GREETINGS
Welcome to the Meditation Circle site. This longtime Buddhist-oriented meditation group based at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 520 Kanawha Boulevard W., in Charleston, West Virginia, will be closing down its meetings for good effective with the end of June 2022, after a good run. See the ‘RESOURCES’ page for tips on setting up or deepening meditation practice. Be well!
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Category Archives: Mindfulness
Errant Thoughts
After awakening, it is necessary to always observe and examine yourself. When errant thoughts suddenly arise, do not go along with them at all; reduce them, reduce them, until you reach the point of noncontrivance, which alone is the ultimate … Continue reading
Drop by Drop
“Think not lightly of good, saying, “It will not come to me.”Drop by drop is the water pot filled.Likewise, the wise one, gathering it little by little,fills oneself with good.” ~ The Buddha (The Dhammapada 9.122)
Train Yourself in this Way
“You must bring yourself back to mindfulness wherever you are, all the time. Along with your regular meditation practice, add practices such as this one-minute meditation into your daily life. Train yourself in this way—as soon as some psychic irritant … Continue reading
Wise Reflection on the Body
“We don’t meditate to hate our bodies. Unsatisfactoriness depends on clinging to impermanent objects. A mindful meditator should remind himself or herself an attractive object has triggered sense desire. One should then develop wise reflection or mindful reflection.” ~Bhante Gunaratana(from … Continue reading
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Tagged body, Meditation, mindfulness, Quotes
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Working With Fear
“In practising Dhamma, we will meet with many sorts of experiences, such as fear. What will we rely on then? When the mind is wrapped up in fear, it can’t find anything to rely on. “This is something I’ve gone … Continue reading
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Tagged ajahn chah, fear, mindfulness
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Too Many Brain Tabs Open
Posted in Mindfulness
Tagged Meditation, memes, mindfulness
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The Challenge of Skillful Speech
“Skillful Speech is not something you practice on the cushion. It happens in dialogue, not silence. During formal meditation, however, you can think about your habits of speech and try to convert the thoughts that arise to skillful thoughts—those motivated … Continue reading
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Tagged mindfulness, Right Speech
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Any Time, Any Place
“Meditation in the strictest sense is a very special way of training our mind. For that you don’t need any particular posture, time, or place. At any time, any place, and in any posture, you can practice mindfulness.” ~ Bhante … Continue reading
Meditation Circle Updates
Greetings. We encourage everyone who has visited the Meditation Circle to keep up their sitting practice during this challenging time. If you have a smartphone, you may consider getting the Insight Timer app, which has a neat feature where you … Continue reading
Meditation Circle Postponed Until Further Notice
Because of the COVID-19 crisis, the Meditation Circle will not be meeting at the Unitarian Universalist building in Charleston, WV, at 6 pm on Tuesdays until further notice. The UU building has asked all groups renting the space—as we do—to … Continue reading
All Tangled Up
“It’s not the external complications that really make things difficult, it’s the way we pick things up, create complications, and tangle things within ourselves” ~ Ajahn Amaro
Movies of the Mind
“As we start to practice mindfulness, present moment awareness, we soon discover how much of our lives we spend dreaming. Normally, we have no problem noticing our night dreams or those vivid excursions into fantasy that we call daydreams. What … Continue reading
Metta For All
QUESTION: The world seems so full of hatred, violence, and pain. How is it possible to pursue joy and also have compassion for those who commit such cruelties? BHANTE GUNARATANA: “It is very difficult to imagine how cruel human beings … Continue reading
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Tagged Dhamma Talk, Metta, mindfulness
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Learn About Your Mind
By Thanissaro Bhikkhu from “No Dharma Without Karma” “There’s no Dharma without karma. I keep running into this again and again – people who want to be told that the reason they’re suffering has nothing to do with them. It’s … Continue reading
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Tagged Dhamma Talk, mindfulness, virtue
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Bhante Rahula to visit Huntington/Charleston in August 2020
We will have more details as we lock them down, but American Buddhist monk Bhante Yogavacara Rahula will make a return visit to the Meditation Circles in Huntington and Charleston, W.Va., in early August, 2020. Bhante Rahula will lead a … Continue reading
Posted in Dhamma Talk, Events, Meditation, Mindfulness
Tagged Events, Meditation, mindfulness, Retreats
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