Lansing Area Mindfulness Community

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Lansing, MI
Lansing Area Mindfulness Community

WEEKLY PRACTICE:
Wednesdays, 7 - 9 pm. Van Hanh Temple ~ Currently in Person and on Zoom.
3015 S MLK We became the Lansing Area Mindfulness Community.

The Lansing Area Mindfulness Community is a sangha of lay practitioners of diverse backgrounds who study the Dharma and practice meditation in the Zen Buddhist tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. All are welcome!

**Due to allergic reactions and sensitivities to fragrance, Sangha "offers" but no longer burns incense as part our opening meditation. However, incense continues to be used in the Temple at other times, so the fragrance still remains. Please keep this in mind if you plan to attend.**

WEEKLY PRACTICE: www.lamc.info/weeklypractice
FOR NEWCOMERS: www.lamc.info/2015/11/17/for-newcomers-an-explanation-of-our-practice/
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WEBSITE: www.lamc.info
EMAIL: info@lamc.info

MAILING LIST: lamc.info/mailing-list/
As of October 2017, LAMC is in the process of restructuring our mailing list as our former platform (Wiggio) has been disabled. To be added to the REGIONAL mailing list + receive special event announcements, please send an email with "Subscribe to Regional List" in the subject line to: info@lamc.info.

{updated 2 October 2017}
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF LANSING AREA MINDFULNESS COMMUNITY
~ prepared by Carolyn White - "True Land of Purity" ~

When you take the Five Mindfulness Trainings (5 Precepts) with the Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, he asks you not to practice alone but to find a community (a sangha) of like-minded people to support you in your meditation. In 1997 I took the trainings and began looking for people to practice with me. Since I wasn't adept at sitting meditation, I looked for someone who was. I looked for two years and others joined me in that search, until finally six of us looked at each other and realized we were a sangha, although most of us were new to the practice of mindfulness. In 1999 we began weekly sitting and walking meditation at the Bishop Road Mindfulness Center belonging to the Vietnamese-American Buddhist Association of Lansing (V.A.B.A.L.). The caretaker lived in the house; the temple was in the garage, which could be very cold. So, unlike most Buddhist groups, we practiced walking meditation first so we could warm up before we sat for thirty minutes on the concrete floor. We loved our temple and the Vietnamese community that supported us, even though their Buddhist practice differed from ours. On the first Saturday of every November we brought dharma teacher Jack Lawlor, of Lakeside Buddha Sangha (www.lakesidebuddha.org/) in Illinois, to lead us in a full Day of Mindfulness. When, in 2004, the Vietnamese community moved to South Washington Avenue, we did, too. We practice well. Every Wednesday from 7-9 PM we do sitting and walking meditation and hold a dharma discussion, finding skillful ways to incorporate mindfulness into our daily lives. We read not only the works of our root teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, but other great masters: The Dalai Lama, Pema Chodron, Ayya Khema, Lama
Zopa, Ajahn Chah, Ajahn Brahm, Tara Brach, Eckhart Tolle, and so many more. We study the sutras. And we listen deeply to each other to be more compassionate and fully awake for our lives. Sangha thrives beyond the weekly practice in the temple, supporting its dharma sisters and brothers, in celebration and sorrow, through times of great change. Come and join us!

09/02/2025

Cassin will lead the dharma discussion, about Right Livelyhood.

08/12/2025

Wednesday 13 AUG 2025 7-9PM

Hello all.

Its that time in the middle of Summer where we get together to recite the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

In our Plum Village tradition the Five Mindfulness Trainings are a review of the precepts through the lens of interbeing.

You may be including these in your daily or weekly practice.

Thay said that one must recite these at least once every three months in order to maintain the transmission. And so in reverence to the Trainings and our teacher, we do this recitation.

I have been told that the trainings might be long. As probably should be the case for the foundation of a practice.

Later in the Fall we'll be doing a deeper dive into each of these, plus the three refuges, and seeing if we can make an opportunity for sangha members to receive the transmission of these trainings.

On Wednesday, we'll also be having our Friend's Dinner. What a nice combination - sharing mindful food, eating mindfully, enjoying the company of the Sangha, meditating together, and reciting the trainings.

Sure does sound like a swell evening to me.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Cheers.

--Cassin

08/03/2025

Dear Sangha:

This next Wednesday we will continue our study of the book "Anger", Thich Nhat Hanh, by reviewing and sharing the wisdoms of Chapter 10, Mindful Breathing.

We will begin with an experiential exercise and then review some of the suggestions in the Chapter as well as share our own experiences/outcomes of mindful breathing.

Please join us in-person or by Zoom.

Metta, Susan
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Our weekly sangha gatherings take place on Wednesday 7-9pm (ET).

07/26/2025

Hello everyone,

Josh will be leading the dharma discussion on 7-9 Wednesday July 30 for Chapter 10: Embracing Anger with Mindfulness, from the book Anger by Thich Naht Hanh.

Thich Nhat Hanh - Anger Wisdom for Cooling the Flames

07/23/2025

7-9 PM, 23 JULY 2025

Steve will lead the dharma discussion, about Chapter 8, Habit Energy of Anger.

07/14/2025

https://northshoreimc.org/events/present-moment-poetry-2025-2-1

07/09/2025

7-9 PM Wednesday 09 JULY 2025

In today’s dharma discussion, we will look at Vipassana meditation and what happens at a 10-day Vipassana retreat. Here is an article which will give you some background, or substitute for the discussion if you're not able to attend tomorrow night.

Looking forward to seeing you all.

Peter W

In this article, we explore what Vipassana meditation is, the benefits it offers, the challenges you might encounter, and how you can get started with this practice.

07/02/2025

https://apple.news/AMXtr3PbTSnSbV9sB6i-EVg

"It's easy to get overwhelmed by feelings, but you may have more control than you think," says Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle, a Yale psychologist and emotional intelligence expert.

07/01/2025

Hello all.

Cassin Bowing in.

Tomorrow (7-9PM 02 Jul 2025) we'll be discussing the celebration of interbeing and interdependence that Thich Nhat Hanh has talked about on many occasions. It's a practice that happens around Independence Day so that we think about our interconnected natures instead of all the things that divide us and celebrations of violence and individualism.

There are many readings on interdependence from Thay. And I'd like to share some of them with you here.

We could start with The Heart of Understanding from 1988. This was the first book by Thay that I ever had the pleasure to read. Changed how I see everything around me. 🙂

If we wanted to go deeper we could consider the first time in writing that Thay said, "We should talk about celebrating "Dependence or Interdependence Day." in the Sutras on Dependent Co-arising and Great Emptiness.

And we could consider how some other Sangha's have celebrated in the past - like Still Water sangha in Maryland. Or the All Souls Unitarian Church, who had interdependence as their summer theme in 2023.

They ask some great questions for reflection that I will echo here.
Reflect on your own personal interdependence.
Consider the impact of a single choice; e.g. to make bread or buy a loaf of bread at the market
When have you felt your interdependence acutely?
How does being with the Sangha contribute to your understanding of interdependence?
I look forward to talking about interdependence with you all tomorrow night.

Cassin, Bowing out.

Cheers.

--Cassin
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Our weekly sangha gatherings take place on Wednesday 7-9pm (ET)

06/25/2025

This Wednesday 25 June 2025 we will discuss Chapter Five (Compassionate Communication) of the TNH's book Anger.

https://cdn.bookey.app/files/pdf/book/en/anger.pdf?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLIGVJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHiONuPmA0bewHt1pNOnG-1NthOfClXl4c-xI5tPEsJsjVmsBxAv9Oey7xbqA_aem_FVZsH5bgmTcUVCaVCwSTXw

Address

3015 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
Lansing, MI
48910

Opening Hours

7pm - 9pm

Website

http://www.lamc.info/

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