Uposatha Day was special this year because the Sangha has a new Buddha!
Mary MacGregor lead the Celebration
with a talk and sitting.
A special thanks to the Teachers for such an informative presentation on this special day.
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.
The Sangha was established by Mary MacGregor. She began to have an interest in Buddhism after reading a book by Jack Kornfield in 1994. Mary then attended a retreat at the Insight Mediation Center in Barre, Mass., which led her to return to Evansville and begin offering silent meditation days once a month. Feeling that this was not enough practice, Mary began inviting people with similar interest to mediate weekly at her office. Later she traveled to France to attend a three-week retreat at Thich Nhat Hanh’s center in Plum Village and embarked on extensive individual study.
The Sangha was established by Mary MacGregor. She began to have an interest
in Buddhism after reading a book by
Jack Kornfield in
1994. Mary then attended a retreat at the
Insight Mediation Center in Barre, Mass., which led her to return to
Evansville and begin offering silent meditation days once a month. Feeling that
this was not enough practice, Mary began inviting people with similar interest
to mediate weekly at her office. Later she traveled to France to attend a
three-week retreat at
Thich Nhat Hanh‘s center in Plum
Village and embarked on extensive individual study.