Washing Machine:
approx $700

Vacuum Cleaner:
approx $200

Quilts 20x54 ins: $1000

Hepatitis Vaccines
at $50 per child: $2700

Home sponsorship for a child to live in our home in Kathmandu costs $800 per year. This covers housing, food, clothing, schooling and medical care. Our children attend a private school where they receive a quality education, learn English and are provided tutors.

If you are interested in sponsoring and making a difference in a child's life forever, or if you want to donate towards the wish list, please contact:

Dr Christine Schutz, President
Mitrata-Nepal Foundation for Children, Inc.
3934 Arsenal Street
St. Louis MO 63116
drcms@earthlink.net

Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine
rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding
around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me, you will see me instantly —
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God? He is the breath inside the breath.

—Kabir [1440—1518]
[translated by Robert Bly]

"There was once a wise woman traveling in the mountains who found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and she opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked if she might give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But only a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman who had given it to him.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I'm giving it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. I want you to give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

— Author Unknown

The Buddha's Words on Kindness

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in saftey,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!

Natural Perfection
www.surya.org/sounds/natural.ram
1997 Lama Surya Das. All rights reserved.

Peace Talks
Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D, Nonviolent Communication
www.goodradioshows.org/ramFil...g75.mp3

“What I want in my life is compassion, a flow between myself and others based on a mutual giving from the heart.”
— Marshall B. Rosenberg

Four components of nonviolent communication:
1. observation
2. feeling
3. needs
4. request

Sundays 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. at
St. Louis YogaSource

1500 Big Bend Blvd.

St. Louis, MO 63177
[just south of I-64/Hwy 40 on Big Bend]

Christine Schutz:
drcms@earthlink.net

This vipassana meditation is a silent sitting with occasional periods of instruction and guided meditation designed to deepen the practice.

"So the thing to do when working on a motorcycle, as in any other task, is to cultivate the peace of mind which does not separate one's self from one's surroundings. When that is done successfully, then everything else follows naturally. Peace of mind produces right values, right values produce right thoughts. Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity at the center of it all."
— Robert M. Pirsig

Infinite Smile
www.infinitesmile.org

Zencast
www.zencast.com/

Audio Dharma
www.audiodharma.org/

Urban Dharma
www.kusala.org/

buddhanet
www.buddhanet.net/

[: thanks Jim :]

"We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence."
— M.K. Gandhi

“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.”
— Lao Tzu

Greetings to all.

Aug 3 Christine
Aug 10 Christine
Aug 17 Sue
Aug 24 Sharon
Aug 31 Sue
Sept 7 Christine
Sept 14 Christine
Sept 21 Sue
Sept 28 Sue

Thank you.

SANSKRIT POEM:
Each today, well-lived, makes yesterday a dream of happiness
and each tomorrow a vision of hope. Look, therefore, to this
one day, for it and it alone is life.

INSIGHT MEDITATION RETREAT

The Non-Dual Dimension of Life

Taught by: MATTHEW FLICKSTEIN

Friday October 3-Sunday October 5, 2008
Location: Show Me Dharma Center, 2011 Chapel Plaza Court, #9, Columbia, MO

There is only One Truth and it cannot be defined, explained, or put into words because it is beyond concept. It is beyond concept because concepts only define that which can be compared - those things that are dualistic in nature.

In the West, we use the word God to point to this Truth. The problem is that people then believe that there is such a "thing" as God, which is merely another concept. In the East, terms such as Buddha Nature, Buddha Mind, the Ground of Being, the Tao, the Void, and Nirvana fare no better. We are not saying that there is no Truth. It is just that words or concepts are not the Truth itself - they just point to it.

The focus of this retreat is to experience profound practices from the various spiritual traditions that support our ability to see through our mental constructs and enable us to have a direct experience of this "non-dual" Truth. As time allows, we will explore practices from Buddhism, Mystical Judaism, Christianity and the Hindu Vedanta tradition. There will also be time for group conferences with the teacher.

Registration Fee: $55-$100. The fee is based on participants' ability to pay and covers the cost of the retreat space, airfare for the teacher, and incidental expenses. Any amount over $55 will be considered a tax deductible contribution to Show Me Dharma. No part of the registration fee will go to the teacher. The teachings are given freely in the spirit of dana. The teacher will welcome any support you wish to offer.

To Register, please contact the registrar, Helen Roehlke, 2451 S. Roby Farm Road, Rocheport, MO 65279; Phone: 573.446.0232; e-mail helenj31@tranquility.net Checks should be sent to the registrar in advance made payable to Show Me Dharma. Scholarships are available. To request a scholarship, contact the registrar.

Retreat Schedule: Friday 7:00-9:00 pm; Saturday 9:00 am-6:00 pm; Sunday 8:00 am-12:00 noon.
Matthew Flickstein, a former psychotherapist, founded The Forest Way in 1993. He has been practicing and teaching insight meditation for over thirty-two years. Matthew has studied with teachers from many spiritual traditions and at one time was ordained as a monk in the Theravadan Buddhist tradition. In 1982, Matthew co-founded the Bhavana Society Monastic and Meditation Center in West Virginia with Bhante Gunaratana.

Matthew has published three books, Journey to the Center: A Meditation Workbook, Swallowing the River Ganges: A Comprehensive Practice Guide to the Path of Purification, and a revised edition of Swallowing the River Ganges entitled The Meditators Atlas: A Roadmap to the Inner World through Wisdom Publications.

Matthew travels internationally leading meditation retreats, teacher training programs, and spiritual pilgrimages. He is currently producing a documentary entitled With One Voice.

Sponsored by

SHOW ME DHARMA

This being human is a guest
house. Every morning
a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and attend them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture, still,
treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Welcome difficulty.
Learn the alchemy true human
beings know.
the moment you accept what troubles
you’ve been given, the door opens.

Welcome difficulty as a familiar
comrade. Joke with torment
brought by the Friend.

Sorrows are the rags of old clothes
and jackets that serve to cover,
and then are taken off.
That undressing,
and the beautiful
naked body
underneath
is the sweetness
that comes
after grief.

— Rumi

Letting go is not to stop caring—it means I can't do it for someone else.

Letting go is not to cut myself off—it's the realization that I can't control another.

Letting go is not to enable—but to allow learning from natural consequences.

Letting go is not to admit powerlessness—which means the outcome is not in my hands.

Letting go is not to change or blame another—it's to make the most of myself.

Letting go is not to fix—but to be supportive; it's not to judge—but to allow another to be a human being.

Letting go is not to be in the middle, arranging the outcome—but to allow others to effect their own destinies.

Letting go is not to be protective—it's to permit another to face reality.

Letting go is not to deny—but to accept.

Letting go is not to nag, scold, or argue—but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

Letting go is not to criticize and regulate anybody—but to try to become what I dream I can be.

Letting go is not to regret the past or fear the future—but to grow and live for the moment.

Letting go is to fear less and live more.

Some people think it's holding on that makes one strong- sometimes it's letting go.


thedailybuddha.zaadz.com/blog/...ing_go

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu
Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or in the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.

— Rumi

[Rumi was born Jalaluddin Balkhi, September 30, 1207, in Balkh, Afghanistan which was part of the Persian empire back then. One of the most beloved and read mystical poets in America and all over the world.]

Meditation is the act of restoring the balance between being and doing.

"When you begin to touch your heart or let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there, as well as how much space."
— Pema Chodron

1. Correct thought: avoiding covetousness, the wish to harm others and wrong views (like thinking: actions have no consequences, I never have any problems, there are no ways to end suffering etc.)

2. Correct speech: avoid lying, divisive and harsh speech and idle gossip.

3. Correct actions: avoid killing, stealing and sexual misconduct

4. Correct livelihood: try to make a living with the above attitude of thought, speech and actions.

5. Correct understanding: developing genuine wisdom.

[The last three aspects refer mainly to the practice of meditation]
6. Correct effort: after the first real step we need joyful perseverance to continue.

7. Correct mindfulness: try to be aware of the "here and now", instead of dreaming in the "there and then".

8. Correct concentration: to keep a steady, calm and attentive state of mind.



Right Speech - Samma Vacca
1. Abstaining from false speech (Speaking the truth)
2. Abstaining from slanderous speech (Avoiding malicious talk)
3. Abstaining from harsh speech
4. Abstaining from idle chatter



Meditation:

May my words be true;
May my words be just -- fair to all concerned;
May my words be endearing;
May my words be well-spoken -- may they bring no harm to me or to others.

by Dr. M. Scott Peck

The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. It was once a great order, but because of persecution, all its branch houses were lost and there were only five monks left in the decaying house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.

In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi occasionally used for a hermitage. The old monks had become a bit psychic, so they could always sense when the rabbi was in his hermitage. "The rabbi is in the woods, the rabbi is in the woods" they would whisper. It occurred to the abbot that a visit the rabbi might result in some advice to save his monastery.

The rabbi welcomed the abbot to his hut. But when the abbot explained his visit, the rabbi could say, "I know how it is" . "The spirit has gone out of the people. It is the same in my town. Almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore." So the old abbot and the old rabbi wept together. Then they read parts of the Torah and spoke of deep things. When the abbot had to leave, they embraced each other. "It has been a wonderful that we should meet after all these years," the abbot said, "but I have failed in my purpose for coming here. Is there nothing you can tell me that would help me save my dying order?"

"No, I am sorry," the rabbi responded. "I have no advice to give. But, I can tell you that the Messiah is one of you."

When the abbot returned to the monastery his fellow monks gathered around him to ask, "Well what did the rabbi say?"

“The rabbi said something very mysterious, it was something cryptic. He said that the Messiah is one of us. I don't know what he meant?"

In the time that followed, the old monks wondered whether the significance to the rabbi's words. The Messiah is one of us? Could he possibly have meant one of us monks? If so, which one?

Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant Father Abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand, he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man. Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Certainly he could not have meant Brother Elred! Elred gets crotchety at times. But come to think of it, even though he is a thorn in people's sides, when you look back on it, Elred is virtually always right. Often very right. Maybe the rabbi did mean Brother Elred. But surely not Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, a real nobody. But then, almost mysteriously, he has a gift for always being there when you need him. He just magically appears. Maybe Phillip is the Messiah.

Of course the rabbi didn't mean me. He couldn't possibly have meant me. I'm just an ordinary person. Yet supposing he did? Suppose I am the Messiah? O God, not me. I couldn't be that much for You, could I?

As they contemplated, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the chance that one among them might be the Messiah. And they began to treat themselves with extraordinary respect.

People still occasionally came to visit the monastery in its beautiful forest to picnic on its tiny lawn, to wander along some of its paths, even to meditate in the dilapidated chapel. As they did so, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out from them and permeate the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely compelling, about it. Hardly knowing why, they began to come back to the monastery to picnic, to play, to pray. They brought their friends to this special place. And their friends brought their friends.

Then some of the younger men who came to visit the monastery started to talk more and more with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join them. Then another, and another. So within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the rabbi's gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the realm.

by Eckhart Tolle

commonground.ca/iss/051017...tolle.shtml

As long as you are unable to access the power of the Now, every emotional pain that you experience leaves behind a residue of pain. It merges with past pain and lodges in your mind and body. This accumulated pain is a negative energy field, and if you look upon it as an invisible entity in its own right, you are getting quite close to the truth. It’s the emotional pain-body. It has two modes of being: dormant and active. A pain-body may be dormant 90 percent of the time; in a deeply unhappy person, it may be active up to 100 percent of the time.

Some people live almost entirely through the pain-body, while others experience it only in certain situations, such as in intimate relationships, or situations linked with past loss, abandonment, and physical or emotional hurt. Anything can trigger it, particularly if it resonates with a pain pattern from your past. When it is ready to awaken from its dormant stage, even a thought or an innocent remark can activate it.

Some pain-bodies are obnoxious but relatively harmless – a child who won’t stop whining, for example. Others are vicious and destructive monsters. Some are physically violent; many more are emotionally violent. Some will attack people around you, while others may attack you, their host. Your thoughts and feelings about your life then become deeply negative and self-destructive. Illnesses and accidents are often created in this way. Some pain-bodies drive their hosts to suicide.

When you thought you knew a person and are suddenly confronted with this alien, nasty creature for the first time, you are in for quite a shock. However, it’s more important to observe it in yourself. Watch out for any sign of unhappiness; it may be the awakening pain-body. This can take the form of irritation, impatience, a sombre mood, a desire to hurt, anger, rage, depression, or a need to have some drama in your relationship. Catch it the moment it awakens.

The pain-body wants to survive, just like every other entity in existence, and it can only survive through your unconscious identification. It needs to get its food through you. It will feed on any experience that resonates with its own kind of energy, anything that creates further pain. When it has taken you over, it will create a situation in your life that reflects its own energy frequency for it to feed on. Pain can only feed on pain. Pain cannot feed on joy. It finds it quite indigestible.

Once the pain-body has taken you over, you want more pain. You become a victim, or a perpetrator, or both; there really isn’t much difference. You are unconscious of this, of course, and will vehemently claim that you do not want pain. But look closely, and you will find that your thinking and behaviour keep the pain going. If you were truly conscious of it, the pattern would dissolve, for to want more pain is insanity, and nobody is consciously insane.

The pain-body, the dark shadow cast by the ego, is actually afraid of the light of your consciousness. It is afraid of being found out. Its survival depends on your unconscious identification and unconscious fear of facing your pain. But if you don’t face it, you will be forced to relive it again and again. The pain-body may seem like a dangerous monster that you cannot bear to look at, but I assure you that it is an insubstantial phantom that cannot prevail against the power of your presence.

Some spiritual teachings state that all pain is ultimately an illusion, and this is true. The question is: “Is it true for you?” A mere belief doesn’t make it true. Do you want to experience pain for the rest of your life and keep saying that it is an illusion? Does that free you from the pain? What we are concerned with here is how you can realize this truth – that is, make it real in your own experience.

The pain-body doesn’t want you to observe it directly and see it for what it is. The moment you observe it, the identification is broken. A higher dimension of consciousness has come in. I call it presence. You are now the witness, or the watcher of the pain-body. It can no longer use you by pretending to be you, and it can no longer replenish itself through you. You have found your own innermost strength. You have accessed the power of Now.

Adapted from The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle