Excavating Your Meditation with David Weinstein

WEDNESDAY, COMMUNITY NIGHT

Apr.25th, 7-9pm Excavating Your Meditation with David Weinstein

‘The thousand hands and eyes of compassion.’

What is compassion?

I would like to think that it is something that I have, but what is it? I believe my meditation practice helps me deepen and cultivate compassion, but what is it?

It feels like compassion is something that is part of who I am from the beginning and because of that, the question arises as to whether it is cultivation that is necessary, or excavation. Excavation reveals the layers that have been accumulated on top of

what is there from the beginning. 

As in archaeological excavation, careful attention to the soil that is moved gives valuable information. Similarly, in the ‘excavation’ of a meditation practice, the layers of thought and habits that are revealed give us valuable information too. That information helps us to know how to use the hands and eyes of our compassion.

David

WHAT IS RMC COMMUNITY NIGHT?

Community Night is a chance to practice meditation in action, in the midst of our lives. Eating and drinking and conversing together is a unique opportunity to notice the way the practice of paying attention is present, or not, where the ‘rubber’ of our practice meets the ‘road’ of our life. Becoming intimate with the workings of our heart/mind while sitting quietly is helpful, but, if it isn’t present in our day to day lives, what’s the point?

Community Night is a chance to do that in a safe environment. It is also a time to discover and strengthen connections between each other and the community that is the container of our practice.

Each time we gather to practice together is a time that we can do that, not just once a month on Community Night. We purposely place a break between quietly sitting together and the group conversation about the koan, as a way to provide that opportunity during each of our gatherings, whether on Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings. 

On Community Night we save that for after the meditation and group discussion and are able to luxuriate in each other’s company for a bit longer than usual.