Depending on which book(s) you elected to engage for this course, the reading in preparation for next month’s gathering can be found on the webpage here or below:

Session 4: Patience (Kṣānti-pāramitā)

 SEP 20th

Suggested Reading:

Anderson - The Perfection of Patience (p. 53-70)

Fischer - Chapter 4 (p. 83-112)

Rizzetto - Chapter 4 (p. 77-88)

Wright - Chapter 3 (p. 94-136)

Thank you:

Thank you for holding your unique form in the world and offering it so generously to this Mahasangha and to the world.  May our engagement in this study support our unique expression of love in the world.  

For those who were not able to attend this third session, thank you for the ways in which your engagement with the recordings and paramita pods keeps this energy alive throughout the month between sessions.  You are a part of this extended Sangha and we are grateful for your participation.

Between Now and Our Next Gathering:

Over the next month, we encourage you to practice noticing the moments when you feel frustration.  As Norman Fischer says, “These are precious for your practice of patience.”  As Norman encourages us to do, notice what thought and stories arise with the feeling.  There is no need to change anything or make anything go away, just bear witness to your own experience.  You may benefit from sharing your findings with your pod or other spiritual friends.

We hope that the month ahead allows an opportunity to connect with one or more of the books, to read teachings on patience and to discover the ways in which practice supports your meeting moments of irritation or frustration with curious observation.  

We are excited to support the learning and practice of this group and we are available for questions, concerns, or clarification at mahasanghapractice@gmail.com.  

May our intention equally permeate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha’s Way.

Hello Dear Friends, 

What a gift to spend time together exploring Kṣānti-pāramitā (Patience) and considering how we might expand our capacity to meet all of life with intentionality through our attending to what is in front of us.  May our willingness to slow down and pause allow us to more skillfully be present to all of the pain and fires burning in the world and offer love in response.

We are officially at the halfway point of our study of the Paramitas and we had a rich fourth session.  Below you will find a recap of the session and links to some poems and resources that were shared.

• A Welcome to the Session Focus and an Announcement, Jessica welcomed us into the session and invited us to wander into the center and wonder, an encouragement first offered by Chan Master Hongzhi.

• Mindful Conversation Invitation, Jessica invited everyone to move into the breakout room space and to share with intentionality around pausing between each person’s sharing through the taking of a breath.  She offered a reflection on how this conversational practice might reflect the Japanese concept of Ma.

  • The Concept of Ma (specifically related to our dyad sharing experience)

The Japanese concept of Ma (間) represents the mindful and intentional use of space and interval. In Zen and Japanese aesthetics, Ma is not an absence but rather a presence—the active, pregnant pause between things. It is the space that allows for what has just occurred to be fully received and appreciated, without the immediate urge to fill the silence.

In a conversation, embodying Ma means taking a conscious breath after someone has finished sharing. This brief, deliberate pause serves two purposes. First, it is an act of deep respect, acknowledging the preciousness of the speaker's offering and giving their words the space to settle. Second, it is a practice of non-clinging on the part of the listener, allowing them to release their own thoughts and responses for a moment, and to simply be present with what has been shared. This practice of embodying Ma in a conversation beautifully reflects the paramita of patience, as it cultivates a spaciousness in which both the speaker and the listener can truly be seen and heard.

• An Opportunity to Connect in Breakout Rooms and engage in this shared practice of spacious and patient relationality.   

• Becky introduced the paramita by reflecting on Reb Anderson’s description of increasing our capacity to meet life as it is, this served as our introduction to Zazen.

• An exploration of Patience as slowing down, disrupting our hurried patterns, and attending to the fire that is right in front of us as an expression of vow or commitment. 

• An invitation to connect to the embodied experience of patience and impatience:

1.  An Opportunity to Connect in Breakout Rooms and reflect on the awareness of being present to patience and impatience

OR (we offered two options)

2.  A writing practice - Trudy offered several prompts for personal reflection in the large group, which can be found below:

• Are there ways of thinking about Patience, perhaps different languaging that could support you in cultivating patience or constancy, capacity, faith or trust..

  • Name a situation that made you feel impatient

    • Describe how that impatience felt emotionally, mentally and physically. 

    • How did that impatience affect you and the people you interacted with in the moment, and in the following minutes and hours?

  • In your day to day interactions with others, do you consider yourself a patient person? Would others agree?

  • What happens in your body when someone is patient with you and when they are impatient with you

  • Are you patient with yourself and your own personal growth?

  • What gets in the way of you experiencing patience?

Note:  We noticed in the chatterfall following the practices a request to see/hear more about Anger and Patience, as this was emphasized in Norman Fischer’s chapter for this session - please find reflection on that relationship here.

• Invitations for practice and noticing Patience and Joyful Effort

• Closing - Bodhisattva Vow

Video Recordings:

We recorded the entirety of the second session and have shared it on Youtube with links on the course website.  You can find those recordings on the course webpage here: Teaching Recordings

Readings Shared During the Session:

The following poem/reading was shared/referenced during the session and can be found on the session resources page on the Paramitas Class Website:

• Hurry by Marie Howe

Additional Poems Shared with Fellow Paramitas Classmates and Facilitators

We received a couple of poems from our Paramitas classmates by email and the facilitator team had also identified several poems as possibilities to share during the class.  We included those on the session resources page as well.  

Reading for Next Time:

Depending on which book(s) you elected to engage for this course, the reading in preparation for next month’s gathering can be found on the webpage here or below:

Session 5:  Diligence (Vīrya-pāramitā)

OCT 11th

Suggested Reading:

Anderson - The Perfection of Enthusiasm (p. 71-82)

Fischer - Chapter 5 (p. 113-139)

Rizzetto - Chapter 5 (p. 89-102)

Wright - Chapter 4 (p. 137-172)

Thank you:

Thank you for pausing in the midst of your busy lives to be part of this study and for offering your time, energy, and presence to this Mahasangha and to the world.  May our engagement in this study support our developing a greater capacity to be with life as it is and to slow down and meet what is around us and within us with compassion and attunement.

For those who were not able to attend this fourth session live, thank you for the ways in which your engagement with the recordings and paramita pods keeps this energy alive throughout the month between sessions.  You are a part of this extended Sangha and we are grateful for your participation.

Between Now and Our Next Gathering:

Between now and then, 2 options for practicing diligence/ joyful effort:

1. Notice if there is a daily task that you often meet with a sense of duty/obligation or drudgery.  See if you can notice yourself meeting the task in that way.  When you notice, shift your mindset to meet the task with joy or a sense of being of service.  Notice anything that changes in your experience of doing the task.

2. Take 2 minutes most days to sense your breath and body.  Notice your current experience and quietly name it out loud (such as breathing, settling, smiling, etc).

If your pod meets, try doing this practice together with one person naming their current experience and the others silently witnessing.

We are excited to support the learning and practice of this group and we are available for questions, concerns, or clarification at mahasanghapractice@gmail.com.  

May our intention equally permeate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha’s Way.

Session 5 Recap/Email

Hello Dear Friends, 

What a gift to spend time together exploring Viriya-pāramitā (Diligence/Joyful Effort) and considering how we might find joy in living lives of love and compassionate service of all beings.  May our awakening be the wellspring of joy as we offer our activity in the service of liberating all beings.  

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy. 

I awoke and saw that life was service. 

I acted and behold, service was joy," 

- Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali Poet)

We had a rich fifth session and below you will find a recap of the session and links to some poems and resources that were shared.

• A Welcome to the Session Focus and an Announcement, Becky welcomed us into the session and recalled a Zen story from Reb Anderson’s book - Entering the Mind of the Buddha

“Reflecting on our aspiration, over and over, is necessary. Once a day is really good. Twice a day is great. A million times a day is not too much. For example, there is a story about a wonderful Zen master named Zuigan.

Every morning Zuigan called out to himself, "Master!"

Then he would answer, "Yes, sir!"

"Are you awake?!"

And again he would answer, "Yes, sir! Yes, sir!"

"Now all day long, do not be deceived by others!"

‘I won't, I won't!’” - page 77

• Mindful Conversation Invitation, Trudy invited everyone to move into the breakout room space and to share reflections on the past month of the engagement of patience and diligence.

• An Opportunity to Connect in Breakout Rooms

• Shelley introduced the paramita by offering up different terms that might utilized to describe Virya Paramita, inviting our awareness around how each word reverberated in our body and nervous system:  

  • Diligence

  • Joyful Effort

  • Enthusiasm

  • Perseverance

  • Vigor

  • Courage

  • Energy  

• Shelley then recalled three specific phrases from Flint as encouragements for the embodiment of Virya Paramita, these served as a lead in to our Zazen Practice:

  • Discipline is simply remembering what you want.

  • How simple are you willing to let this be? 

  • Can you stay right with yourself? 

• During the teaching period, Shelley reflected on each of these encouragements from Flint in relation to specific experiences in her life.

  • Jessica reflected on a dream that connected to Joyful Effort

  • Becky reflected on how nourishing the class experience is

  • Trudy reflected on the tussle she is aware of in her life, feeling like she knows something about joy and knows something about effort, but joyful effort feels like a more challenging paradox to grasp.  She described wholehearted effort as an alternative wording.  She reflected on her parents’ post-war efforts to re-establish life after the great war and the insight that we meet these paramitas through the lens of our own lives, whatever that is.  

  • Ryan shared the poem Accepting This by Mark Nepo reflecting on the way in which love is an encouragement to sustain our effort in our commitment to our vow to be in service to the world.  

• An Opportunity to Choose a Practice for Engagement with Virya Paramita 

(we offered four options for breakout rooms)

1. Loving Kindness & Metta Practice - Shelley and Ryan facilitated an engagement in loving kindness meditation and Metta practice (the Loving Kindness prayer and metta practice can be found on the session resources page).

2. Movement Practice - Jessica facilitated a movement practice with prompts, engaging the song Freedom by Jon Batiste.  Her prompts and a link to a music video of Jon Batiste can be found on the session resources page.

3. Drawing Practice - Becky facilitated a drawing practice with prompts, her prompts for this practice can be  found on the session resources page.

4. Writing practice - Trudy facilitated a writing practice with prompts, which can be found on the session resources page.  You can also find part of her inspiration for this practice, an instruction from the Irish Poet, Pádraig Ó Tuama, as an attachment.  

• Invitations for practice and noticing Silence from a place of meditation

• Closing - Bodhisattva Vow

Video Recordings:

We recorded the fifth session (minus the breakout rooms) and have shared it on Youtube with links on the course website.  You can find those recordings on the course webpage here:  https://sites.google.com/view/paramitas-study/resources/session-recordings?authuser=7

Readings Shared During the Session:

The following poem/reading was shared/referenced during the session and can be found on the session resources page on the Paramitas Class Website:

• Accepting This - Mark Nepo

• Messenger - Mary Oliver

• Tension - Don McGinnis

• Wild Geese - Mary Oliver

Additional Poems Not Shared during Session

The teaching/facilitating team had some additional poems on standby which were not shared during the session, but are shared on the website on the session resources page as well.  

• Effort - Rumi

• Manifesto:  The Mad Farmer Liberation Front - Wendell Berry

• The Way It is - William Stafford

• The Wild Geese - Wendell Berry

• Thirst - Mary Oliver

Reading for Next Time:

Depending on which book(s) you elected to engage for this course, the reading in preparation for next month’s gathering can be found on the webpage here or below:

Session 6:  Meditative Concentration (Dhyāna-pāramitā)

 NOV 15th Suggested Reading:

Anderson - The Perfection of Concentration (p. 83-97)

Fischer - Chapter 6 (p. 141-170)

Rizzetto - Chapter 6 (p. 103-123)

Wright - Chapter 5 (p. 173-217)

Thank you:

Thank you for pausing in the midst of your busy lives to be part of this study and for offering your time, energy, and presence to this Mahasangha and to the world.  May our engagement in this study support our accessing the love, joy, and beauty that is available in every moment, if only we pay attention and may our reception of that abundance, however it might present in our lives, energize and sustain our loving activity in the world.

For those who were not able to attend this fifth session live, thank you for the ways in which your engagement with the recordings and paramita pods keeps this energy alive throughout the month between sessions.  Our shared participation in this extended Sangha is an encouragement and support on this path.

Between Now and Our Next Gathering:

Between now and our next gathering, we invite you to be curious with the different versions of silence in your life.  Josh offered the invitation from this passage on silence:

“There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing. There is the silence that comes with morning in a forest, and this is different from the silence of a sleeping city.

There is silence after a rainstorm, and before a rainstorm, and these are not the same. There is the silence of emptiness, the silence of fear, the silence of doubt.

There is a certain silence that can emanate from a lifeless object as from a chair lately used, or from a piano with old dust upon its keys..This kind of silence can speak. Its voice may be melancholy, but it is not always so; for the chair may have been left by a laughing child or the last notes of the piano may have been raucous and gay. Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of its quality may linger in the silence that follows. It is a soundless echo.”

Beryl Markham - West with the Night, 1942

We look forward to gathering on November 15th for an exploration of Meditative Concentration (Dhyāna-pāramitā).  

We are excited to support the learning and practice of this group and we are available for questions, concerns, or clarification at mahasanghapractice@gmail.com.  

May our intention equally permeate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha’s Way.

Session 6 Recap/Email

Hello Dear Friends, 

What a gift to spend time together exploring Dhyana-pāramitā (Meditative Concentration) and considering how our lives might become more spacious through our engagement in Zazen.  May our engagement in the practice of Zazen allow us to greet each moment with a spirit of curiosity and discovery.   

We had a rich sixth session and below you will find a recap of the session and links to some poems and resources that were shared.

• A Welcome to the Session Focus and an Announcement, Jessica welcomed us into the session, invoking the words of David Whyte - “The journey is not about arriving at a place, but about being fully present in the arrival itself.”  She invited us to be present in our arrival into the session.  She shared a teaching that Zazen is the space that is big enough to hold everything that you are and everything that is moving in you.  It is a tender field that holds all things.  She invited us to enter into the welcoming spaciousness available in Zazen.  

• Extended Zazen, we began our session with an extended period of Zazen, the embodied practice of Dhyana Paramita.  

• Introduction to Concentration from Josh - Josh invited us to take in all of the aspects of our current experience, the mystery of each person on screen, sharing an observation from Carolyn Atkinson’s book A Light in the Mind - “It is all so poignant, all of us gathering here, being ourselves, wanting to be connected, to be seen, to be recognized and to be understood.”  He referenced the reminder email that preceded this session:

Together, we’ll explore Dhyāna Paramita — the perfection of meditative concentration, through teachings, reflection, and shared practice. We will relax our body, speech and mind to rest naturally and simply in the present state.  As we meditate, we cultivate the ability to be present on or off the cushion.  We will have opportunities for individual practice, sharing our own perspectives and insights about meditation, and small group practices of writing, movement, or artful reflection.

Come as you are, rested or weary, inspired or uncertain, and we’ll explore together what it means to meet life as it is.

• An Opportunity to Connect in Breakout Rooms with an invitation to share what is drawing your attention in this moment, with the acknowledgement that what we are present to in this moment, knowing that the things that have been impacting us over the past few days or weeks might be part of what we are present to in this moment.

• Teaching - Josh opened our teaching session with a reflection on true nature from Suzuki Roshi - “Our true nature is beyond our conscious experience.” and yet we keep coming back, which is an act of courage, reflective of our longing to connect with the mystery.  He shared an image of Ingleton Caves and a family tradition of traveling into the caves to meet Father Christmas as a metaphor for the ways that we enter into the cave of Zazen, receiving some information before we enter, but then we move into the mystery of the cave of Zazen.  He reflected on the early ideas that bring us to practice that then evolve into considerations for how our practice will be of service to others.  He reflected on experiences of lessons learned through taking on the role of Tenzo and from the recent retreat hosted by Just This Sanghas in the UK, with four encouragements from the book Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness by Suzuki Roshi, which was the focus of the retreat.

  • Becky reflected on the quote - “We have a formal practice with a flexible informal mind.”

  • Shelley reflected on the ritual of Zen, how it can both not make sense and call us forward and her own experience of feeling on the verge of moving into the depths of Zazen.  She shared how the experience of being with the group in this session opened up the space for a different experience.

  • Trudy reflected on a passage from Norman Fischer and the ways in which our practice is one of being with everything, with everyone, and that our experiences are “precious and immense” and are part of the shared collective experience.    

  • Jessica shared a quote from Flint - That love brings up everything unlike itself.  She shared about how being with her mind as it is this past month has been meaningful and instructive.  She reflected on how concentration practice can be like a buffalo, moving purposefully, one step at a time, even when it cannot see clearly where it is heading.

  • Ryan reflected on the beauty of sangha and the way we meet one another.  We are learning to be this human being, right here, right now, together.

• An Opportunity to Choose a Practice for Engagement with Dhyana Paramita 

(we offered three options for breakout rooms)

1. Writing Practice - Trudy and Ryan introduced two writing prompts based on the short poem from Rumi Let the Beauty you love be what you do.  You can find the prompts on the session resources page).

2. Movement Practice - Jessica and Shelley facilitated a movement practice with prompts, engaging the song Power of Kindness by Ma Muse.  Their prompts and a link to a music video can be found on the session resources page.

3. Artful/Visual Practice - Becky and Josh facilitated a visual/artistic practice, their prompts for this practice can be found on the session resources page.

• Preparation for our seventh session - Trudy offered a prompt for reflection in preparation for our upcoming session on December 13, which will be focused on Prajna Paramita.  You can find her prompt below.

• Closing - Bodhisattva Vow

Video Recordings:

We recorded the sixth session (minus the breakout rooms) and have shared it on Youtube with links on the course website.  You can find those recordings on the course webpage here:  https://sites.google.com/view/paramitas-study/resources/session-recordings?authuser=7

Readings Shared During the Session:

Jessica shared the following quote from Trungpa Rempoche, 

"Real fearlessness is the product of tenderness. The broken heart is a gateway to the clear seeing that the heart is empty."

Ryan shared the following quote from Upaya about Dhyana Paramita - “Relating that the purpose of meditation is simply ‘learning how to be a human being, in this body, right here, right now.’”

Ryan briefly reflected on a lyric from the Irish band, Amble, called Mary’s Pub - 

And we watched time go by

Well I told her ask me anything

She asked me how to cry

And when I think of you I know

Forever I will be

Happy as the fool because together we are free

Additional Poems Not Shared during Session

The teaching/facilitating team had some additional poems on standby which were not shared during the session, but are shared on the website on the session resources page as well.  

• Contemplation - Thich Nhat Hanh

• Mindful - Mary Oliver

• On Meditating, Sort of - Mary Oliver

• Shoveling Snow with the Buddha - Billy Collins

• Excerpt from The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

Reading for Next Time:

Depending on which book(s) you elected to engage for this course, the reading in preparation for next month’s gathering can be found on the webpage here or below:

Session 7:  Wisdom (Prajñā-pāramitā)                       

 DEC 13th

Suggested Reading:

Anderson - The Perfection of Wisdom (p. 99-118)

Fischer - Chapter 7 (p. 171-199)

Rizzetto - Chapter 7 (p. 124-136)

Wright - Chapter 6 (p. 218-265)

Thank you:

Thank you for pausing in the midst of your busy lives to be part of this study and for offering your time, energy, and presence to this Mahasangha and to the world.  May our engagement in this study support our accessing the love, joy, and beauty that is available in every moment, if only we pay attention and may our reception of that abundance, however it might present in our lives, energize and sustain our loving activity in the world.

For those who were not able to attend this sixth session live, thank you for the ways in which your engagement with the recordings and paramita pods keeps this energy alive throughout the month between sessions.  May your engagement in practice deepen your connection to the mystery of who we are and what we are about.  

Between Now and Our Next Gathering:

Between now and our next gathering, we invite you to be curious with the different versions of silence in your life.  Trudy offered the invitation from this excerpt from Norman Fischer’s The World Could be Otherwise:

“Here is where the problem begins. The perfection of understanding is slippery, hard to define, hard to pin down. In fact, its essential nature (if it had one!) is exactly that it can't be pinned down or defined. And it's certainly not the case that one can "develop" it through meditation or in any other way. In fact, the idea that anyone would "have" understanding, acquired by whatever means, is already far from the mark. No one can have understanding. Understanding arises, but no one can have it or cause it to arise. It is extremely elusive. So this chapter is going to be a challenge. In it we'll truly explore imaginative bodhisattva activity as we try to approach the unapproachable, envision the invisible.”

We look forward to gathering on December 13th for an exploration of Wisdom(Prajñā-pāramitā).  

We are excited to support the learning and practice of this group and we are available for questions, concerns, or clarification at mahasanghapractice@gmail.com.  

May our intention equally permeate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha’s Way.

With kindness, 

Becky, Jessica, Ryan, Shelley, and Trudy 

Session 7 Recap/Email

Hello Dear Friends, 

What a gift to spend time together exploring Prajna-pāramitā (Wisdom) and considering we might see the world clearly as it is and respond contingently - perhaps this appropriate response might be characterized as love.  May our engagement in the practice of Zazen allow us to greet each moment with freshness and a commitment embodying love in response.   

We had a rich seventh session and below you will find a recap of the session and links to some poems and resources that were shared.

• A Welcome to the Session Focus and an Announcement, Becky welcomed us to the session and reflected on her recent attendance of a Rohatsu Sesshin.  She recounted the ways in which she often thinks of wisdom as big and grand, and while it can be that, it can also emerge in small activities that begin to become clearer through the repetition of practice or serving or chanting.  There is a subtle grounded, steady way of just being in the moment and tending to what needs to come up, where wisdom emerges, perhaps a wisdom that has been there all along, but that arises through mundane, everyday experience.    

• Zazen, we began our session with Zazen.  During the Zazen period, Becky chanted the Hymn to the Perfection of Wisdom, inviting this ancient invocation of wisdom into our present moment practice.    

• Introduction to the paramita of Wisdom from Trudy - Trudy welcomed us to the session and acknowledged wisdom as a response to the world.  She referenced that reflecting on the way that mushrooms as the fruiting bodies of vast micro-causal networks, emerging where the circumstances are right and perhaps wisdom fruits in us in a similar way.  

• An Opportunity to Connect in Breakout Rooms with an invitation to reflect on:

  • What wisdom is arising in you today?  What is your perception of wisdom? 

• Teaching - Trudy offered a beautiful teaching on Wisdom to start off our teaching period.  She began with a reference to Charles Dickens’ Hard Times and a unique description of a horse from a cold, scientific outlook and the near, direct experience of being intimately connected to horses as fellow sentient beings.  This provided an entry to point to seeing knowledge as different from wisdom, which she described as “resting your forehead against the living breathing life, just resting there and knowing you are not separate.”
  She quoted Joan Sutherland who said - “we can rest our broken hearts against the great broken heart of the world.”  - Just being with life.

She quoted Joseph Campbell -     “The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.”

Wisdom is an expression of our Buddha Nature - the culmination of all of the other Paramitas.

She cautioned us against ever thinking we are wise, but to see that wisdom is wise, Bodhicitta is wise.  It is always a moment by moment response to life, we cannot learn to be wise or cultivate wisdom, but we can learn through our practice to respond to life with as clear of a perspective as our practice eye can see.

She discussed her work in clinical supervision and the inability to teach presence, but that presence arises within the practitioner.  Wisdom arises in the meeting - meeting each other, meeting life with a sense of alignment.  

She referenced a story of a Chinese Farmer (which can be found on our session resources page.)

“Liberation is a prerequisite for wisdom and wisdom is an extension of liberation.” - Norman Fischer.  

We cannot script our responses in advance, wisdom is the moment by moment meeting what is present skillfully and with appropriate responsiveness.  

What brings me into accord with this situation right now?  What action is appropriate?  What words and gestures can I offer?  Not knowing is an indirect way of pointing at this knowing that is non-habitual and non-conceptual.

Suzuki Roshi said that Prajna Wisdom is the Precepts - Wisdom is living your life as the precepts.  

The invitation is to pay attention to how we are aligning and not aligning, seeing our lives and our responses to life clearly.  Wisdom is not about an experience on the cushion, but how we live in the world, how we bring our practice into the world.  Manifesting insight into action in the world.  

She ended with a poem from Ellen Bass - The Thing Is

• Becky - responded by highlighting that wisdom is not ours and how that understanding shifts things for her.  That wisdom arises, it is not ours and it simply arises or opens.  Becky reflected that the opening does not mean anything unless it shows up in her life, in the way that she is responding.  

• Shelley - reflected on the impulse to meet the wisdom of being with stillness and silence.  She reflected on the wisdom of the Frosty blow-up that has traditionally taken residence in her yard over the holidays because his base had shifted and he could no longer blow up in the same way and he needed to be unplugged in order to rest and how that might serve as a metaphor for us - to move into rest, silence, and stillness as an expression of wisdom to meet what is going to come forward.  Trudy responded - the wisdom of the body is not an intellectual activity, it is an embodied response to the world.  Shelley noted that in her Zen practice - none of this makes sense to me, and yet it is all called forward.  

• Jessica - shared that when she thinks about wisdom, she thinks about nature - that so many of our co-inhabitants of this world simply know how to be, know how to exist in the world.  She reflected on her proximity to the ocean and how that invokes a sense of wisdom for her.  She offered two statements as prompts for self-discovery and inquiry - “Water seeks its own level.  Water always returns to its source.” 

• Ryan - reflected on how Norman Fischer differentiated the first four Paramitas from the last two and how that his pondering what if wisdom is simply seeing the world as it actually is and responding to it in ways that are appropriate and contingent. Perhaps the first four paramitas are descriptions of the world - abundant and generous, ethical and harmonious, patient and unhurried, persistent and enduring - and the final two paramitas are how we meet the world - with presence and awareness (Concentration/Meditation) and wisdom being the action that follows.  Zazen as the experience that allows for things to become clearer.  The paramita of concentration/meditation informs and supports wisdom.  Perhaps the first four paramitas are a description of how we can show up - aligned or according with the universe and the last two are a description of how we can do that?

• Trudy reflected on how it might be a description of how we want to be and perhaps it is an invitation to allow for these qualities to flow/emerge from us.  

• An Opportunity to Choose a Practice for Engagement with Prajna Paramita 

(we offered three options for breakout rooms)

1. Writing Practice - Trudy began with a guided meditation connecting with the wisdom of the body and then invited us to write to ourselves from our wisest self.  The prompts can be found on the session resources page.  

2. Movement Practice - Jessica and Shelley facilitated a movement practice with prompts and a poem (shared below).  Their prompts can be found on the session resources page.

3. Artful/Visual Practice - Becky facilitated an ancient visual/artistic practice, Shakyo, the prompts for this practice can be found on the session resources page.

• Preparation for our eighth and final session - Ryan offered a prompt for reflection in preparation for our upcoming session on January 3, which will be an opportunity for reflection, integration and ceremony.  

  • Please consider what has emerged for you over the course of these past seven months of engaging with, studying, and embodying the paramitas.  

  • Please also consider how you want to continue to embody the paramitas as you go forward from this study.  

• Closing - Bodhisattva Vow

Video Recordings:

We recorded the seventh session (minus the breakout rooms) and have shared it on Youtube with links on the course website.  You can find those recordings on the course webpage here:  https://www.mahasanghapractice.org/paramitas-study/session-recordings

Readings Shared During the Session:

• The Chinese Farmer Story

• The Thing Is - Ellen Bass

• Finding Her Here - Jayne Relaford Brown (Shared in the Embodied Wisdom Group)

In the Writing Experiential group, someone shared a quote from Winnie the Pooh: 

“But it isn't easy,” said Pooh.  “Because Poetry and Hums aren’t things which you get, they’re things which get you.  And all you can do is to go where they can  find you.”

• A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

Additional Poems Not Shared during Session

The teaching/facilitating team had some additional poems on standby which were not shared during the session, but are shared on the website on the session resources page as well.  

• Because by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

• Calling Things What They Are by Ada Limon

• Don’t Hesitate by Mary Oliver

• Enter the City, Said the Wise Man, It is All Yours - Thomas Merton

• The Facts of Life - Padraig O’Tuama

• Inside It All - Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

• Messenger - Mary Oliver

• My Wisdom - Naomi Shihab Nye

• On the Last Day of the World - Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

• Place - W.S. Merwin

• Remember - Joy Harjo

• Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage - Shihtou

• We Are Surprised - Ada Limon

• You Who Are Reading This, Be Ready - William Stafford

Reading for Next Time:

Depending on which book(s) you elected to engage for this course, the reading in preparation for next month’s gathering can be found on the webpage here or below:

Session 8:  Embodying the Paramitas in Everyday Life                     

 JAN 3rd

Suggested Reading:

Anderson - Epilogue (p. 119)

Rizzetto - Conclusion (p. 137-147)

   Wright - Conclusion (p. 266-276) 

Thank you:

Thank you for pausing in the midst of your busy lives to be part of this study and for offering your time, energy, and presence to this Mahasangha and to the world.  May our engagement in this study support our accessing the love, joy, and beauty that is available in every moment, if only we pay attention and may our reception of that abundance, however it might present in our lives, energize and sustain our loving activity in the world.

For those who were not able to attend this seventh session live, thank you for the ways in which your engagement with the recordings and paramita pods keeps this energy alive throughout the month between sessions.  May your engagement in practice deepen your connection to the mystery of who we are and what we are about.  

An Announcement:

Following Saturday’s class, we published a revised website at the web address - www.mahasanghapractice.org.  This revised site has been updated to reflect the plan for further offerings for the MahaSangha, beginning with our next study on the Five Remembrances.  The description of this course can be found here and will open for registration in early January.  

Between Now and Our Next Gathering:

Between now and our next gathering, we invite you to reflect on the past seven months of study, engagement, and reflection on the Paramitas.  Consider what has emerged for you in living with and engaging with this teaching and how you might continue to engage with the qualities of generosity, ethical conduct, patience, joyful effort, concentration, and wisdom.  

We look forward to gathering on January 3rd, 2026 for an opportunity for integration and synthesis of our study of the Paramitas and reflection on how you might continue to embody these six qualities in everyday life.  

We are excited to support the learning and practice of this group and we are available for questions, concerns, or clarification at mahasanghapractice@gmail.com.  

May our intention equally permeate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha’s Way.

With kindness, 

Becky, Jessica, Ryan, Shelley, and Trudy 

Session 8 Recap/Email

Hello Dear Friends, 

What a gift it has been to journey together over these past 8 months, studying the Paramitas and bringing these qualities into our everyday embodied experience.  

Our final session was structured a little differently.  To offer multiple entry points to the integration of the learning and practice of these months together, we offered several unique elements to mark this ending.  We did not have a teaching period for the day, rather we engaged in a Ceremony, a way of moving our head knowledge into body and heart.

Welcome:  Jessica welcomed us to this final session, acknowledging that it is a common practice within Buddhism to offer or dedicate the merit of our practice.  In this session, we began by offering Metta, a practice of extending care into the world, with specific dedication to our teacher Flint Sparks and his husband Erin.  

Zazen:  We transitioned into a period of Zazen.  

Introduction to the Session and Living the Paramitas in Everyday Life:  Ryan marvelled at the way that a spark of an idea in Spring 2025 resulted in a group of teachers coming together and a group of practitioners joining in to meet and study across these nine months.  He commented - “It is not a common thing for a group of people to gather to study how to be more loving in the world, but it’s needed.”

People have shared how this community of learning and engagement has been an encouragement and support to their practice.  He observed that in many ways, the entirety of this course and our practice in and out of these sessions - is an act of Metta - a way of manifesting love in the world - between us (through our sharing and witnessing of each other) and then we bring it out into the world.  The Paramitas are a list of descriptors of what it is to be loving in the world - how the world can be different and how we can be different in it.  

He shared that Flint has often introduced ceremony as embodiment, of letting something get into our bones.  The ceremony in the session will mark the ending of this course and then we had opportunities for reflective writing and sharing in smaller groups as ways to integrate in multiple ways.

Paramitas Ceremony:  We engaged in a ceremony - The Bodhisattva Ceremony of Renewal, which had been shared with us by Flint as a way to mark the end of our Paramita Study Period.  

Reflective Writing Practice:  We were invited to spend time writing in response to three prompts:

• What is moving in you now that we have completed the ceremony?

• How are the paramitas alive in your life? 

• What are you taking away?  How are you offering yourself to the Paramitas?

Small Group Discussions:  We moved into five small groups, each facilitated by a member of the teaching team (these were not recorded).  

Five Remembrances Study:  Ryan read the description for the upcoming study of the Five Remembrances, which will begin in February.  You can find more information for that study here:
https://www.mahasanghapractice.org/five-remembrances-study

Closing:  We closed with a recitation of The Five Remembrances & The Four Practice Principles

Video Recordings:

We recorded the eighth session (minus the breakout rooms) and have shared it on Youtube with links on the course website.  You can find those recordings on the course webpage here:  https://www.mahasanghapractice.org/paramitas-study/session-recordings

Resources Shared:  We did not share any new resources or poems during this gathering.  

Next Steps:  If you would like to join us for the Five Remembrances Study, you can register here:  https://forms.gle/mAhYsAz8otkXKdcb9 or go to the Main Study Page

Deep Bow of Thanks:

The facilitator team is deeply grateful for your energetic engagement over these months; your sharing and wholehearted participation in this study was nourishing for us and deeply encouraging to this MahaSangha community.  We are not meant to walk this path alone - we need each other and through this study, our web of spiritual connectedness has expanded across the globe.  

We are excited to support the learning and practice of this group and we are available for questions, concerns, or clarification at mahasanghapractice@gmail.com.  

May our intention equally permeate every being and place with the true merit of Buddha’s Way.

With kindness, 

Becky, Jessica, Ryan, Shelley, and Trudy