Living From The Heart:  Buddhist Practices to Cultivate Love and Compassion

Sponsored by Friends In The Dharma, a Buddhist Meditation and Study Group in Erie, Pennsylvania

n the Buddhist view of human beings, the true nature of our heart is loving-kindness and compassion, but our experiences do not often nourish these qualities and instead cover them with pain, fear, anger, selfishness and other forms of suffering we receive and then give to others.  How can we nourish our loving, compassionate heart in today’s world?  In this retreat we will learn two Buddhist meditation practices developed to cultivate the qualities of the good heart and dissolve accumulations of our negative experiences and reactions.  One does not have to become a Buddhist to learn and benefit from these practices.  All one has to do is learn from the Buddhist insight that if one wishes to cultivate inner understanding and qualities of heart and mind, meditative practice is the vehicle.

             Our morning session will focus on teaching and practice of loving-kindness meditation, an ancient practice taught by the Buddha himself.  In the afternoon session we will learn and practice the Tibetan Buddhist meditation called “Tonglen”, a deep method of nourishing our compassion for those who are suffering.  The goal of the retreat is that participants will be grounded in these basic practices so that they may develop an ongoing meditation practice including one or both of these approaches to developing the heart.

             The retreat will be led by Fred McKinney (Dharma name:  Clear Service of the Heart), a Buddhist practitioner and student in the lineage of the Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hahn.  For many years Fred has focused his meditation practice around loving-kindness meditations and has studied many Buddhist writings and teachings concerning loving-kindness and compassion practices.

 Date & Time:         Saturday, April 20, 2002

                                    9:00am - 12:00pm  Morning Session

                                    12:00pm - 1:30pm (Lunch)

                                    1:30pm - 4:30pm   Afternoon Session

             Plan to come to one or both sessions, but please be on time and plan to stay for the whole session so as not to be disruptive when entering or leaving.  You may go out for lunch, but we encourage people to bring their lunch so we may eat together, share more of a retreat atmosphere and get acquainted.  Coffee, tea and water provided.

             Retreatants are encouraged to bring pillows and cushions for seating as we will be doing several meditation periods during each session.  There will be some seating for those not able to sit on the floor.  During the retreat our meeting space will become our “meditation hall” and we will follow the custom of removing shoes in the meditation hall.

 Retreat Location:   315 W. Gore Rd., Apt #1 (Front), Erie, PA  16509

Directions from I-90:   Take PA Rt. 97 toward Erie.  At 1.1 miles, you will bear left to stay on Rt. 505.  Traveling another 0.6 miles along PA 505, turn right onto W. Gore.  After just 0.1 miles, Evans Rd. will turn to the right, but stay on W. Gore by bearing left around the curve.  Just ahead, at the first driveway on the right, is 315 W. Gore.  The retreat is in the front of the house to your left.  Use the door closest to the driveway.

Directions from W. 38^th St. & Glenwood Park Ave. / Erie Zoo area:   Heading East on W. 38^th, turn right on PA 505 (Glenwood Park Avenue).  Travel 0.7 miles to W. Gore Rd. (“Turkey Hill”) and turn left.  After just 0.1 miles, Evans Rd. will turn to the right, but stay on W. Gore by bearing left around the curve.  Just ahead, at the first driveway on the right, is 315 W. Gore.  The retreat is in the front of the house to your left.  Use the door closest to the driveway.

Cost:  Following Buddhist traditions, there will be no fee for the retreat.  Retreatants are encouraged to make a donation appropriate to their circumstances to a charitable organization of their choice which is working to relieve suffering.

For more information, contact:

            Russ Piechotka:  (814) 898-3862

                            email:  [email protected]

            Fred Mc Kinney:  (814) 864-5650