Bernie Glassman and Greyston (Model for Zen houses)
NOVEMBER 2010 AUSCHWITZ BEARING WITNESS RETREAT
First Auschwitz Bearing Witness Retreat Trailer
The Zen Peacemakers and Bernie Glassman return to Auschwitz for Bearing Witness Retreats on Nov 1-5, 2010.
To read descriptions and/or to register, please click here. This retreat includes Youth from Israel, Palestine, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, US and other countries.
Read about the NY Zen Center Contemplative Care Foundations in Buddhist Contemplative Care for the 2010-2011 academic year.
One of the most beloved stories of the Buddha’s healing power concerns a
young woman whose first child dies in infancy. Blinded with grief,
Kisagotami runs from house to house with the dead child in her arms,
begging the neighbors for medicine. Fearing she has lost her mind, her
friends send her to the spiritual teacher, Shakyamuni. Seeing her
desperation, the Buddha takes her child and sends her out to collect a
mustard seed from each home that has not known the loss of a loved-one.
On her rounds, Kisagotami discovers that every family has experienced the
loss of a child, parent, spouse, or sibling, and all are ready to comfort
her in her loss. She returns to the Buddha empty-handed but full of
understanding and acceptance. The Teacher helps her to bury her child,
and she takes refuge as a nun in the Sangha.
This month Bearing Witness focuses on ways the Dharma is being adapted to
relieve mental suffering today. While it is true that all Buddhist
practice is psychotherapeutic – “I teach suffering and the relief of
suffering,” the Buddha said – many teachers and practitioners have found
powerful ways to address the stress and violence of life in the
twenty-first century.
Some of our commentators are well-known: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Daniel Goleman,
and Genpo Merzel have guided thousands of patients, students, and readers
to understanding and acceptance in the midst of life crises and mental
illness. Other featured healers in this issue – James Bastien, Zayda
Vallejo, and Edward Knight – have pioneered in treating persons who have
fallen outside our health care system in their struggles with substance
abuse, the criminal justice system, and social marginalization.
The Newsletter serves as a clearinghouse for information about western
socially engaged Buddhism. Announcements of upcoming events and resources
– including those related to Buddhism and Mental Health this month – may
be found in the sidebar at the left. Our Directory of Western Socially
Engaged Buddhism is among the most comprehensive anywhere: please follow
the links to visit many groups and projects. If your group or resources
you know about are missing, please write to us with the reference. We will
make sure it is added.
The theme for the next issue of Bearing Witness will be “Justice and
Activism.” If you are active in this area, please write to us so that we
can profile or mention your work.
Please help promote the cause of Socially Engaged Buddhism by
sharing this URL with friends, associates, sangha members and groups you think would be interested. Click on the line below, "Send mail using your own address book".
Six techniques that reduced depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for uniformed service patients.
....read more
Center for Mindfulness
The Center for Mindfulness emerged from the first academic medical center-based stress reduction program founded by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979.....read more
"The most fundamental discovery of this new science: We are wired to connect.
That represents a double-edged sword: nourishing relationships have a beneficial impact on our health, while toxic ones can act like slow poison in our bodies."
....read more
A native of Colombia describes overcoming obstacles teaching contemplative practices to African-American and Latina women with histories of addiction and trauma.
"In the beginning of every class, the women almost universally strongly resisted the meditations focused on awareness of breath....read more
The Big Mind process uses the format and some of the techniques of Voice Dialogue, a therapy developed by Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone, to address and speak from different aspects, or voices, of the self. One of its goals is to make us aware of the very insubstantiality of the self.
....read more
Ed Daigu Knight is Vice President of a national behavioral health managed care organization. He is a person living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. He has also been diagnosed with anxiety disorders, mania and depression. He manages his extreme mental and emotional states with Zen and small amounts of one psychiatric medication. . .
....read more
THE FIRST SYMPOSIUM FOR
WESTERN SOCIALLY ENGAGED BUDDHISM