In addition to the Monday evening meditation group meetings, the Bear River Meditation Group offers half or full day retreats, public talks, celebrations and other events. For more information contact us to be added to our weekly email list.
UPCOMING EVENTS AND RETREATS
Vasubandhu
Intensive Practice Period “The Three Natures”
Daily, March 3rd – 10th, 2025
Links:
Schedule A full schedule of daily meetings, Dharma talks, and discussions for the week.
Resources A list of resources for the week as well as additional material for those interested.
Overview – For a number of years our meditation group has spent a week each year in what we call an Intensive Practice Period. Throughout the week we hold daily morning and evening meditation and ceremonies and focus Dharma talks and discussions on a particular teaching.
Dharma – The talks and discussions will be led by Reverend Vivian Gruenenfelder and Lay Minister Andrea Spark. The Dharma focus this year is on Vasubandhu’s Three Natures, a fundamental teaching of the Yogacara school of Buddhism which contributed a great deal to Mahayana Buddhism, and thus to Zen. The “Three Nature” concept of consciousness holds that what we experience as “reality” is actually composed of three aspects: the Imaginary, the Dependent, and the Complete, Realized natures.
Resources – The book we will be using as a basis for this year’s intensive is Vasubandhu’s “Three Natures” : A Practitioner’s Guide for Liberation by Ben Connelly. Published by Wisdom Publications, it is available in paperback. There is a pdf available, though the ones we found requires a subscription.
We recommend a video by Ben Connelly on The Three Natures which was part of the Spring Practice Session 2024 from the Upaya Zen center. https://www.youtube.
The book’s introduction and Connelly’s talk are a good start in investigating these teachings. You can find a list of Resources here, for those who might want to explore these teachings further, .
Schedule – A detailed Schedule for the Intensive Practice Period is available here. The week will include three evenings all together online with Dharma talks and/or discussions (two Mondays and Wednesday). There will be daily online morning meditation and services as well as hybrid (online and in person) evening meditation and Vespers. On Sunday, March 9th, there will be an in person morning retreat at the Applegate Civic Center.
Retreat “The Three Natures”
March 9th, 2025, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm
This retreat is part of the 2025 Intensive Practice Period, information above. It will be held at the Applegate Civic Center.
LOCAL EVENTS
Tibetan Monks Visit Grass Valley and Auburn
Sierra Friends of Tibet is again hosting a visit of monks from Gaden Shartse Monastery. They will be in Grass Valley January 24th to February 8th. The monks will be in Auburn February 11 – 26, 2025. For more information on the schedule go to https://www.sierrafriendsoftibet.net/events