Cancellations & Information

With all of our summer schedules being pretty full, we have a few more changes to announce. Sangha on Monday, July 22nd will be cancelled due to several of us on vacation during that time. All other Mondays will meet as planned, with July 22nd being the only cancellation. 
Monday July 15th brings us a nice treat in the form of a special visitor to our sangha: A friend that Ellen and Margaret met when they were on retreat in Vietnam. Please consider joining us for this special day. 
I’m sorry to say that we are going to cancel the Wednesday evening practice for the time being. It is a busy summer and we hope to revisit adding back Wednesday sometime this fall. We will send out a notification with any changes. In the meantime you can always check our website for the most recent practice times and locations, or send us an email. 

Wednesday Practice Change

We are changing our Wednesday schedule and format at least through the end of the summer. We will meet twice a month instead of weekly on Wednesdays only.
Location: The Richard Mauthe Center, UWGB Campus.

2nd & 4th Wednesday from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. 20 minutes sitting meditation, 10 minutes walking meditation, followed by tea and light social. 

There is no change to Monday, and Monday will continue to meet weekly. Every Monday 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. 20 minutes sitting meditation, 10 minutes walking meditation, followed by a teaching and discussion. 

Spring & Summer Retreat Opportunities

May 3-5, 2019, LaSalle Manor Retreat Center, Plano, Illinois
In Deep Gratitude: Celebrating the Teachings of Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh
With Dharma Teachers Jack and Laurie Lawlor
Cost: $199, includes lodging
https://www.lakesidebuddha.org/2019%20planoretreat.pdf

June 7-9, Horizon Village, Oshkosh, WI. 

Smiling Dandelion Sangha 11th Annual Retreat- Roots and Wings: Grounded and Opened: Serenity and Insight with Steven Spiro and Janice Sheppard (not exactly in TNH tradition, but similar, and this is a well loved retreat) 
Cost: $175 commuter $255 w/ lodging.

June 29 – 30, Goodman Community Center, Madison, WI 

Snowflower Sangha: Harmony in our Home, Joy in the World, led by monastics from Blue Cliff Monastery 

August 4-9, The Christine Center, Willard, WI 

Milwaukee Mindfulness Community: Transformation and Healing The Four Establishments of Mindfulness, led by members of the Milwaukee Mindfulness Community 
Cost: $310 – $525 depending on lodging choice
Transformation and Healing The Four Foundations of Mindfulness with the Milwaukee Mindfulness Community, August 4-9, 2019

August 7-11, Magnolia Grove Monastery, Batesville, Mississippi
Mini US Tour: Breathe, It’ll Be Okay!
Led by Thich Nhat Hanh’s community of monks and nuns
Cost: TBD, usually around $160 – $350 depending on lodging choice
There are a couple people in Green Bay interested in attending, so we might have a carpool.


New Monday Location

We will no longer be meeting at Every Body’s Yoga on Mondays. Starting Monday, March 4th we will meet at The Richard Mauthe Center on the UWGB campus on both Mondays and Wednesdays.

Our meeting locations and times:

The Richard Mauthe Center, UWGB Campus, 2418 Leon Bond Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311

Mondays 1:00 – 2:30

Wednesdays 6:00 – 7:30

Monday Practice Notice

Effective March 1, 2019, we no longer will be meeting on Mondays at Every Body’s Yoga. We are actively looking for a new space and hope to have an update for you soon. In the meantime, please consider joining us Wednesday evenings at the Richard Mauthe Center on the UWGB campus.

We are very grateful to EBY for their generosity in allowing us to use their space for the past few years. EBY is expanding their yoga offerings, so check out their webpage if you are interested in classes.


Singers/Chanters Needed on November 20th

The annual Gathered In Faith Together (G.I.F.T.) Thanksgiving Interfaith Service will be 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 20th at Saint Matthew Catholic Community in Allouez. Open Heart Mindfulness Community would like to offer the healing Namo Avalokiteshvara chant as part of the service this year. We are looking for people to volunteer and stand with the sangha and chant. Keith McGillivray graciously offered to lead us with the flute. Those attending the service will be invited to join in, or to listen. Please let me know if you would like to volunteer. Here is the sheet music if you wish to see it: Avalokiteshvaraya Chant Music .  We will chant this six times for only about 3-4 minutes total. For those worried about singing in public, please know that it will be beautiful and the energy we bring is much more important than the sound of our voices. We will opportunity to practice before the service if you wish. You can listen to the chant on YouTube, or on the new Plum Village: Zen Meditation App. This is a very powerful healing chant, often offered by the monastics at retreats and in the community at public talks. Please contact Jody at OpenHeartMC@gmail.com if you are interested or have any questions.
The Interfaith Thanksgiving service is a gathering of several different faith groups coming together as one and includes people from the Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, and Unitarian Universalist faiths. This year donations will be offered to Casa ALBA. If anyone knows Spanish and can help translate the written Order of Service, or small oral parts of the service, please let me know.
About the Namo Avalokiteshvara Chant

We chant the name of Avalokiteshvara in order to get in touch with suffering and help relieve the pain and suffering of others. In Mahayana buddhism, Avalokiteshvara is the Bodhisattva of compassionate listening; the one who listens with compassion to the suffering of the world. He is a person who listened to his own suffering, and came to understand it, and that is why he overcame suffering and he was able to listen to other people and help them to suffer less. The purpose is simple, clear. To allow the energy of compassion to be born. To help heal us, and to help heal the other person, the world. When we chant or listen to his name the first time, we touch personal suffering. The second time, we reach out and try to see the suffering of the people in front of us, on the left, the right, because everyone has suffering inside. The purpose is the same; to allow compassion to be born. The third time, we reach out and touch the suffering in the world, everywhere. As you listen, you may wish to bring your loved ones to mind, or anyone you wish to send the healing energy of love and compassion.

(The pronoun ‘he’ can be interchanged with ‘she’, as both are correct)
Namo: bowing, honor

Plum Village Meditation App

The Plum Village: Zen Meditation app is a great new app for Android and iPhones… and it’s free! with TONS of free resources, practices, meditations, etc. It is like bringing the monastics to retreat right where you are! You may find two Plum Village apps when you search; this one is free and it’s orange

https://plumvillage.app

January 3rd New Year Ancestor Ceremony

New Year Ancestor Ceremony
Wednesday, January 3rd from 6:00 – 7:30 at the Mauthe Center in the Fireplace room. This is a sangha favorite. Each year at the New Year we share the New Year’s Ceremony to pay respect to our teachers and our ancestors. The ceremony is from Chanting from the Heart: Buddhist Ceremonies and Daily Practices and includes sitting meditation, touching the earth, sutra reading, and discussion time to share about our ancestors. Everyone is invited to bring items and/or pictures of familial or spiritual ancestors to place on the ancestral altar. This ceremony will take the place of our regular practice session. At the end of the ceremony some may wish to participate in hugging meditation  as a form of “beginning anew” in order to close the ceremony and enter into the new year with open hearts and harmony between each other.
Ancestor Prayer
We your descendants who are practicing with Open Heart Mindfulness Community at the occasion of the New Year, come with sincere respect before your altar. We go back to our source and ask you, our ancestors, to be our witness.
Trees have their roots and water has its source. We know that you, our ancestors, are our roots and we are your continuation. We are determined to receive your cultural and spiritual heritage, to conserve and to develop what is good, beautiful, and true in it. We are also determined to realize the aspirations which you have handed on to us, transforming your suffering and opening up for future generations the way to a peaceful, unburdened and meaningful life. We are determined to help build a society in which people are not always busy, where little is consumed, and there is plenty of time to live with nature, look after nature, and bring happiness, to care for, and smile to each other.
This is the moment when the New Year begins. We promise to let go of all our anger, sadness, and resentment, and to forgive, love, and accept each other. We know that only by doing this do we really express our feelings of gratitude and loyalty towards you.
Please be witness to our sincerity as we offer incense, flowers, fruit, and tea. All these things are offered with our heartfelt sincerity and our loyalty. Please be our protectors and the protectors of our children and grandchildren so that we have enough health, faith, and joy to be able to continue your work.