Welcome to the website of the Meditation Circle of Charleston, a Buddhist-oriented sitting group meeting 6 p.m. each Tuesday in Charleston, W.Va.

Weekly Meeting
Who We Are
More Info
Directions
Meditation Retreats
_____
Weekly Meeting:
Every Tuesday, 6-7:15 p.m.:

WHERE: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Building at 520 Kanawha Blvd., Charleston, W.Va. CLICK FOR DIRECTIONS
WHEN: Sitting meditation begins 6 p.m., each Tuesday, lasting 20 to 30 minutes and may include walking and standing meditation. Group discussion follows on the practice and challenges of meditation, as well as readings or tapes on insight meditation and mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition. Guidance for beginners always available.
CONTACT: 304/638-9784
NOTE: Some cushions and chairs available; you might bring your own cushion if you have one.

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Who We Are:
The Meditation Circle of Charleston is a group for practicing insight meditation in the Buddhist tradition. Several of us have years of background in the Therevadan, Zen or Tibetan Buddhist traditions, but while there are facilitators for our gatherings, at heart we are a support group of lay people for learning Buddhist meditation and the teachings around it.

You don't need to be a Buddhist to participate, and people of all spiritual paths and degrees of experience come. Beginners are welcome and basic meditation instruction is provided, although we encourage people to seek out teachers and estabished centers to deepen their meditation practices.

We also provide information and support to those who wish to make connections with teachers and meditation centers in West Virginia and surrounding states. We often invite teachers down from the Bhavana Society, a Therevadan Buddhist monastery and retreat center near Wardensville, WV in Hampshire County. Come join us in the circle!

For more info: please contact Douglas Imbrogno at 304/638-9784 or Thad Settle at 304/766-6786.

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Directions:
Click for directions to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Charleston, W.Va.

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Media Werks of west virginia

 

 

 

Words to the Wise

"AS WE WILLING ENTER each place of fear, each place of deficiency and insecurity in ourselves, we will discover that its walls are made of untruths, of old images of ourselves, of ancient fears, of false ideas of what is pure and what is not."
~ Jack Kornfield

"IT IS MY EXPERIENCE that the world itself has a role to play in our liberation. Its very pressures, pains, and risks can wake us up...release us from the bonds of ego and guide us home to our vast true nature." -- Joanna Macy from "World as Lover, World as Self"

"MANY YEARS AGO IN THAILAND the local villages surrounding our monastery held a party. The noise from the loudspeakers was so loud that it seemed to destroy the peace of our monastery. So we complained to our teacher, Ajahn Chah, that the noise was disturbing our meditation. The great master replied, 'It is not the noise that disturbs you, it is you who disturbs the noise!'" -- Ajahn Brahm, from "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook" (Wisdom, 2005)

"The most important thing is to find out what is the most important thing" ~ Shunryu Suzuki

"To be resolute in the way means from the beginning never to lose sight of it, whether in a place of calm or in a place of strife; to not cling to quiet places nor shun places where there is disturbance."
- Daikaku (1213-1279)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Tibetan term for Dharma is 'cho, which has the literal connotation of "changing" or "bringing about transformation." When we talk about transforming the mind, we are referring to the task of diminishing the force of destructive thoughts and emotions while developing the force of those that are constructive and beneficial. In this way, through the practice of Dharma, we transform our undisciplined mind into one that is disciplined."

~ from "The ESSENTIAL DALAI LAMA, edited by Rajiv Mehrotra (Viking)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Make no mistake about it; if you do not find it now, you will repeat the same routines for myriad eons, a thousand times over again, following and picking up on objects that attract you. We are no different from Shakyamuni Buddha. Today, in your various activities, what do you lack? The spiritual light coursing through your six senses has never been interrupted. If you can see in this way, you will simply be free of burdens all your life." ~ Lin Chi

Though night after night
The moon is stream-reflected,
Try to find where it has touched,
Point even to a shadow.

- Takuan (1573–1645)
(thanks to dailyzen.com)

When most people hear
That the Buddhas transmit the
Teaching of the One Mind,
They suppose that there
Is something to be attained
Or realized apart from mind,
And they use mind to seek the teaching,
Not realizing that mind and
The object of their search are one.
Mind can’t be used to seek mind;
If it is, even after millions of eons
Have gone by, the search will still not be over.

— Huang-Po
(thanks to dailyzen.com)

The mind that is not always
caught up in details
is your only treasure.
Stop chasing details and become
still to feel it.
The mind that sees details clearly,
but is not caught up by them
is like a vast borderless mrror.

— Ji Aoi Isshi

"We don't see things as they are. We see things as we are."

— Anais Nin

Let the wise one watch over the mind,
So hard to perceive, so artful,
Alighting where it wishes;
A watchfully protected mind
Will bring happiness.

—The Buddha, from The Dhammapada

To learn to be always in a state of meditation means never to let your vital energy wane. You would never allow it to do so if it were certain that you were to die tomorrow. It wanes because you forget about death. Grit your teeth, fix your gaze, and observe death at this moment. You have to feel it so strongly that is seems as if it’s attacking you. Fearless energy comes from this. At this moment death is right before your eyes. It’s not something you can afford to neglect."

— Suzuki Shosan (1579-1655)

"You’re bound to become a buddha if you practice. If water drips long enough even rocks wear through. It’s not true thick skulls can’t be pierced. People just imagine their minds are hard."

— Shih-wu (1272-1352)