Friday Night - The Dharma Test Kitchen

(cartoonstock.com)

Against the Stream is offering a new class -- an exploration of the practical connection of Dharma practice and our daily lives.

The focus of the class is the belief that what we do off the cushion matters more than what we do on it. Success in meditation, after all, comes from being virtuous and mindful enough to get on a cushion in the first place.

Social "engagement" is more than a buzz word. So each month ATS will explore a different fundamental aspect of basic Buddha-Dharma from a variety of participant perspectives. The class has a rotating schedule of teachers, teaching together and individually on a given monthly theme.

Start the weekend with artful practice, sangha community-building, and a connection to basic Dharma philosophy.

• ATS Santa Monica
  
• drop-in, donation-based
• Fridays, 7:30 pm

Brunch on the Beach with Ajahn Thanasanti

Awakening Truth, Wisdom Quarterly, Against the Stream, Occupy Los Angeles

SANTA MONICA BEACH, California - An unfamiliar moisture forms over the LA basin. It washes down to the sea. There, huddled like stray coyotes, are the tattooed love children of ATS and WQ in honor of Theravada Buddhist nun Thanasanti, affectionately referred to as Amma.

• Brunch on the Beach with Amma and ATS
• Sunday, Nov. 6, 10:00 am until...
• 14782 Pacific Coast Hwy, Santa Monica 90402
• Lifeguard Station #18, at the Volleyball Courts

THE PLAN: meditation, food, and fun. But the nagas, who rule the water, must have gotten the sky devas to bring precipitation. It's like Bangkok in the foothills. One can only imagine what the shore is like. Nagas will not stand for easygoing times, hanging out, volleyball, or a potluck. Bring thick sunscreen. We recommend SPF-Raincoat.

Occupation Meditation
Then after we are soaking wet from the beach, we are going to try to dry out at another action. Wisdom Quarterly and Against the Stream brings Amma to lead a meditation to wrap a two-day teach-in:

• Occupy Los Angeles
• Sunday, Nov. 6, 4:00-5:00 pm
• Downtown City Hall encampment
  
• Meditation Temple (Tent), near northside steps

Dharma Punx at USC (video)

Againstthestream.org

Noah Levine, son of Buddhist author Stephen Levine and founder of "Against the Stream: Buddhist Meditation Society," speaks on Buddhism to Univ. of Southern California students.

Following the trend of many self-destructive youths, Noah Levine's search for meaning in Los Angeles -- a city of lost angels -- first led him to punk rock, drugs, drinking, and dissatisfaction. Fortunately, however, his search did not end there.

• Hollywood Center
• Santa Monica Center
  

Having clearly realized the uselessness of drugs and violence from time spent in jail, while his parents and their friends became some of the most prominent Buddhists and meditators in the country, Noah looked for positive ways to channel his rebellion against what he saw as society's lies.

Author of Dharma Punx and Against the Stream, and most recently The Heart of the Revolution, Levine is now a Buddhist teacher, meditation instructor, author, and counselor.

He came to USC in 2009 and talked about how he channeled his anger and energy into the practice of Buddhism to awaken his natural wisdom and compassion. The program was sponsored by the USC Office of Religious Life, in association with USC Spectrum.

• Learn more about USC
• USC Office of Religious Life
• Learn more about USC Spectrum
• AgainstTheStream.org
  

Meditation Flash Mob: Los Angeles

Meditation Flash Mob
Saturday, October 8, 2011
12:00 - 12:30 pm
Pershing Square

Against the Stream is facilitating a Flash Mob Meditation in Pershing Square -- the heart of downtown Los Angeles. It starts at high noon on October 8, 2011, 12:00 pm.

Flash mobs consist of individuals converging on a public space simultaneously, seemingly without leadership or direction, to create a public spectacle. This is done in various ways.

People will converge on Pershing Square near the corner of 5th St. and Olive St. The point is to simply sit down and meditate for 30 minutes. Join us. All forms of practice are welcome.

Feel free to bring a cushion or anything else needed. When arriving, sit and begin -- no need to check in. See you there!

9/11 Day Meditation SIT-A-THON

Wisdom Quarterly



Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, Los Angeles

Sign up now and be a part of Against the Stream's Second Annual Sit-a-Thon. Join them for a lovely day of mindful practice dedicated to helping others. Commemorating a fateful day, this fundraiser for ATS's scholarship program is targeted specifically for the October retreat at Joshua Tree. Sitters are encouraged to raise funds by having friends and family sponsor them. They can support practitioners via an online donation, or sitters can bring cash, checks, or credit cards to the sit. All are welcome to come sit just for the sake of good practice -- allowing this to be a day of remembrance. Read about ATS's intention for the weekend.

• Trillion Dollar Conspiracy
• 911Truth.org

9/11 FEMA search filmed underground (cbsnews.com)



The Decades' Biggest Scam

Glenn Greenwald (Salon.com)

The Los Angeles Times examines the staggering sums of money expended on patently absurd domestic "homeland security" projects: $75 billion per year for things such as a Zodiac boat with side-scan sonar to respond to a potential attack on a lake in tiny Keith County, Nebraska, and hundreds of "9-ton BearCat armored vehicles, complete with turret" to guard against things like an attack on DreamWorks in Los Angeles. All of that -- which is independent of the exponentially greater sums spent on foreign wars, occupations, bombings, and the vast array of weaponry and private contractors to support it all -- is in response to this mammoth, existential, the-single-greatest-challenge-of-our-generation threat:

• "The number of people worldwide who are killed by Muslim-type terrorists, Al Qaeda wannabes, is maybe a few hundred outside of war zones. It's basically the same number of people who die drowning in the bathtub each year," said John Mueller, an Ohio State University professor who has written extensively about the balance between threat and expenditures in fighting terrorism. More

Workshop: Healthy (Non)-Attachment

• Against the Stream, Melrose
• Day-long Workshop with George Haas*
• Saturday, June 25
• 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

“My job is a travel agent, taking you effortlessly between heaven and hell.”

- Joshu Sasaki Roshi

Somewhere along this Buddhist path, one may have heard that “attachment” is the cause of suffering (dukkha, disappointment), and that “non-attachment” is the way out of suffering.

If this is interpreted to mean that the best way to live life is to never become attached to anything no matter what -- that is wrong view.

People, places, things... the failure to remain attachment-free is what is making life miserable? No.

This workshop will focus on how to use the wisdom aspects of the Noble Eightfold Path (right view and right intention) and the ways we get them wrong. It is not about why we cling, but how we actually do it -- the mechanics of clinging -- and how it leads to suffering.

The workshop will use John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory as the reference point for healthy attachment in the everyday sense for practical applications to day-to-day life.

The meditation techniques offered in this workshop will be specific, simple, and easy-to-do. So whether an established practice already exists or is just beginning, all can benefit.

This class is a taste of what George Haas will be teaching in his 8-week series, "The Meaningful Life," which begins July 7, 2011.

• Daylong cost $50 plus dana for the teacher.
• Some scholarships and work study available.
• No one turned away for lack of funds.
• Call or write for more info.
• Please pack a brown bag.

CLICK TO REGISTER

SPECIAL OFFER: Register, pay in full, and attend daylong for dana only.

*George Haas began down his path with a period of lightweight spiritual seeking (and heavy duty drug and alcohol use). In 1978, he began a serious exploration of the 11th step of the 12-Step tradition, working primarily with concentration to reduce the anxiety of living a sober life. In an effort to make sense out of, and live with, the mounting AIDS deaths of the 1980s, Mr. Haas began walking the Red Road and reading Buddhist texts. Moving to Los Angeles from Manhattan in 1992, he began sitting Vipassana at Ordinary Dharma and reading extensively. In 1998, he began studying with his current teacher, Shinzen Young at Vipassana Support International (VSI). Haas is a Senior Facilitator at VSI and teaches in an irreverent style. He has been teaching meditation in Los Angeles since 2000.

"Mindful Music Night" (Against the Stream)

Against the Stream Meditation Society (Melrose), Dharma Punx

• WHEN: Friday June 17, 7:30 pm
• WHERE: A.G.S. 4300 Melrose Ave., LA 90029
• WHY: formal meditation to live mindful music
• HOW: No sign up, donation (dana) based event

Wonderful artists are on the bill in Hollywood tonight, musicians who are also meditators: Against the Stream's very own Pablo Das, the sublime Patrick Hildebrand of the Ooks of Hazard, Buddhist yogi Rick Colella ("Rick Chant") doing wild and jazzy kirtan, and the irrepressible Andy Sykora banging amazing gongs. The evening will consist of instruction in "music meditation," followed by four half-hour sets/sits. The nigh will close with food and merry-making.

• (Triycycle) “This is why we come early,” Buddhist singer-songwriter Ravenna Michalsen says for the third time this trip, as we search for the correct turn into Wellesley College. She’s playing a show for the college’s Buddhist Community tonight, and we’ve driven up to Massachusetts from New Haven, Connecticut, where various karmic causes and conditions have brought the two of us together again for another semester....

"Be Here Wow!" Wes Nisker at ATS

Against The Stream: Buddhist Meditation Society

Mindfulness Meditation and Modern Science:

A Path of Liberation and Amazement

&

Half-Day Retreat with Wes Nisker

• Saturday May 28, 2011
• 9:30 am - 1:00 pm
• 4300 Melrose Ave., Hollywood, CA 90029

"Oh wondrous creatures,

by what strange miracle

do you so often

not smile?"

-Hafiz, Sufi poet

Many of us are amazed when we read the latest scientific discovery about the size of the cosmos or the workings of biological evolution. But few of us know how to bring that sense of wonder and delight into our lives. In this workshop we will make creative use of classic Buddhist meditation techniques to help us embody the amazement of being alive and human.

During the day we will explore:

• the evolutionary origin of our body and emotions
• practice traditional Buddhist reflections on death and dying
• examine our nature "as" nature
• explore the tricky delusions of mind and the mystery of consciousness itself.

In the process we will find relief from our personal dramas and gain a new sense of meaning in our lives. The talks and discussions will present both traditional Buddhist views of self and reality, as well as some of the latest information from evolutionary biology and psychology to support and guide the meditations. The workshop will include plenty of poetry and a little crazy wisdom as well.

• Cost: $30 plus chance to offer dana to the teacher. Scholarships are available; no one is ever turned away for lack of funds. Call or write for more info.

CLICK TO REGISTER

Wes "Scoop" Nisker is a Buddhist meditation teacher, author, radio commentator, and performer. His books include the bestselling classic Essential Crazy Wisdom; The Big Bang, The Buddha, and the Baby Boom; Buddha’s Nature; and his latest, Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again!

Wes is also the founder and co-editor of the international Buddhist journal Inquiring Mind. He is an affiliate teacher at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California, and does regular workshops at Esalen Institute and other venues. For the past several years Wes has been performing a comic monologue entitled "Crazy Wisdom Saves the World Again!" which was recently staged at the esteemed Berkeley Rep theater.

Wes’s famous tag line is: “If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.” wesnisker.com or scoopnisker.com

Excavating the Heart through Meditation

Excavating the Heart through Buddhist mindfulness meditation
Noah Levine (Huffington Post, Dharma Punx Against the Stream)
When I first heard the Buddhist teachings on loving kindness, compassion, and forgiveness, I was incredibly skeptical.

Coming from a background of drugs and violence, I saw those heart qualities as undesirable and perhaps unsafe. In the circles I ran in, compassion was seen as equivalent to weakness and would make you vulnerable to harm and abuse.

I learned early on that this world was full of pain and seemed to lack much kindness. In reaction to the pain in my life, I began to close my heart and to harden myself against all forms of love. So it was with great hesitance that I experimented with Buddhist practices of kindness and compassion.

In the beginning, I don't think forgiveness was even in my vocabulary. The only reason I opened myself to these meditation practices, often called heart practices, at all was because I had tremendous faith in the practices of mindfulness (paying attention to the present moment), the Buddha, and my teachers, who assured me that it was safe to love again.

I heard things like "love is your true nature" or "the heart has a natural tendency toward compassion." Now I had already been meditating for some time, examining my inner-world through mindfulness, and I didn't see any of the love and compassion of which these teachers spoke.

When I looked into my heart and mind I only saw fear, anger, hatred, judgment, more fear, and a lot of lustful cravings. When I sat quietly, paying attention to my breath, my attention was repeatedly drawn into fantasies of vengeful destruction or pornographic sex:

One moment I was bashing in my stepfather's head with a Louisville slugger, the next I was in a threesome with Madonna [pictured here in green cap] and Traci Lords [against wall].

I was pretty sure that was all that was in there. Mindfulness helped me deal with my inner confusion. It allowed to me to ignore my mind at times or not take it so personally at others, but it didn't seem to be magically creating a loving heart out of my inner-critic/terrorist/pervert/tough guy.

In the early days of my meditation practice I was only interested in mindfulness. I was introduced to breath awareness meditations and as a result I experienced the direct benefits of concentration and mindfulness. I immediately found temporary relief from fear of the future and shame about the past.

Learning to train my mind to pay close attention to the present moment was difficult, but fruitful. I experienced the immediate, if only momentary, relief from the suffering I created with my mind's tendency to be lost in the future and past.

Before I began my meditation practice, when my mind started to worry about what would happen in the future, I would get completely sucked into the fears and often become convinced that the worst-case scenario would play out.

Mindfulness gave me the tools to let go of those thoughts and to bring my attention into the body's experience of the breath. Mindfulness made sense to me and it wasn't difficult to gain a verified faith [saddha] in that aspect of Buddhism. For me, mindfulness proved to be the doorway to the rest of the Buddha's Dharma, or teachings. I came to believe that it was going to be possible to train my mind, but I still had no hope for my heart. More

• Dharma Punx: Against the Stream Meditation Society
  
• The Heart of the Revolution (Harper Collins)

"Meditate and Destroy"