Sunday Morning Zazen
with the Bozeman Zen Group
8:00 – 9:15 am
This group meets our need for shared practice using the Zoom platform. Instructions on how to use Zoom may be found here. You can also use this link to attend this meeting.
Our time together will include meditation, chanting, and a Dharma talk, activity, or practice.
Anyone and everyone is welcome – newcomers and beginners are always welcome, just let us know if you are new and we’ll make introductions and offer instructions.
For more about the Bozeman Zen Group and our teacher, Karen DeCotis, please click here to go to our website.
Please note: these Sunday mornings will not be held when the Dharma Center is hosting a weekend retreat. Please check this website’s calendar if you’d like to be sure of the meeting. Thank you.
Our calendar program automatically offers links to other websites in the bottom corners of the page. Note: these events maybe very out of date. Please check the date carefully when using these arrows to access other events. Thank you.
Mindful Creativity
Second Sunday of each Month
Afternoons (exact time varies)
Schedule
April 14: Writing Meditation with Marilia Librandi, 2-4 PM
We’re excited to have Marilia Librandi host a writing workshop for our Mindful Creativity series. Marilia excels at creating a space to create freely, to experiment with forms and content, to discover our spontaneous mind, to let our inner critic speak but not to stop us, to express ourselves effortlessly and to surprise ourselves with the energy of our listening words. It’s a workshop inspired by the encounter between Allen Ginsberg and Trungpa Rinpoche, carried on by Natalie Goldberg’s writing practice, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s spiritual writings and Brazilian Clarice Lispector’s “writing by ear.”
Marília Librandi has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. She taught Brazilian Literature and Culture at Stanford University and at Princeton University. She is the author of Writing by Ear (Univ.of Toronto Press, 2018) and co-editor of Transpoetic Exchange (Bucknell Press, 2020). Learn more on her website: https://mywritinglab.org/
Here’s what past participants have said about Marilia’s workshops:
“Marilla’s writing lab spurs my daily creativity in ways I never expected. I’m delighted to have more clarity about my intentions, with fresh ideas on how to live and work. Most of all, the rich exchange of sharing spontaneous writing is a treasure. Kind listening and warm encouragement ‘ go a long way to make writing both joyful and rewarding.” -Margaret Kachadurian
“I really appreciate how Marilia makes the Writing Lab a group experience where it feels safe to write from a place of freedom and vulnerability. She offers inspiring prompts for our writing and maintains a structure that supports good conversation and writing time. I thoroughly enjoy my time at the Writing Lab!” -Travis Burdick
Registration fees will be split between the BDC and the facilitator. No need to bring extra dana. Please bring a journal and pen!
About the Classes
The BDC Mindful Creativity classes offer creative ways to explore the teachings of the Buddha. Using arts, crafts and/or writing methods, facilitators from our community will lead creative activities with the purpose of expressing the wisdom, inspiration and compassion of the Dharma.
You do not have to practice Buddhism or have prior experience with the art form to join; everyone is welcome.
There will be a suggested sliding scale fee which includes registration and materials costs for every meeting; scholarships are available on request.
Sample Meeting
● Welcome/introduction
● Meditation (10-20 minutes)
● Introduction to creative activity.
● Creative activity
● Group sharing on the experience of practice or the reading
● Clean up
● Short closing sit and Dedication of Merit
Background on Creativity and Buddhism
Creativity, innovation and imagination have been part of the Buddhist tradition since the first century BCE when the oral tradition of Theravada evolved into the narrative sutras of the Pali Canon etched into palm leaves. Statues of Buddha were created in the 3rd century Pyu period of Burma. The Dunhuang caves of China revealed a multicultural collection of 5th century Buddhist manuscripts and mural paintings. Tibetans have created thangkas and mandalas for 1,300 years inspiring the practice of Vajrayana Buddhism. The history of Zen in Japan is replete with poems, drawings, paintings and books based on Buddhist themes. Modern western Buddhism is currently producing art, in all its forms, as an exploration of the Buddha’s teachings. Our Mindful Creativity Group will continue this tradition.
Interested in Facilitating?
Out of respect for the Buddha’s teachings, the integrity of the presentations will be carefully reviewed. For important information regarding the criteria to facilitate, the facilitator’s role, class structure, and for the application form please click here.
Bozeman Zen Group
Sundays
5-6:30 PM
In person Only
This is an opportunity to practice in the Soto Zen style with our forms and practices. All welcome; no prior experience needed.
Contact bznzen@gmail.com for more info.
Morning Zazen
ONLINE with Bozeman Zen Group
Weekdays, 6 – 6:30 AM
The Bozeman Zen Group is offering online, morning zazen (silent, sitting meditation) to all interested. You do not have to be a Zen practitioner to participate. Start your morning practicing intention!
Schedule:
6:00 AM: Robe chant, Bell rings three times
Zazen for 25 minutes, bell rings once
6:25 AM Chant Pali refuges.
Drop-In Meditations
Mondays-Fridays
12:00 – 1:00 pm
(except holidays)
Everyone is welcome to attend. A bell-ringer will open and close the session with three bells and will ring one bell at 12:30. The meditation will be in silence, but people are welcome to connect before and after each session.
Drop-in meditations are offered free of any charge, as a communal support to practice. Come and go (quietly) as you need to, latecomers welcome.
Everyone is welcome at Dharma Center programs and resident group meetings.
The Dharma Center is an inclusive, safe refuge for all ages, all sizes, all colors, all sexes, all religions, all beliefs, all cultures, all types, of all people.
Afternoon Meditation
5:20-6:00 PM
Mondays & Fridays
IN PERSON ONLY
Join us for this drop-in sit hosted by the Bozeman Zen Group. We will sit silently for 35 minutes and then do a short chant. All welcome!
Meditation & Mindfulness Practice in the tradition of Plum Village
& the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh
Meets IN PERSON
Mondays, 7:00 – 8:30 pm
facilitated by Steve Allison-Bunnell
“Engaged Buddhism” is Thich Nhat Hanh’s name for practicing mindfulness in order to manifest joy, peace, and compassion in our relationships and daily lives.
Each week, we do sitting and walking meditation together, and learn from each other by sharing our experiences in the practice. First Mondays of the month, we recite the Plum Village Five Mindfulness Trainings, and other weeks we read and study Thay’s teachings.
All are welcome, and we offer brief instruction and guided meditations to develop our practice and nurture sangha energy.
Please visit Plum Village online for more about our tradition, including practice resources and talks.
Open Way Sanghas are the family of Plum Village practice groups here in Montana, offering semi-annual retreats and days of mindfulness in Missoula, Kalispell, and Helena.
Steve Allison-Bunnell (True Spring Branch) is an ordained member of the Core Community of the Plum Village Order of Interbeing.
Email bozemantnh@gmail.com with questions or to join our email list and receive Zoom links and weekly announcements.
Morning Zazen
ONLINE with Bozeman Zen Group
Weekdays, 6 – 6:30 AM
The Bozeman Zen Group is offering online, morning zazen (silent, sitting meditation) to all interested. You do not have to be a Zen practitioner to participate. Start your morning practicing intention!
Schedule:
6:00 AM: Robe chant, Bell rings three times
Zazen for 25 minutes, bell rings once
6:25 AM Chant Pali refuges.
BIC Drop-In Meditation
Meeting Our Lives with Kindhearted Awareness
Tuesdays
10:30 – 11:30 AM
Led by Suzanne Colón
UPDATE: This meditation is offered over Zoom. Instructions on how to use Zoom may be found here. You can also use this link to access BDC remote meetings.
This program shares the meditation practices that expand our capacity to meet life with an open, stable heart-mind. Guided meditations will vary week to week, providing an opportunity to try new practices and ways of working with life’s challenges. The four heart qualities known as the Brahma Viharas (Noble Abodes) will be cultivated with variations on ways to evoke and develop them: Kindness, Compassion, Joy and Equanimity.
Program Schedule:
10:25 – Zoom Room Opens
10:30 – 10:55 – Guided Meditation
Collective Sharing of Delights or Difficulties
Short Reading: Guidance in the Buddhist Practices of the Heart
Discussion until 11:30
Following the guided meditation, we’ll give each other the opportunity to connect, to be supported in times of difficulty, and be witnessed in times of joy. The collective “Sharing of Delights or Difficulties” is formal practice of briefly naming a sorrow or difficulty, a joy or delight, and having the group witness and resonate with each other’s experience.
No prior meditation experience is needed to attend this program. Please make every effort to arrive by 10:30.
This program is offered freely, which means this is a gift to the community, and you are encouraged to pay the gift forward to help cover costs to the degree that you can. This is a program of the Bozeman Insight Community (BIC), offered to the entire Dharma Center community and general public.
Everyone is welcome at Dharma Center programs and resident group meetings.
The Dharma Center is an inclusive, safe refuge for all ages, all sizes, all colors, all sexes, all religions, all beliefs, all cultures, all types, of all people.
Drop-In Meditations
Mondays-Fridays
12:00 – 1:00 pm
(except holidays)
Everyone is welcome to attend. A bell-ringer will open and close the session with three bells and will ring one bell at 12:30. The meditation will be in silence, but people are welcome to connect before and after each session.
Drop-in meditations are offered free of any charge, as a communal support to practice. Come and go (quietly) as you need to, latecomers welcome.
Everyone is welcome at Dharma Center programs and resident group meetings.
The Dharma Center is an inclusive, safe refuge for all ages, all sizes, all colors, all sexes, all religions, all beliefs, all cultures, all types, of all people.
Pali Canon Study Group
Tuesdays 1:15-2:15 PM
Although Bozeman Dharma Center houses groups from multiple lineages, one thing we all have in common is a reliance on the teachings of the Buddha. The Pali Canon is recognized as the earliest written record of the Buddha’s teachings, given before the Buddhist community divided into different schools. This peer-led study group will begin by tackling readings from the Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha. You do not need to own the book to participate and do not need to commit to attending every week. Already having a practice and familiarity with the Dharma will be helpful.
Basic Schedule
1:15 Short sit
1:30 Read portion of Pali Canon with discussion afterward
2:10 Short sit and closing chant
MindSpace
A Meditation Group for adults Ages 18 – 40
Tuesdays 6:30 – 7:45 pm
In Person Only
MindSpace is an open community gathering of young adults 18-40 years of age. Through meditation we foster a clear mind, compassionate heart, and develop an intimacy with human experiences. We encourage and support each other in daily practice to embody mindfulness in everyday life.
We come together with open hearts and curious, non-judgmental minds to explore meditation practices and share experiences in bringing practice to daily life. Together we create a supportive community, including everyone– from every background, race, gender identity, orientation and ability.
Please email info@bozemandharmacenter.org if childcare would be helpful for you to attend this group.
Meeting Structure
6:25: Gather
6:30: 30 minute meditation
7:00: Reading and Discussion
7:45: End
We choose books that are easy to pick up at any point. Drop-ins are welcome! You do not need to have own the book to participate.
We are currently reading Training in Compassion by Norman Fischer (Zen tradition)
Examples of other books we’ve read:
— No Self, No Problem by Anam Thubten (Tibetan tradition)
— Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach (Insight tradition)
Current Facilitators
Kerry Neal has practiced in the Zen tradition for 8 years. She sits with the Bozeman Zen Group. She helped start MindSpace in 2016 and facilitated until early 2019. She loves the lifelong nature that is meditation practice and working mindfulness into everyday life.
Mary Corelli has 12 years of practice in the Zen and Insight Meditation traditions. She is a mother and a therapist. Mary is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher through Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s two year training program. She emphasizes ecological awareness in practice.
Allison Howe has 4 years of meditation practice and has been practicing regularly with MindSpace since 2022. She is an experienced group facilitator and therapist in private practice, helping clients bring mindful awareness into daily life and deepening their relationship with themselves through an embodied sense of openness, compassion, and curiosity.
Palyul Tibetan Buddhist Sangha
Meditation/Book Reading Group Tuesdays 7-8 PM via Zoom
Note that the Zoom link for Palyul (below) is not the same as the regular BDC Zoom link.
Morning Zazen
ONLINE with Bozeman Zen Group
Weekdays, 6 – 6:30 AM
The Bozeman Zen Group is offering online, morning zazen (silent, sitting meditation) to all interested. You do not have to be a Zen practitioner to participate. Start your morning practicing intention!
Schedule:
6:00 AM: Robe chant, Bell rings three times
Zazen for 25 minutes, bell rings once
6:25 AM Chant Pali refuges.
Drop-In Meditations
Mondays-Fridays
12:00 – 1:00 pm
(except holidays)
Everyone is welcome to attend. A bell-ringer will open and close the session with three bells and will ring one bell at 12:30. The meditation will be in silence, but people are welcome to connect before and after each session.
Drop-in meditations are offered free of any charge, as a communal support to practice. Come and go (quietly) as you need to, latecomers welcome.
Everyone is welcome at Dharma Center programs and resident group meetings.
The Dharma Center is an inclusive, safe refuge for all ages, all sizes, all colors, all sexes, all religions, all beliefs, all cultures, all types, of all people.
Tergar Bozeman Practice Group
Wednesdays, 5:30 – 7 PM (Mountain Time)
Tea Social Time: 5-5:25
In person and via Zoom
Group/Practice Co-Coordinator: Sheila Devitt & Janet Dochnahl Email: bozeman@tergar.org
No Registration Necessary
Ter is a Tibetan word for treasure, Gar means gathering. So, Tergar can be understood as a place where people come together to find the sublime treasure … that helps us calm our minds, open our hearts and awaken wisdom.
Under the guidance of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, the Tergar Meditation Practice Group of Bozeman gathers to study and practice meditation. Mingyur Rinpoche’s approach to meditation focuses on the practice of mindful awareness, which unlocks the door to a calm mind, compassionate heart, and insight into the challenges of day-to-day life. Rinpoche’s teachings emphasize universal principles that are of profound benefit to people of all faiths and belief systems.
If you are new to meditation and would like to learn more, or if you are a seasoned practitioner and would like to deepen your practice, please join us. Each session will include guided meditation and group discussion. Our meetings are free and open to all.
Monthly Session Topics
The Six Paramitas – AKA The Path of Compassionate Action (May to October)
– May 8, 15 – The Path of the Bodhisatva – Introduction
– May 22 – Guest Tim Olmsted – Senior Tergar Instructor and Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Center of Steamboat Springs CO
– May 29 – Generosity – the first paramita ( also June 5 and 12)
What is this course about?
In this course, we’ll deeply explore the Bodhisattva path, learning and practicing the key points of the six paramitas: generosity, ethical conduct, patience, joyful effort, meditation and wisdom. We’ll investigate the meaning and logic of each of the paramitas and learn how to bring them alive in our everyday lives. While much of the presentation of this course will be offered through a Buddhist lens, we will be borrowing from a wide variety of traditions and disciplines. The training in love, compassion and wisdom and caring for the world is at the heart of all great philosophic and spiritual traditions and is a natural calling in all of us.
What does this program include?
The program includes video teachings from Mingyur Rinpoche and contemporary teachers, introductions by Tergar instructors, instructions on the key points, along with a few supplementary readings and quotes to deepen our understanding. Included will be a downloadable Student Handbook. Each topic will be presented over 3 weeks.
All are welcome to join us in this exploration of these beautiful teachings and practices.
Those who are subscribed to our weekly newsletter will receive additional information and practice tools related to the topic.
MOVIE NIGHT – WANDERING BUT NOT LOST
May 31 Friday 7 pm – Bozeman Dharma Center – Fundraiser for Tergar and Bozeman Dharma Center.
This movie is an intimate account of Mingyur Rinpoche’s four-and-a-half-year retreat (June 2011 – November 2015) interspersed with the master’s own guidance in applying Buddhist wisdom to our daily modern lives. PLEASE JOIN US – Movie Length: 1hour 30 minutes
Donations gratefully accepted – $5 -$50
Click here for more information on the film.
*****
NEW! Nectar of the Path Practice Sunday’s 8 am to 8:45 am – online ( NOT the BDC zoom link)
What is this practice about?
This practice “Nectar of the Path” was written by Mingyur Rinpoche to be practiced by any of his students however experienced they might be. “Nectar” signifies a distillation of something very precious and nourishing. Nectar of the Path is a complete practice encompassing all of the essential aspects of a traditional Tibetan Buddhist practice. In this practice we mix contemplation and meditation, alternating periods of each and chanting in Tibetan and some visualization.
If you are interested in joining this practice group, or have questions, please send an email to bozemantergarsmd@gmail.com . Information on the practice ,the practice liturgy and the zoom link will be sent to you.
General Schedule
5:00 – 5:25 Tea Social Time
5:15 Newcomer Instruction
5:25 Gather
5:30 Opening Aspiration
Participants check in on their practice
Meditation (15-20 minutes)
Group discussions on particular questions related to the current topic.
Meditation (15-20 minutes)
Q&A
7:00 Closing Dedication
* We do two 10 min walking meditations every 3rd week in the Practice only session
Learn more about Tergar International! Find more information on The Joy of Living course here. Learn more about Tergar Bozeman here.
Two Wings of the Dharma
Wednesday, May 15 & 22
7:15-8:45
with Anushka Fernandopulle
In Person and via Zoom
Over two Wednesday classes evenings, Anushka will share teachings and meditations that develop the two wings of dharma practice: Wisdom and Compassion. This first one will explore the essentials of Wisdom or Insight practice that reveals to us the nature of our experience and ‘purifies’ the heart-mind. The second session will explore ways to develop the qualities of the heart: Kindness, Compassion, for ourselves, for others, and for the world-at-large.
Appropriate for all levels of meditation experience.
Come to one or both as your schedule allows. Register below.
About Anushka
Anushka has trained Buddhist meditation for over 30 years, primarily Vipassana or Insight Meditation (the source of secular Mindfulness). After studying Buddhism at Harvard, she spent four years in full-time meditation training in the US, India and Sri Lanka. She was invited to teach Dharma in 1998 and later went through a four year meditation teacher training program with Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg and other leading Western Buddhist meditation teachers. In 2011, she joined the Teacher’s Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Her work has been featured in publications like Tricycle, Lion’s Roar, Turning Wheel, Inquiring Mind, as well as on her Huffington Post blog about dharma and politics.
Morning Zazen
ONLINE with Bozeman Zen Group
Weekdays, 6 – 6:30 AM
The Bozeman Zen Group is offering online, morning zazen (silent, sitting meditation) to all interested. You do not have to be a Zen practitioner to participate. Start your morning practicing intention!
Schedule:
6:00 AM: Robe chant, Bell rings three times
Zazen for 25 minutes, bell rings once
6:25 AM Chant Pali refuges.
Drop-In Meditations
Mondays-Fridays
12:00 – 1:00 pm
(except holidays)
Everyone is welcome to attend. A bell-ringer will open and close the session with three bells and will ring one bell at 12:30. The meditation will be in silence, but people are welcome to connect before and after each session.
Drop-in meditations are offered free of any charge, as a communal support to practice. Come and go (quietly) as you need to, latecomers welcome.
Everyone is welcome at Dharma Center programs and resident group meetings.
The Dharma Center is an inclusive, safe refuge for all ages, all sizes, all colors, all sexes, all religions, all beliefs, all cultures, all types, of all people.
Bozeman Insight Guest: Anushka Fernandopulle
Thursday, May 16
7-8:30 PM
Help us welcome our visiting teacher, Anushka Fernandopulle, in this evening with the Bozeman Insight Community. Through Q&A, Anushka will tell stories of her highs and lows on her dharma journey. These informal, conversational evenings are entertaining and inspiring and help us get to know the teacher. Everyone welcome!