Dear friends,
For those joining us this Saturday, February 3rd, for our 1st Saturday of the month Upaya Sangha of Tucson meeting, we will meet from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, and our meeting will include brief sutra chanting, sitting meditation (Zazen), participant check-in, announcements, and a brief tea break. After this, instead of the usual dharma talk and discussion, we will be holding a Sangha-wide Community Meeting. Please also note that we will adjourn at 1:00 pm, rather than our usual noon adjournment.
At the November 7, 2015 First Upaya Sangha of Tucson Community Meeting, we together built a list of activities that we would like to see happen. What follows are two lists. The first lists activities that particular named Sangha members or the Steering Committee agreed to initiate or to coordinate. The second listing is of activities that were suggested and which no one offered to initiate or to coordinate.
We will go through the first list first, asking those named and present on February 3rd to talk about how things developed or did not. You will then have an opportunity, if you wish, to offer your time and energy to their efforts. If you are one of those individuals named and cannot make the February 3rd Community meeting and would like to update everyone, please email your report to Christine at christine-johnson@cox.net by Friday, February 2nd.
After reviewing the first of the lists, we will then go on to discuss the second. Please look this 2nd short list over. Would you like to offer your time and energy to either of the proposed? If so please come prepared to make your pitch (i.e., how you would make it happen, either on your own or with another or others, and when you would expect to make it happen). Or if you cannot make it on the 3rd but would like to offer, please email your pitch to christine-johnson@cox.net by Friday, February 2nd.
1st list:
Meet more frequently than the first and third Saturdays:
Steering Committee
Occasional daylong retreats:
Joe Montani & Andy Lenards
Meditation hikes:
Mike Carson & Kirk Alexander
Engaged Buddhist action:
Pamela Brant for “global warming” brainstorm/discussion
Sensei Al Kaszniak for contemplative traditions & social justice work at U of A.
Individual Sangha member support (for example, ‘Helping Hands’):
MaryEllen Beaurain, Sylvie Stevenson, & Louise Levy
Print and/or e-directory of Sangha participants:
Sylvie Stevenson & Bill Thompson
Enhanced website functions; moderated/un-moderated?:
Bill Thompson & Guy Scharf
Host guest speakers who would “challenge our status quo”:
Mary Ellen Beaurain for the Steering Committee, Tim Clark & Charles Simons
2nd list
More directed educational and structured social activities (for example, games, calligraphy, potluck meals)
Assistance to ill individuals (modeled on Santa Fe Metta Council)
If this is your first time to join us, we meet at Tucson Community Meditation Center (TCMC), 1231 E. Edison St., one block south of Grant, just west of Mountain, on the north side of the street. We meet the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month. There are plenty of zafus (meditation cushions) and chairs.
Parking reminder: It’s important to the future of TCMC to observe mindful parking by not parking on the same block as the Center and by leaving an empty parking space in front of the homes on the neighboring blocks. Please reserve TCMC driveway parking for people who cannot walk far.
Please help us to accommodate our members who are chemically sensitive to fragrances or other scented products. Thank you for not wearing perfume, aftershave, or similar products.
Also, please don’t forget to regularly check the Community Page of this Sangha Website for new announcements.
Thanks.