- SF Insight, the San Francisco Insight Meditation Community, is dedicated to offering the teachings of the Buddha as they develop in the West. Our orientation is toward intensive lay practice. We offer classes, meditation retreats and other events as a community (sangha) devoted to the embodiment of awakening in our lives.
- Led by Eugene Cash, we meet every Sunday evening from 7pm to 9pm in the Starr King Room of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco, located at 1187 Franklin Street at the corner of Geary Blvd. Get directions or view map. Our meetings begin with a 45–minute meditation, followed by a talk and discussion … (full text Homepage).
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Address: San Francisco Insight Meditation Community, P.O. Box 475536, San Francisco, CA 94147-5536, USA;
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About /insight meditation:
Vipassana Meditation: Vipassana (also known as Insight or Mindfulness) Meditation is a simple technique that has been practiced in Asia for over 2,500 years.
Mindfulness cultivates a sense of wholeness that brings us into the experience of “things-as-they-are” moment by moment. Cultivating awareness of breath, body, and the processes of heart and mind, mindfulness offers insight into the transient (impermanent), unsatisfactory (suffering) and universal (selfless) nature of reality.
Mindfulness practice develops clarity of understanding and allows grasping, judgment, and fear to fall away. As these obscurations fall into abeyance, one discovers loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity, joy, and wisdom as the qualities of our true nature. The ultimate aim of Dharma practice is to end suffering. Buddha described this freedom, not based on external conditions, as “the unconditioned.”
The Three Jewels:
- Buddha: Over 2,500 years ago in northern India a young prince named Siddhartha Gautama was gripped by the realization that as human beings we are all vulnerable to suffering because of sickness, old age, and death. Six years later, after an intensive quest, he discovered an answer to this universal problem of suffering through profound insight into the nature of life. As he began to share his understanding with others, he was known as the « Buddha, » or Awakened One – one who has come to great depths of wisdom and compassion through his own realization.
- Dharma: The Buddha’s teaching is referred to as the “Dharma,” a Sanskrit word meaning “Truth” or “Law” or simply, “the way things are.” The Buddha’s “Dharma” was a rediscover of universal truth.
- Sangha: One who practices the teaching of the Buddha is said to be a member of the “Sangha,” or community of followers of the Dharma. These three facets of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are known collectively as the Three Refuges or the Triple Gem.
Lineage: … (full text about).