Welcome to our Sangha
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Sangha is a word in Pali and Sanskrit that can be translated as community or association. Insight Meditation (also known as Vipassana) is the practice of moment-to-moment mindfulness. Through careful and sustained attention to the present moment we experience for ourselves the ever-changing flow of the mind-body process. Having this awareness we gain insight, compassion and happiness.
When you are in the present moment you are free. Free from the past, free from the future. Free from expectations, free from judgments...Free to awaken, to open, to tap into the happiness that is within you always – the happiness that is your true nature. Free to be just as you are. Free to just be. Our primary activity has been silent meditation meetings normally held each Tuesday evening at the First Congregational Church, 216 East Gurley, Prescott, Arizona. Until further notice we will not be meeting at First Congregational, but will connect online instead. Go to our Connect page for details. All are welcome, of any race, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ability, culture, or ethnicity. For brief meditation instructions, we invite you to take a look at Spirit Rock's Introduction to Insight Meditation & Mindfulness. We also recommend a more detailed Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation from Insight Meditation Center. For the latest articles from our Sangha and links to articles by other teachers please visit The Insight Blog on this site. |
Beginning March 17, 2020, we are using an online format for our Tuesday night meditations. Please see our Connect page for details on how to tune in. For ways to help the most vulnerable in our community in these times of need, please... GO HERE. |
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Tuesday Evening Meditation
Please check our Connect page for how to tune in online.
Tuesday Evening Schedule
- 6:50 to 7:00 — Connection time
- 7:00 to 7:40 — Formal sit (meditation)
- 7:40 to 7:45 — Announcements
- 7:45 to 7:55 — Break
- 7:55 to 8:30 — Dharma talk and discussion
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Our Mission
Prescott Insight Meditation is a welcoming community for the practice and study of Buddhist teachings rooted in the Theravāda Buddhist tradition, with emphasis on Insight Meditation as it has developed in the west.
We value the basic principles of mindfulness, wisdom, ethical responsibility, compassion, and kindness.
We seek to nurture the supportive foundation of sangha and to create opportunities for fellowship.
We are committed to cultivating equity, inclusion, and diversity, and to hold no bias toward anyone seeking dharma teachings.
We intend to integrate the teachings of the Buddha into our daily lives so that we may compassionately engage with the world.
To these ends, and in alignment with the promise of the Buddha’s teachings, we offer opportunities that support liberation for ourselves and for all beings.
We value the basic principles of mindfulness, wisdom, ethical responsibility, compassion, and kindness.
We seek to nurture the supportive foundation of sangha and to create opportunities for fellowship.
We are committed to cultivating equity, inclusion, and diversity, and to hold no bias toward anyone seeking dharma teachings.
We intend to integrate the teachings of the Buddha into our daily lives so that we may compassionately engage with the world.
To these ends, and in alignment with the promise of the Buddha’s teachings, we offer opportunities that support liberation for ourselves and for all beings.
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Guided Metta Meditation
Metta, a Pali word for loving-kindness, is the heartfelt wish for the well-being of oneself and others. Gil Fronsdal describes loving-kindness, in his book The Issue at Hand, as being "closely related to the softening of the heart that allows us to feel empathy with the happiness and sorrow of the world. [...] Loving-kindness is also understood as the innate friendliness of an open heart."
Following is just one version of a guided meditation that we offer at the conclusion of many of our silent sits on Tuesday nights:
Forgiveness and Metta Meditation
We begin by offering forgiveness to ourselves and other beings.
Thinking first of yourself, something you have done or failed to do, said or failed to say, that may have caused harm to yourself or to another being:
I allow myself to make mistakes.
I allow myself to be imperfect.
I allow myself to be a learner, learning life’s lessons.
I forgive myself for any harm I may have done.
And if I can’t forgive myself completely now, may I do so in the future.
And now thinking of someone else; someone who has done something or failed to do something, said something or failed to say something, that may have caused harm to you, or to them, or to another being:
I allow you to make mistakes.
I allow you to be imperfect.
I allow you to be a learner, learning life’s lessons.
I forgive you for having done harm.
And if I can’t forgive you completely now, may I do so in the future.
And now focusing again on your own being, imagine yourself in a kind and gentle way. Holding this image of yourself in your heart, repeat the phrases of metta:
May I be happy.
May I be healthy in mind and body.
May I live in peace, with ease and well being.
May I be safe.
And may I know and embrace every aspect of myself, both dark and light, with love and kindness.
And now thinking of someone for whom it is easy to feel kind and loving, and holding that being or those beings close to your heart:
May you be happy.
May you be healthy in mind and body.
May you live in peace, with ease and well being.
And may you be safe.
And may you know and embrace every aspect of yourself, both dark and light, with love and kindness
And finally, thinking of someone for whom it is harder to feel kind and loving,
holding that being or those beings in your awareness:
May you, too, be happy.
May you, too, be healthy in mind and body.
May you live in peace, with ease and well being.
May you be safe.
And may you know and embrace every aspect of yourself, both dark and light, with love and kindness
May all beings be happy – all beings
Those of us here in this room
Those for whom we love and care.
The folks in this community, on this continent, on this planet, throughout the universe and beyond.
All beings: far and near, seen and unseen, heard and unheard, big and little, born and unborn.
May we all be free from suffering and the causes and conditions of suffering.
May our hearts be liberated.