As 2023 begins to unfold, we find ourselves in the midst of what Duane Elgin calls a “global initiation process for humanity”, with climate chaos intensifying suffering for all sentient beings. How can our meditation and mindfulness practices help us to work constructively with the anger and grief that naturally arise in response? Jane led us in exploring this question this week following a talk by Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun from the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition, coupled with several readings from various authors examining the value of meditation and mindfulness for effectively meeting this moment.
Jane read some poems during the session, including A Twelfth Century Poem from The Wild Edge of Sorrow, by Francis Weller, North Atlantic Books 2015
She also read additional material from the following books:
Coming Back to Life, by Joanna Macy and Molly Brown, New Society Publishers 2022
Choosing Earth, by Duane Elgin, published by Duane Elgin as part of the Choosing Earth Project, 2022
The talk that was played was from a CD so we cannot link to it here, but you can listen to many of Pema’s talks on her website:
https://pemachodronfoundation.org/
In the discussion, Darryl shared a podcast from Plum Village entitled “The way out is in”, which you can listen to here:
Burlington Buddhist Sangha 