Venerable Ji Ru's teachings outside of MABA (click the links below for more information)
(this retreat will be held in Chinese)A one-day retreat with Venerable Ji Ru exploring the Buddha's teaching on Mindfulness of the Body. The retreat will take place at the Pure Mind Center in University City. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Please click the link above to view the .pdf flyer for the retreat.
Annual Three-month Winter Monastic Retreat - January 2nd - March 29th, 2012
From early January until late March, the monastics at MABA will observe the traditional 3-month Rains Retreat, which has existed since the time of the Buddha. This will be an opportunity for studying and deepening our practice, as well as applying the teachings in daily activities. The schedule is a supportive monastic rhythm, alternating weeks focusing on meditation with weeks focusing on the study of the Dharma.
During this time, MABA will be closed during the week and will only be open for visitors on Sundays, when we will keep a modified Sunday morning schedule. However, there will not be Dharma talks on these Sundays.
Those who have an established meditation practice are welcome to join us for all or part of this retreat, though we ask that you come for at least a week at a time. Other than those here for the retreat, the Monastery will be open to the public only on Sundays and closed to the public Monday through Saturday. Thank you for your support and understanding during this time.
For more information, to view the schedule for the retreat, please see this file. To apply to attend part of the retreat, please see this application form. You may mail it, fax it, or email it to us.
During the Retreat our usual Sunday schedule will be slightly modified to the following:
10:00 am Sitting Meditation
Introduction for Beginners and Dharma Discussion 10:40 am Walking Meditation
11:00 am Sitting Meditation
11:30 am Sutra Chanting
11:45 am Vegetarian Lunch
From January 2nd through March 29th, MABA will be holding its annual Three-month Winter Retreat. On Sunday mornings during the retreat, anyone is welcome to come to MABA for a short Dharma study class looking at the Buddha's teachings on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness: his most important system of mind training and meditation instructions.
For the text of this Sutta and for resources related to it, please see this link.
These classes will take place downstairs during the first of two meditation periods, from 10am until around 10:40. The schedule of topics is as follows:
January 8 -- Anapanasati Sutta Discussion, part 1
January 15 -- Anapanasati Sutta Discussion, part 2
January 22 -- Chinese New Year Celebration (TBA)
January 29 -- Satipatthana Sutta, Mindfulness of the Body, part 1
February 5 -- Discussion about Nirvana (Nirvana Day Feb. 8)
February 12 -- Satipatthana Sutta, Mindfulness of the Body, part 2
February 19 -- Satipatthana Sutta, Mindfulness of Feelings
February 26 -- Satipatthana Sutta, Mindfulness of Mind, part 1
March 4 -- Satipatthana Sutta, Mindfulness of Mind, part 1
March 11 -- Samantabhadra Day
March 18 -- Satipatthana Sutta, Mindfulness of Phenomena, part 1
March 25 -- Satipatthana Sutta, Mindfulness of Phenomena, part 2
This is an opportunity for adults to be able to participate in the usual Sunday services at MABA while their children are having a service of their own! This special children’s service will include five-minute sitting, walking, moving and snack (!) meditations, book readings, singing, and sharing! Children of all ages are welcome. For more information, and to register, please see this flyer.
Upcoming Dates for the Children's Retreats:
December 4, 2011
April 15, 2012
May 13, 2012
June 10, 2012
July 15, 2012
August 12, 2012
November 11, 2012
December 16,2012
For the first exhibition of its tenth-anniversary season, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts presents Reflections of the Buddha, a unique encounter with several major visual and spiritual Buddhist traditions. The exhibition’s twenty-two artworks, on loan from important American collections, were created in Afghanistan, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, and Tibet and date from the second to the eighteenth centuries. Each one is experienced in harmony with the serene atmosphere of the Pulitzer’s building in St. Louis, designed by master architect Tadao Ando. Three related works of contemporary art add to the resonance of the exhibition’s theme. The exhibition is on-going through March 10th of 2012. Please see the above link for the exhibition's website.
For the St. Louis-area Chinese-speaking Dharma community, we are pleased to mention that Ven. Ji Ru will begin a series of Saturday classes on three primary books by the Venerable Master Yinshun (印順導師): The Way to Buddhahood (成佛之道), The Three Essentials for Studying the Dharma (學佛三要), and An Overview of the Buddhadharma (佛法概論).
The classes will begin on September 11th (a Sunday), and then will continue each Saturday thereafter. The classes will consist of meditation, Dharma talks, lunch, and discussion, and will last from 8:45am - 2:15pm.
To view the schedule, and to register, please see this .pdf file. For more infomation in Chinese, see this file.
VISIT OUR BLOG
MABA News has started a blog for students of MABA, IBFA, North Shore Meditation and Dharma Center, Chicago Mind & Body Center, and the Kankakee Interfaith Group. Students, friends and supporters of any of these organizations are welcome to post their dharma comments and questions. Teachers are invited to post any class notes or handouts they would like archived onlline.
Beginning in May 2011, Venerable Kongmu, one of the MABA monastics, will be studying in Taiwan. He has started a blog to share some experiences during this time. You can read about them here.
You can also visit MABA's new meditation center in Chicago here.
Click on the calendar for 2012 schedule
