UPCOMING MEDITATION PRACTICE
Dear Friends,
I am beginning this letter to you on an overcast morning here in San Francisco. I had the first part of the morning today with Boone, since we are both early risers. As we were in the kitchen, he says, “Let’s have only natural light this morning!” So we kept the lights off, and he lit the candle on the kitchen table. The sun was coming up outside. He began to tell me about a song he learned in school. He said it was about a boy who can't find his light so he asks his friend to help him find it. He said, “But it’s not this kind of light,” and he pointed to the candle on the table. “It’s the light here,” and he touched his heart.
Such simple words spoken so clearly to me this morning that I heard the message in a new way. It’s about a boy who can’t find his light so he asks his friend to help him find it. It reminded me of the question that my Tibetan Buddhist spiritual tradition asks and seeks to answer, over and over again: how do we meet the suffering? What are we to do? My son’s song from his third grade classroom articulated in plain language an answer: we ask a friend to help us find the light, and it’s in here.
This light, which has many names, is called bodhicitta in Sanskrit, and it is the promise and central claim at the heart of the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual tradition. How else can we work for the benefit—for the happiness, safety, and care—of all beings, including ourselves, if we don’t believe deeply in the inherent tenderness, kindness, and wakefulness that is at the very heart of everyone? How can we work towards any kind of personal and collective repair without this truth, this view, as our ground?
On Tuesday, December 12th, I will be offering a meditation class where we will explore together some of these themes. I will teach a meditation practice that comes from the Buddhist tradition of the Four Immeasurables, working primarily with the boundless states of Equanimity and Loving-Kindness. These practices have a 2,500 year old track record (!!) and are personal practices that we can use as our daily practice. They can give us the experience of stabilizing, opening, and transforming our hearts. I use these practices all the time—on the cushion, but also in my marriage with Tom, with my children, in the world. We all know what a period of deep deep suffering this is. Incomprehensible that we are still here, in this terrible pattern. Along with the outer work we are doing, these practices help nurture our inner work. It’s something that we can actually do and offer into this world, a prayer that transforms us as well.
If you’ve never practiced with me before, or if you might like to experience what it feels like to land in a practice container with others, or if you would like more support in your own spiritual practice, do join us. No prior meditation experience necessary. It is a powerful experience to practice in community—it’s how it’s always been done.
Our Tuesday class is dana based. The suggested donation is $15-$35 and all proceeds will be donated. No one is turned away for lack of funds. Reply to this email to register, and I will send you the zoom link and payment info.
I hope to see you on December 12 at 7pm PST! Reach out if you have any questions. And reply here to practice together.
Looking forward, as always, to seeing you.
With love,
Jenny
PS In January 2024 I am offering a New Year’s Meditation Challenge! ;) It will be an immersive five weeks together dedicated to tending to our souls, caring for our bodies and nervous systems, and cultivating our collective bodhicitta. I’ll be sending more information about this in the coming days.
PPS Because I couldn’t resist sharing our Halloween costume…
