Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Calendar of events June 2010
Vesak Day (Day of Awakening)
June 6th Sunday, 2010
Dhamma Talk by
Venerable Madawela Punnaji
Topic: What is awakening?
Time: 3.00pm - 4.30pm
Location: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Mankato
937 Charles Avenue
Mankato, MN 56001
Topic: Bhante Punnaji will give a talk on “Steps in to Awakening”. He will talk about how one can attain awakening in eight steps according to Buddha. He will mostly focus on “Jhana” in his talk.
Vesak Day: May Full moon day is the most special and spiritual day for all Buddhists and for those who practice the Dhamma. It is the time for us to get together and practice and cultivate the spiritual qualities such as loving kindness, generosity, the purification of the mind and wisdom.
Venerable Mahathera Punnaji: has come to the West to introduce his discoveries to intelligent readers who have an open mind free from prejudice. He is a Researcher of the original teachings of the Buddha, and has served in North America as a Teacher of Buddhism and a Meditation Master, for nearly 30 years. He is well known for his clear and accurate presentation of Buddhism and has grateful students the world over.
He has spent more than fifty years making an in-depth intensive study of both the theory as well as the practice of Buddhism. He studied various schools of Buddhist thought including what modern scholars consider to be the earliest source of the teachings of the Buddha, the Pali Nikaya.
Venerable Punnaji is well-versed in Western fields of scientific knowledge, including medicine, and has a thorough understanding of comparative religions, philosophy and psychology. His interpretations of the original teachings of the Buddha have been much enriched by these forays beyond a mere study and practice of Buddhism.
He has played a significant role in the dissemination of Buddhism in the West and is well known to Buddhists in Canada, U.S., and abroad. Sought by many as a resourceful spiritual guide, Ven. Punnaji shares his time between the Buddhist centers in Canada, the U.S., Sri Lanka and other countries. He is currently residing at the Sarathchandra Meditation Centre, North Hollywood, California, USA.
We invite you all to join the celebration of the Birth, the Awakening and Passing away of the Buddha, and to experience the spirit of "Vesak" on Sunday June the 6th at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Mankato from 3.00 PM.
Event Support: We believe these teachings are extremely valuable, thus assigning a value to these teachings is an impossible task. Therefore, this talk is offered freely in the spirit of generosity. Yet, there are many opportunities open to practice your generosity by making a donation to Triple Gem Of The North, to support the teacher and towards the costs of the event (such as accommodation, traveling expenses for the teacher).
It is an ancient Buddhist tradition for the community to joyfully support/nourish/feed people, Monks, and who ever engages in intensive spiritual practice, thereby practicing in their good effort. Therefore, we present you with the opportunity to practice your good effort, by sponsoring a meal/s for Monks and participants during future activities organized by the Triple Gem of The North.
Monetary donations can be presented in-person at Monks Residence, by mail, or via internet. Please send your donations by mail to: PO box 323, St Peter, MN, 56082. Please make checks payable to Triple Gem Of The North.
Half Day Retreats with Venerable Punnaji
June12th , 2010
Location:
Chanhassen Library
690 Coulter Dr
Chanhassen, MN 55317
Time: 1pm- 5pm
Call Ralph for more information 952-934-9727
More info click
June 6th Sunday, 2010
Dhamma Talk by
Venerable Madawela Punnaji
Topic: What is awakening?
Time: 3.00pm - 4.30pm
Location: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Mankato
937 Charles Avenue
Mankato, MN 56001
Topic: Bhante Punnaji will give a talk on “Steps in to Awakening”. He will talk about how one can attain awakening in eight steps according to Buddha. He will mostly focus on “Jhana” in his talk.
Vesak Day: May Full moon day is the most special and spiritual day for all Buddhists and for those who practice the Dhamma. It is the time for us to get together and practice and cultivate the spiritual qualities such as loving kindness, generosity, the purification of the mind and wisdom.
Venerable Mahathera Punnaji: has come to the West to introduce his discoveries to intelligent readers who have an open mind free from prejudice. He is a Researcher of the original teachings of the Buddha, and has served in North America as a Teacher of Buddhism and a Meditation Master, for nearly 30 years. He is well known for his clear and accurate presentation of Buddhism and has grateful students the world over.
He has spent more than fifty years making an in-depth intensive study of both the theory as well as the practice of Buddhism. He studied various schools of Buddhist thought including what modern scholars consider to be the earliest source of the teachings of the Buddha, the Pali Nikaya.
Venerable Punnaji is well-versed in Western fields of scientific knowledge, including medicine, and has a thorough understanding of comparative religions, philosophy and psychology. His interpretations of the original teachings of the Buddha have been much enriched by these forays beyond a mere study and practice of Buddhism.
He has played a significant role in the dissemination of Buddhism in the West and is well known to Buddhists in Canada, U.S., and abroad. Sought by many as a resourceful spiritual guide, Ven. Punnaji shares his time between the Buddhist centers in Canada, the U.S., Sri Lanka and other countries. He is currently residing at the Sarathchandra Meditation Centre, North Hollywood, California, USA.
We invite you all to join the celebration of the Birth, the Awakening and Passing away of the Buddha, and to experience the spirit of "Vesak" on Sunday June the 6th at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Mankato from 3.00 PM.
Event Support: We believe these teachings are extremely valuable, thus assigning a value to these teachings is an impossible task. Therefore, this talk is offered freely in the spirit of generosity. Yet, there are many opportunities open to practice your generosity by making a donation to Triple Gem Of The North, to support the teacher and towards the costs of the event (such as accommodation, traveling expenses for the teacher).
It is an ancient Buddhist tradition for the community to joyfully support/nourish/feed people, Monks, and who ever engages in intensive spiritual practice, thereby practicing in their good effort. Therefore, we present you with the opportunity to practice your good effort, by sponsoring a meal/s for Monks and participants during future activities organized by the Triple Gem of The North.
Monetary donations can be presented in-person at Monks Residence, by mail, or via internet. Please send your donations by mail to: PO box 323, St Peter, MN, 56082. Please make checks payable to Triple Gem Of The North.
Half Day Retreats with Venerable Punnaji
June12th , 2010
Location:
Chanhassen Library
690 Coulter Dr
Chanhassen, MN 55317
Time: 1pm- 5pm
Call Ralph for more information 952-934-9727
More info click
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Study on meditation's effect on battle stress
Below is an interesting article from the Milwaukee Sentinel about a study starting up on whether meditation can help post traumatic stress disorder in war veterans.
In the seven years since he finished his stint in the U.S. Navy, Todd Dennis has rarely slept well.
Though never diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, he's struggled with some of the symptoms, including insomnia and feelings of anger.
Dennis says those symptoms have eased since February, when he began practicing yoga and meditation techniques he learned through the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Investigating Healthy Minds.
Beginning this fall, the center will apply the tools of neuroscience - including brain imaging - in studies to determine what if any effect such contemplative practices have on veterans with symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.
"We'll be looking at whether they make an impact in their lives, their overall function, their sense of well-being," said Emma Seppala, a psychologist and research associate, who will oversee the research, some of the first of its kind.
Researchers hope to develop psychological profiles and a kind of tool kit that help them target contemplative practices in ways that are most effective.
The center's research and its vision will be on display this weekend when it hosts events, most of them private for researchers, collaborators, donors and other supporters.
The only public event, though all tickets have been claimed, will be an unscripted conversation between center founder and director Richard Davidson and the 14th Dalai Lama on the subject of "Investigating Healthy Minds."
It was a challenge by the Tibetan spiritual leader to Davidson during a 1992 meeting in India that gave rise to the center, according to Davidson. In that meeting, he says, the Buddhist monk called on him to apply the tools of science used to study such things as depression, anxiety and fear to instead study such traits as happiness, kindness and compassion.
"That was a very powerful meeting for me, and one that altered the course of my life and career," said Davidson, a psychologist and neuroscientist who also heads the university's Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, and Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience.
Some of the research got under way even before the center's founding in 2008. In 1999, Davidson brought advanced meditation practitioners, many of them monks from Asia, to Madison to study how the long-term practice of meditation affects the mind. Among the findings, he said, was the presence of unusually high amplitudes of gamma oscillations, brain rhythms associated with such things as focused attention, learning and memory.
The center's work has drawn significant support, including a $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
In addition to its study on veterans, it is developing programs for school-age children and individuals transitioning from prison back into society. The student project launches in the fall with a pilot program for fifth-graders in Madison public schools.
"We're interested in determining if simple practices can be brought into the schools to improve students' concentration and skill in emotion regulation . . . both of which are necessary for kids to be successful," said Davidson.
Seppala will be posing the same questions in her work with veterans. The findings, she said, could be used to develop programs to treat thousands of vets who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.
"Twenty percent of the 2 million veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD, and it's believed the high suicide rate among veterans may be attributed to that," she said.
The three-year study will involve 90 veterans in three groups, two of which will participate in either mindfulness meditation or yoga breathing exercises. Those in the third group will continue with their current courses of treatment.
There is, at least, anecdotal evidence that contemplative practices are beneficial for veterans. Both Navy veteran Dennis and Jennifer Kannel, who spent a year in Iraq with the Wisconsin Army National Guard, said the breathing exercises and meditation practices improved their sleep and sense of well-being.
"That's one of the big ones vets say, whether they have PTSD or not, that it helps promote sleep," said Andrew Hendrickson, who leads a yoga-based relaxation series for returning combat troops at the Zablocki Veterans Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee.
"They say it helps them feel at ease, helps them deal with physical pain - all the things you would expect from a mind-body technique.
Hendrickson asks vets in his program to rate their level of distress, on a scale of zero to 100, before and after participating.
"I frequently get people who drop from 80 to 20 or 10," said Hendrickson, who used yoga to sleep at night while working at a combat hospital in Afghanistan. "One guy with severe depression went from 60 to zero."
For more information on the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds go to www.investigatinghealthyminds.org.
Post a comment
In the seven years since he finished his stint in the U.S. Navy, Todd Dennis has rarely slept well.
Though never diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, he's struggled with some of the symptoms, including insomnia and feelings of anger.
Dennis says those symptoms have eased since February, when he began practicing yoga and meditation techniques he learned through the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Investigating Healthy Minds.
Beginning this fall, the center will apply the tools of neuroscience - including brain imaging - in studies to determine what if any effect such contemplative practices have on veterans with symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder.
"We'll be looking at whether they make an impact in their lives, their overall function, their sense of well-being," said Emma Seppala, a psychologist and research associate, who will oversee the research, some of the first of its kind.
Researchers hope to develop psychological profiles and a kind of tool kit that help them target contemplative practices in ways that are most effective.
The center's research and its vision will be on display this weekend when it hosts events, most of them private for researchers, collaborators, donors and other supporters.
The only public event, though all tickets have been claimed, will be an unscripted conversation between center founder and director Richard Davidson and the 14th Dalai Lama on the subject of "Investigating Healthy Minds."
It was a challenge by the Tibetan spiritual leader to Davidson during a 1992 meeting in India that gave rise to the center, according to Davidson. In that meeting, he says, the Buddhist monk called on him to apply the tools of science used to study such things as depression, anxiety and fear to instead study such traits as happiness, kindness and compassion.
"That was a very powerful meeting for me, and one that altered the course of my life and career," said Davidson, a psychologist and neuroscientist who also heads the university's Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, and Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience.
Some of the research got under way even before the center's founding in 2008. In 1999, Davidson brought advanced meditation practitioners, many of them monks from Asia, to Madison to study how the long-term practice of meditation affects the mind. Among the findings, he said, was the presence of unusually high amplitudes of gamma oscillations, brain rhythms associated with such things as focused attention, learning and memory.
The center's work has drawn significant support, including a $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
In addition to its study on veterans, it is developing programs for school-age children and individuals transitioning from prison back into society. The student project launches in the fall with a pilot program for fifth-graders in Madison public schools.
"We're interested in determining if simple practices can be brought into the schools to improve students' concentration and skill in emotion regulation . . . both of which are necessary for kids to be successful," said Davidson.
Seppala will be posing the same questions in her work with veterans. The findings, she said, could be used to develop programs to treat thousands of vets who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.
"Twenty percent of the 2 million veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have PTSD, and it's believed the high suicide rate among veterans may be attributed to that," she said.
The three-year study will involve 90 veterans in three groups, two of which will participate in either mindfulness meditation or yoga breathing exercises. Those in the third group will continue with their current courses of treatment.
There is, at least, anecdotal evidence that contemplative practices are beneficial for veterans. Both Navy veteran Dennis and Jennifer Kannel, who spent a year in Iraq with the Wisconsin Army National Guard, said the breathing exercises and meditation practices improved their sleep and sense of well-being.
"That's one of the big ones vets say, whether they have PTSD or not, that it helps promote sleep," said Andrew Hendrickson, who leads a yoga-based relaxation series for returning combat troops at the Zablocki Veterans Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee.
"They say it helps them feel at ease, helps them deal with physical pain - all the things you would expect from a mind-body technique.
Hendrickson asks vets in his program to rate their level of distress, on a scale of zero to 100, before and after participating.
"I frequently get people who drop from 80 to 20 or 10," said Hendrickson, who used yoga to sleep at night while working at a combat hospital in Afghanistan. "One guy with severe depression went from 60 to zero."
For more information on the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds go to www.investigatinghealthyminds.org.
Post a comment
Meditation improves brain function
This story appeared in the "Epoch Times." It reports on a scientific study that showed that a person who meditates for four days at 20 minutes per session had marked improvement in their understanding and ability to process information.
We have long believed that a cup of coffee every morning can make us more awake, yet a newly published study suggests that brief meditation can prepare us for the day just the same.
In past research, neuroimaging technology has shown that meditation techniques can promote significant changes in brain areas associated with concentration, but it was thought that the effect required extensive training to achieve.
However, according to the new research, the benefits may be achievable with much less effort. It suggests that the mind may be more easily trained to focus than we previously believed.
Psychologists found that participants who meditated for 20 minutes a day for four days showed an evident improvement in their critical cognition skills and performed significantly better in cognitive tests than a control group.
“In the behavioral test results, what we are seeing is something that is somewhat comparable to results that have been documented after far more extensive training,” said Dr. Fadel Zeidan in a press release. Zeidan is a post-doctoral researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and a former doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where the research was conducted.
“Simply stated, the profound improvements that we found after just four days of meditation training are really surprising,” Zeidan noted. “It goes to show that the mind is, in fact, easily changeable and highly influenced, especially by meditation.”
The study is published in the April 2 issue of Consciousness and Cognition.
The experiment involved 63 student volunteers. Participants were divided into two groups, one of which received the meditation training while the other group listened to a book (J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit) being read aloud for equivalent periods of time.
Before and after the meditation and reading sessions, the participants were subjected to a broad battery of behavioral tests assessing mood, memory, visual attention, attention processing, and vigilance.
Both groups performed almost equally on all measures at the beginning of the experiment. Both groups also improved at the end of the experiment in measures of mood, but only the group that received the meditation training improved significantly in cognitive measures. The meditation group scored as much as 10 times better on one challenging test that involved sustaining the ability to focus while holding other information in mind.
“The meditation group did especially better on all the cognitive tests that were timed,” Zeidan said. “In tasks where participants had to process information under time constraints causing stress, the group briefly trained in mindfulness performed significantly better.”
“Further study is warranted,” he stressed, noting that brain imaging studies would be helpful in confirming the brain changes that the behavioral tests seem to indicate. “But this seems to be strong evidence for the idea that we may be able to modify our own minds to improve our cognitive processing–most importantly in the ability to sustain attention and vigilance–within a week’s time,” he said.
Zeidan noted that brief meditation only prepares the mind for activity, but it’s not necessarily permanent. Therefore, in order to have long-lasting effect, regular meditations need to be performed.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Calendar of events April 2010
One day Retreat- Chanhassen MN
April 17, 2010
Practice Meditation and Learn how to:
Cultivate Mindfulness
Deal with Emotions and Stress
Develop compassion and loving kindness
The day will include an introduction to meditation, seated and walking meditations, and teachings and discussion on mindfulness. Lunch is potluck. Please bring something to share for lunch or tea breaks, and a cushion if you have one.
This is a dana event; dana is a buddhist tradition of monks sharing their teach-ings for no fee. You are invited to practice dana with a donation to support the monks and their teachings. for more info Click
This Week in Mankato
Monday
Meditation Group1 (Mankato)
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: At First Congregational United Church of Christ
150 Stadium Ct, Mankato
This is a meditation class good for experienced and beginners open thinkers. Open discussion followed by guided meditation. You are welcome!
Wednesday
Meditation Group11 (Mankato)
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: Monks Residence
This is a meditation class for open thinkers. Open discussion followed by guided meditation. You are welcome!
Sunday
Metta Meditation Group
10:00 a.m. to 10:40 a.m.
Location: Monks Residence (Mankato)
We will practice Metta meditation about 40 minutes followed by Dhammapada studies. Dhammapada is a collection of verses delivered by Buddha which contains deep Dhamma teachings and lessons on the proper way of life.
Paramitha (perfection) Group
4:15 p.m. to 5:45p.m.
Location: Monks Residence
This is a committed group meet and studies how to apply and practice Dhamma with day to day life. We shire certain document via e-mail and reed before come to the meeting. You are welcome to be part of this group. Contact Bhante Sathi for more information.
April 17, 2010
Practice Meditation and Learn how to:
Cultivate Mindfulness
Deal with Emotions and Stress
Develop compassion and loving kindness
The day will include an introduction to meditation, seated and walking meditations, and teachings and discussion on mindfulness. Lunch is potluck. Please bring something to share for lunch or tea breaks, and a cushion if you have one.
This is a dana event; dana is a buddhist tradition of monks sharing their teach-ings for no fee. You are invited to practice dana with a donation to support the monks and their teachings. for more info Click
This Week in Mankato
Monday
Meditation Group1 (Mankato)
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: At First Congregational United Church of Christ
150 Stadium Ct, Mankato
This is a meditation class good for experienced and beginners open thinkers. Open discussion followed by guided meditation. You are welcome!
Wednesday
Meditation Group11 (Mankato)
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: Monks Residence
This is a meditation class for open thinkers. Open discussion followed by guided meditation. You are welcome!
Sunday
Metta Meditation Group
10:00 a.m. to 10:40 a.m.
Location: Monks Residence (Mankato)
We will practice Metta meditation about 40 minutes followed by Dhammapada studies. Dhammapada is a collection of verses delivered by Buddha which contains deep Dhamma teachings and lessons on the proper way of life.
Paramitha (perfection) Group
4:15 p.m. to 5:45p.m.
Location: Monks Residence
This is a committed group meet and studies how to apply and practice Dhamma with day to day life. We shire certain document via e-mail and reed before come to the meeting. You are welcome to be part of this group. Contact Bhante Sathi for more information.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Awakening to Life, Awakening ro Death
Thanks to Tricycle Magazine, we can all sit down and watch this 25 minute Dharma talk from author Stephen Batchelder.
http://www.tricycle.com/online-retreats/buddhism-one-and-only-life/awakening-life-awakening-death
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