The Ithaca College Buddhist Community

We will meet as usual at Muller Chapel. 7:00 for meditation instruction and 7:30 for the service proper. We will begin our discussion of mindfulness, based on the Satipatthana Sutta.

Sorry about the lack of updates recently. I do want to make sure everyone knows that we will not be meeting on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving Break. Hope to see you back on 11/29. Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!

On Tuesday evening, we will be observing the full moon Uposatha by dedicating most of our service to meditation and by sharing tea after the service. Feel free to bring your favorite tea! For some background on the observance of the Uposatha, see this page from Access to Insight.

ICBC met as usual Tuesday evening for a talk on renunciation, the first aspect of the Right Intention. You can find more information on renunciation in this essay by Thanissaro Bhikkhu and this one by T. Prince. Finally, Access to Insight offers an anthology of passages from the Pali canon on renunciation.

Dr. Anura Ekanayake (aka “Adeesha’s Dad”) will be visiting with us on Thursday, September 29. Please join us in the Phillips Room of Muller Chapel at 8 pm to learn more about vipassana meditation and about the practice of Buddhism in Sri Lanka.

At the request of a member, I posted a guide to Pali pronunciation and meter to the “Liturgy” section of the site.

Tonight we will meet as usual in Muller Chapel at 7:30 pm. We’ll be continuing our discussion of the Noble Eightfold Path. Specifically, tonight will be the first of three talks concerning Right View, the first factor of the Path. In case you’re curious, we are planning to discuss the Path as follows over the course of the semester:

• Right View 1a: Karma
• Right View 1b: Rebirth
• Right View 2: The Four Noble Truths
• Right Intention 1: Renunciation
• Right Intention 2: Metta, Karuna
• Right Speech
• Right Action & Right Livelihood
• Right Effort 1: removing negative mind states
• Right Effort 2: cultivating positive mind states
• Right Mindfulness 1: Body
• Right Mindfulness 2: Feelings, Mind, & Dharmas
• Right Concentration

Chris gave a brief introduction to the Noble Eightfold Path, which will form the basis of our talks during the semester. If you’d like a supplemental text, take a look at The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering by Bhikkhu Bodhi (available in full online) or Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana (available for the price of a few lattes on amazon).

We hope you are all having a wonderful first week back, and that classes are going well.

We’ll be having our first service of the academic year on Tuesday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Muller Chapel. (This will be our normal meeting time for the rest of the semester.) Should you like some more meditation instruction, want to ask some questions, or are bringing a friend along, feel free to come at 7 p.m. This week, Chris will be giving a brief introduction to the Noble Eightfold Path, which will be the basis for this semester’s talks.

Yes, it’s finals week. And meditation can help. We will meet as usual Tuesday evening in Muller Chapel. Open meditation at 7:00, then the service at 7:30. There will be no formal Dharma talk, but we’ll briefly discuss how to maintain your practice over the summer, when you might not have the benefit of a meditation group.