Mandala Vermont: Esoteric Buddhist Meditation

Level: Beginner Friendly
Donation based class, pay what you can
Led by Jamie Kearney

Join Jamie Kearney in this weekly opportunity to get a taste of a unique and ancient meditative tradition, while also discovering your own unique relationship with your body and mind in the midst of ordinary life. While these methods will be taught in a traditional style, they will also be shared with an attitude of openness, humor, and approachability. Beginners welcome!

What to expect: 

- Opening - brief chanting in sanskrit and japanese (1-2 minutes) 

- Calm abiding (Shamatha) and Insight (Vipassana) - sitting practices to calm the mind and body and learn about the deeper aspects of our experience

- Susoku Kan - meditating on the breath

- Gacharin Kan - meditating on the image of the full moon within the heart

- Aji Kan - meditating on the Sanskrit letter A - a symbol of creativity and pure potential

- Walking Meditation: slowly walking in a circle, practicing meditation in motion.

- Closing - dedication of merit, sharing the benefits of the practice with all beings, brief chanting in Japanese and sanskrit. (1-2 minutes) 

We will go through these practices in a gentle progressive way that will allow returning people to deepen their practice and will also be easily accessible for newcomers. Sitting and walking sessions will alternate so people will not have to sit for more than 20 minutes at a time. 

These practices form the most basic practices in the Shingon tradition of Japanese Esoteric or Vajrayana Buddhism.

Jamie Kearney has been practicing Vajrayana Buddhist Meditation for 13 years. He was asked
to teach by his root teacher Ajari Jomyo Tanaka in 2016, and has been teaching introductory
classes since then.

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