Bright spring mushrooms and delicate flowers pop up like jewels from the redwood tree duff.
Just as the benefits of practice grow, and then fruit.
Just as the benefits of practice grow, and then fruit.
Karuna Buddhist Vihara has been growing and spreading roots wide and deep. Basic hermitage infrastructure is updated and more reliable, the Meditation Center in Sunnyvale is blossoming, and several retreats are on the horizon.
KBV Meditation Center sees growing in-person attendance and improved tech for on-line attendees
The monastics with some of the participants of the daylong at KBV's new meditation center in Sunnyvale
The KBV Meditation Center at 909 Coachella Ave, Sunnyvale, CA is starting to feel like a home and a refuge in the South Bay area for hearing and sharing the Dhamma. More practitioners are showing up in-person for the weekly events held in this cheerful and calming space.
Many thanks for all the offerings over the years of tables, cushions, shelves, statues and other items, now coming back out of storage to complete the new meditation center. Also, much gratitude for the skills and generosity of the tech-savey folks making it possible for on-line attendees to benefit from clear video and sound.
Many thanks for all the offerings over the years of tables, cushions, shelves, statues and other items, now coming back out of storage to complete the new meditation center. Also, much gratitude for the skills and generosity of the tech-savey folks making it possible for on-line attendees to benefit from clear video and sound.
Teaching retreats in summertime will cancel some Wednesday Sutta Study sessions
The Ayyas will be traveling to offer several residential retreats in the coming few months, providing a welcome change for those looking forward to in-person practice.
However, this will cause a few of the regular Wednesday evening Sutta Studies to be cancelled, due to the traveling and teaching. Please check the KBV website and calendar updates starting in May.
However, this will cause a few of the regular Wednesday evening Sutta Studies to be cancelled, due to the traveling and teaching. Please check the KBV website and calendar updates starting in May.
Progress on the Elder's kuti
and a deck for clean access to downstairs
Why is it that construction projects always seem to take longer than expected? It must be all those pesky details. And all the various professionals needed to come to make a sweet cozy Kuti dwelling. Or figuring out how those beautiful deck tiles go together to make a flat deck over uneven dirt. Or snow and wind and rain storms causing work stoppage. These first months of 2023 have seen it all! And yet, there has been good progress. Since the last newsletter, plumbing, electrical, roofing, wood ceiling and drywall have been installed.
Holly came to stay for a few days to help out and enjoy the hermitage. The bhikkhunis gave her a file of assembly instructions and pointed her to a big pile of materials, which she gladly dove into. Maybe she will finish it when she returns. We are enjoying having a sturdy, pretty, safe and clean way to walk from the upstairs down to the pantry/laundry room and downstairs bathroom.
Holly came to stay for a few days to help out and enjoy the hermitage. The bhikkhunis gave her a file of assembly instructions and pointed her to a big pile of materials, which she gladly dove into. Maybe she will finish it when she returns. We are enjoying having a sturdy, pretty, safe and clean way to walk from the upstairs down to the pantry/laundry room and downstairs bathroom.
Ayya Santussika to lead residential retreat at Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Massachusetts May 12-17
"Becoming a Noble Disciple: Cultivating the Mind and Life of the Ariyasāvako"
Ayya Santussika & Ayya Cittananda to lead residential retreat at Cloud Mountain Retreat Center in Castle Rock, Washington State June 2 to June 15
"The Buddha's Gradual Path: Spiritual Progress in Lay Life"
The Buddha frequently taught about the practice of the path as “a gradual training” (anupubbasikkhā), which unfolds in stages from the first step to the final goal of enlightenment.
Click here for more information
Click here for more information
June 23-28, Skillful Living in a World on Fire: Grounded in the Noble Eightfold Path
Taught by Ayya Santussikā and Ayya Santacitta, offered online via the Barre Center for Budddhist Studies.
Photo credit
Taught by Ayya Santussikā and Ayya Santacitta, offered online via the Barre Center for Budddhist Studies.
Photo credit
Robe Offering on Sunday, July 23
As you might remember from our last newsletter, this year will be a little different.
With all the traveling, & Ayya Santussika being away for the vassa this year, a supporter of KBV has generously offered to hold a robe offering ceremony in July.
This will be in place of the traditional Kathina offering at the end of the rains retreat. If you'd like to help out with the offering event, please email KBV and we'll put you in touch with the organizer.
With all the traveling, & Ayya Santussika being away for the vassa this year, a supporter of KBV has generously offered to hold a robe offering ceremony in July.
This will be in place of the traditional Kathina offering at the end of the rains retreat. If you'd like to help out with the offering event, please email KBV and we'll put you in touch with the organizer.
Training the Mind to be Happy
Newsletters, by their very nature, are filled with accomplishments and plans. It is a little like catching up with a friend. What have you been up to? What's happening now? What are you planning? Of course, sometimes with a friend, we do talk about something more, something of overarching importance, something that really matters. What is that in your life? How much of the time does our conversation and our thoughts stay on the surface? What is it that encourages us to go deeper?
The Buddha keeps telling us, in one way or another, to remember that for every one of us, there is going to be a last newsletter. He wants us to remember that those mountains from all four directions really are closing in us (SN 3.25). When and how they reach us is uncertain, but the fact that they will reach us -- that part is certain. So with that sense of urgency, what should we do? When the Buddha put that question to King Pasenadi, he said, “Sir, what could I do but practice the teachings, practice morality, doing skillful and good actions?” OK, sure, that's important, that's what we're all trying to do. However, throughout the early texts, the Buddha takes it further than good and skillful actions. He tells us to actively train the mind. So, especially with the relatively short time we all have left, how should we train the mind? One powerful way to think of it is to simply train the mind to be happy.
Whenever we've visited Ajahn Ganha in Thailand, he has repeatedly talked about being happy and at ease. He said that this is the way to Nibbāna. Sometimes he even said "This is Nibbāna." Of course, he wasn't talking about a superficial happiness. This is the happiness that comes from facing and seeing through the delusion of fears, worries, irritations, unproductive regrets, anything that provokes anger, resentment, jealousy, sadness, doubt .... any state of the mind that isn't "happy and at ease." But how can we have a mind that's happy and at ease when this could be the last newsletter?
Moment by moment,
staying present with what arises,
pulling together all the wholesome forces of loving-kindness, compassion, joyful appreciation for what's good (gratitude), and equanimity,
using these to surround that which isn't happy and at ease,
seeing deeply into that defilement and
watching it dissolve.
Just in case this is the last newsletter, may you be happy and at ease with every breath you take from now until the last one in this lifetime.
Ayya Santussika
The Buddha keeps telling us, in one way or another, to remember that for every one of us, there is going to be a last newsletter. He wants us to remember that those mountains from all four directions really are closing in us (SN 3.25). When and how they reach us is uncertain, but the fact that they will reach us -- that part is certain. So with that sense of urgency, what should we do? When the Buddha put that question to King Pasenadi, he said, “Sir, what could I do but practice the teachings, practice morality, doing skillful and good actions?” OK, sure, that's important, that's what we're all trying to do. However, throughout the early texts, the Buddha takes it further than good and skillful actions. He tells us to actively train the mind. So, especially with the relatively short time we all have left, how should we train the mind? One powerful way to think of it is to simply train the mind to be happy.
Whenever we've visited Ajahn Ganha in Thailand, he has repeatedly talked about being happy and at ease. He said that this is the way to Nibbāna. Sometimes he even said "This is Nibbāna." Of course, he wasn't talking about a superficial happiness. This is the happiness that comes from facing and seeing through the delusion of fears, worries, irritations, unproductive regrets, anything that provokes anger, resentment, jealousy, sadness, doubt .... any state of the mind that isn't "happy and at ease." But how can we have a mind that's happy and at ease when this could be the last newsletter?
Moment by moment,
staying present with what arises,
pulling together all the wholesome forces of loving-kindness, compassion, joyful appreciation for what's good (gratitude), and equanimity,
using these to surround that which isn't happy and at ease,
seeing deeply into that defilement and
watching it dissolve.
Just in case this is the last newsletter, may you be happy and at ease with every breath you take from now until the last one in this lifetime.
Ayya Santussika