Ginny Morgan, one of our beloved Vipassana teachers, died last night at her home in Columbia, Missouri.    Ginny had been battling cancer for 12 years but her teaching voice never wavered.

In the last weeks she contined to mentor students from her bed using the telephone and computer.   Ginny liked to laugh and usually had a joke to tell or a story.   She had been practicing since the 70’s.

In late fall the sangha is planning to have a memorial service to celebrate all those loved ones who have died recently.   We will include Ginny.

Metta

On Tuesday, August 2, 2011, fellow sangha participant Ralph Russell Davis died. A memorial service is scheduled at 3:00 on Monday, August 8th, 2011 at Zion United Church in Henderson. The sangha has been invited to participate in a memorial service for Russ in the fall.

Russell was the first chairman of the board of Mindful Heart Buddha Sangha. He was a retired postman from Henderson, Kentucky, and an Air Force veteran from the Viet Nam war. An avid fan of Civil War history and a fierce competitor in duplicate bridge, his daily life embodied generosity and a sense of humor about life. As he had recently suffered from several strokes, he had been less able to participate with the sangha in Evansville. There is a gap in our lives without his presence.

His obituary is listed in the August 5, 2011 issue of The Gleaner. His family has asked that expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to Mindful Heart Buddha Sangha, Bradford Park Office Complex, 600 N. Weinbach Ave., Suite 960, Evansville, IN 47711.

Join the Venerable E. Nanda Thero, a Theravadan Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka, to honor the Buddha’s Birth, Life and Passing on this Saturday, June 25, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral, 425 S. Second Street.

Buddhist ceremonies, an opportunity to light a candle for a departed loved one and a walk for peace in the downtown Louisville area are some activities planned.

For more information, call Interfaith Paths to Peace at (502) 214-7322 .

What a warm feeling to talk about financial crisis and have the sangha respond with sincerity and concern. As people have become aware of the need, they have responded with ideas, money, volunteer work.

But I wanted the sangha to know my gratitude. Lovingkindness to you all, mary

Please offer Metta to Sangha participant, Mary Lee McManus, her husband Frank and her family. Mary Lee’s husband, Frank, is expected to die today and has been suffering from cancer for several years. May they be at ease during this difficult time.

Please join us Thursday evening for a memorial service for sangha member Chris Fuchs who passed away this past week. Chris lovingly served the Sangha in many ways. She cleaned and decorated the meditation hall. We owe the arrangement of our furnishings and decorations to her keen eye and artistic sensibilities. Chris created the beautiful greeting and note cards that are available in exchange for a gift of dana to the Sangha. She also showed her sense of humor in many ways. During her time of cleaning the meditation hall, Chris nicknamed the vacuum cleaner “Ajahn Vacuumo”, humorously acknowledging that all things are our teachers. She even showed up at one of our Uposatha Day celebrations dressed as Lotus the Clown!

Please join us in remembering Chris and supporting her family by attending the memorial service which will be officiated by Caron Leader and Mike Boren. It is Thursday May 5 at 7:00 pm at Browning Funeral Home, 738 Diamond Avenue in Evansville.

To give Sangha members the opportunity to attend, the Thursday evening sitting will be shortened to 30 minutes and there will be no Dhamma talk.

Members of the Mindful Heart Buddha Sangha were invited by Reverend Thich Hang Dat to be part of the celebration of the Buddha’s Birthday at Ten Thousand Buddhas Summit Monastery near Corydon, Indiana.  The Vietnamese, Burmese, Karen, and Sri Lankan communities of Louisville support this monastery and over a hundred attended the festivities.  We were given front row seats for the ceremony and fed very well.  The ceremony featured chanting in Vietnamese and a procession up to bathe the baby Buddha which symbolizes purifying the Buddha being born in ourselves.

    Many in our
sangha follow the Theravada tradition which practices vipassana (or insight
meditation.)  I recently read a helpful article by Buddhist scholar Reginald Ray in which he
defines the word vipassana.

Ray states that the word has two parts:  Passana, which indicates seeing and Vi, which when used as a prefex adds the meaning of extraordinary. Thus vipassana
means “seeing in an extraordinary way.”  It means to see things as they
truly are – without making things/life the way we want them to be. Just clear
awareness of Reality.

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