Los Alamos Dharma Friends - Sharing the Wisdom and Compassion of Dharma Practice

Sharing the Wisdom and Compassion of Dharma Practice

Los Alamos Dharma Friends is an informal group of Buddhist practitioners in Northern NM that welcomes friends at all levels of experience.

What is it?

This site is a place to share our experiences and learning, and to become informed about opportunities for local and regional opportunities to practice.

Events

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Groups

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What's New?

Next Dharma Friends Event
Our next event is as yet unscheduled. In the past, we've gotten together informally for coffee, or had a potluck and film or Dharma talk at the Unitarian Church or at Kannon Zendo. If you have an idea for a get together in October or early November, please message me (John Ambrosiano) and we'll brainstorm.

Current Reading
Mindfulness In Plain English, by Ven. Henepola Gunaratana
Special note: A version of this book can be downloaded in PDF format from this link.

What We Do

Los Alamos Dharma Friends regularly schedules activities throughout the year to help support practice. Please see the Events section on the left-hand side to see what's currently scheduled. Normally, we will try each month to schedule a potluck, a coffee, and a day-long retreat. Potlucks usually include a short sitting, potluck meal, and a movie or recorded dharma talk. Coffees are similar, but even more relaxed. Day-long retreats are relatively informal as retreats go. They are geared to those of us who want opportunities for more intensive meditation practice, but may not often be able to commit to longer retreats because of circumstances.

Through its members, Los Alamos Dharma Friends is affiliated with several organizations in Northern New Mexico that support routine sitting practice. In Los Alamos, these are Kannon Zendo and the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos. Kannon Zendo offers meditation at 6:45 on Wednesday evenings. There are usually two 30 minute periods of meditation, with walking meditation in between, all followed by tea. There is also a sit at 8 a.m. on Sunday mornings at the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos.

Members often participate in two local sanghas: the Santa Fe Vipassana Sangha, and Upaya Zen Center. Please follow the links here and below for information on these and other nearby sanghas. Some of the events hosted by these centers, which are within easy reach of Los Alamos, are regularly included in the Events posted on this site.

Blog Posts

Bodhisatva vows

The following verses come from the San Diego Zen Center by way of Henry Finney:

Caught in the self-centered dream, only suffering.

Holding to self-centered thought, exactly the dream.

Each moment, life as it is, the only teacher.

Being just this moment, compassion's way.

Posted by John Ambrosiano on June 2, 2009 at 2:30am

Hear Upaya Zen Center's Weekly Dharma Talks Online

Upaya Zen Center's weekly Dharma talks are recorded and made available on their site. Follow this link to hear their talks.

Posted by John Ambrosiano on April 6, 2009 at 10:35am

Guanyin of the Southern Sea

The beautiful image of Quan Yin appearing on the main page is a photograph of a magnificent Chinese wood carving called "Guanyin of the Southern Sea" (Nanhai Guanyin) created in the 11th-12 century. It currently resides in the collection of Chinese art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City. Probably the next best thing to seeing the carving in person is to view the high-resolution images available on the web pages of the Nelson-Atkins. A remarkable technology, used by a number of museums an… Continue

Posted by John Ambrosiano on March 24, 2009 at 7:00am

Clear Light Prayer

This Tibetan prayer appears courtesy of teacher Matt Flickstein. When I received it I was struck by how clear a map it is of the territory that practice invites us to explore.

THE CLEAR LIGHT PRAYER

I am the Clear Light beyond all Ultimates.
I am the Voidness of the Void,
Infinite, Eternal, Uncreated.
I am the Bornless One,
There is No Other.

Not the Void of Darkness,
Not the Void of Nothingness,
Not the Void of Nonexistence,
I am the Endless Endlessness of the Absolute.

Nothing is ha… Continue

Posted by John Ambrosiano on March 5, 2009 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

The Zen Ox Herding Pictures

I've heard a lot about the ten Zen ox herder pictures, so I went looking for a set. I found these attributed to Shubun (15th Century artist) appearing in The Manual of Zen Buddhism by D.T. Suzuki.

1. Undisciplined

With his horns fiercely projec

… Continue

Posted by John Ambrosiano on March 1, 2009 at 12:00pm — 2 Comments

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John Ambrosiano created this Ning Network.

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