2404 Member

Diamond Heart Colorado
April 2024

Member Newsletter

… the limitations on our expression of love create one of the veils that make it difficult to experience integrated and expressed love.

Remembering that love is the energy in our heart that will bring us closer to the Beloved, we see now how important this barrier is.

It not only gives us pain, difficulties, and suffering, and distorts our relationships with other people, but it also distorts our relationship with our true nature, who we really are. And this is a much, much bigger problem than we imagine it to be.

Almaas, A. H.. Love Unveiled (pp. 88-89). Shambhala. Kindle Edition

Your Personal Invitation to Sunday Meditations

Dear Friends,

We have been very busy at the new school, as many of you know. It is wonderful to have a new home with such holding and beauty. I know I feel so blessed that we have this school. We want to use all the rich and welcoming energy to deepen our own experience and journey, as well as open up to having new people join us.

Many of us found the work through someone in the school. We are starting weekly meditations April 7th from 6:30 to 7:30. It will be every Sunday. We will sit, and then depending on who is there, maybe have a short inquiry, or a chat about why we meditate, or if new people have questions, talk a bit about what is the Diamond Approach. This will be short, simple and inviting. Not a big deal where anyone has to commit or even talk to people unless they want to hang for a few minutes after. Everyone is welcome to stay after the half hour meditation or leave. Either is fine. It will be like coming to something that feels like hands open and lots of fresh air.

We are letting you know because we want all of your sweet energy to come and fill up the school. Also please invite friends, neighbors, family ..,.anyone who is interested in the Diamond Approach or in meditation.

We have been given a fresh start with this new school. Let’s hold it with love and appreciation. I look forward to seeing each of you whenever you wish to show up.

Bev Alexander

The Art of Compassionate Inquiry

MAY 19, 2024

10AM -5:30 PM MDT

COLORADO RIDHWAN CENTER

6783 BASELINE ROAD

This one-day teaching is a fund raiser with the proceeds benefiting the beautiful new Colorado Ridhwan Center building. This teaching is open to both current students and the public. All are welcome! It will be in person and on Zoom if you can’t be there in person. There will be meditation, evocative talks, and personal inquiry exercises.

What is the relationship between Inquiry and Compassion? Inquiry, the central practice of the Diamond Approach, offers a doorway to our true home. The Loving-Kindness and attunement of True Compassion artfully allows our inquiry to address exactly where our heart is.

The Green aspect’s warmth and Compassion are inseparable from the precise understanding that is the hallmark of inquiry. In this way, our open-ended inquiry can become an attuned entry way into our depth.

TEACHER: Ilene Buchalter, a Diamond Approach teacher since 2002, works with groups and individuals living in Florida, Colorado, the Southeast, and the U.S.

For questions about the content of this one-day teaching itself contact Ilene Buchalter.

FUNDRAISER AMOUNT: $75

Please follow both links to complete your registration and payment process.

To Register click REGISTRATION.

To Pay click CO The Art of Compassionate Inquiry May2024 USD $75.00

For questions regarding registration or payment please contact Marie Dotts at marie@ridhwan.org.

At the entrance to most Zen meditation halls, there is a han, a large, solid wooden block that the monks strike with a mallet to call students to the zendo for meditation. Written across the block in black sumi ink is the teaching:

Be aware of the Great matter of
Birth and Death
Life passes swiftly.
Wake up. Wake up!
Do not waste this life.

THE FIVE INVITATIONS,
Frank Ostaseski, p. 38, 39.

____________________________

CLSG Co-chairs:
Jeff Truesdall and Bev Alexander.
Members: Barb Schintz, Gary Haraldsen, Ilene Buchalter, Jayne Satter, Marilyn Giglio, and Stephanie Ehret

The library for CLSG can be found HERE. The CLSG website is HERE.

Monthly Meditation

with the
Colorado Life Service Group

The Colorado Life Service Group invites you to join us as we gather on Zoom to chant the Medicine Buddha Chant in support of those in our Colorado Ridhwan Community who might be experiencing challenging life situations. Our next gathering will be Sunday, April 14th, from 9-9:30am.

Coming together as a group is of benefit to us all as a Community, to each of us personally and to those we love and care about. We will join together on Sunday with the option to mention the name of a loved one or yourself. We will then do the Medicine Buddha Chant for a short period of time and then sit quietly in meditation.

All are welcome whether or not you want to offer a name. Once a month we are all invited to join together, bringing our hearts and presence to support ourselves, our community and the world we are alive in. The zoom link is sent out the morning of the meditation.

Meditation Offerings to all Diamond Approach Students

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 10am Mountain Time, we have been gathering for the past several years on Zoom for a 30-minute meditation, a short reading and optional time for inquiry in breakout rooms. The entire session lasts for one hour but if people wish to leave right after the meditation and reading, that is fine. A small group of U.S. teachers takes turns leading these sessions which are attended by students from the U.S. and around the world. You are welcome to join us for these free offerings.

With appreciation,
Jeff Truesdall

Here is the link for the Tuesday Meditations

And the link for the Thursday Meditations

The new Sanctuary, Group Rooms, Community Room and warming Kitchen have been used a lot in the last couple of weeks with great appreciation.

Blinds have been ordered and will be installed in the next month.

LAND
The next big project is the Land Plan implementation which will start in May of this year. You can see the planHERE.

We have a lot to be grateful for!

Volunteer Day for our new garden May 25. Please save the date.

Design Team: Lead by Patty Rice, members: Bev Alexander, Mark Southwell, Peter Schneider (architect/husband of Holly Heur), Stephanie Ehret, Susan Nutting, Gary Haraldsen.
Land Team: Pam Shillam, Laurie Albright, co-chairs; members: Rolli Oden, Joy Lanzano, Seth Watson, Roberta Vogel-Leutung.
Baseline Renovation Team
Laurie Chestnut, Patty Rice, Scott Schell, Seth Schapiro, Skip Arnold, Gary Haraldsen.

A Big Thank You!

On behalf of the COBIG-8 Scholarship Fund Committee, we want to give a big THANK YOU for the generous donations to the Scholarship Fund during our recent Winter retreat. The fund raised more than $1600 from the sale of chocolates, stupas and malas which will provide a good number of scholarships!

A few months ago Grace Morlock offered to donate her late husband’s malas. Joyce Benson Fox volunteered to make any needed repairs to them as well as to coach me in how to run a silent auction.

Without Grace, Joyce’s experience, assistance and support and all of you who participated, there could not have been this successful silent auction.

I offer a deep bow to you all.

With Much Appreciation,
Jayne Satter

Thriving with the hidden gift of uncertainty.

Saturday, April 20th, 2024, 10 am to 12:30 pm MT via zoom

Join us for a transformative morning that explores the profound opportunities hidden within the unknown.

"Thriving with the Hidden Gift of Uncertainty," inspired by the wisdom of the Diamond Approach,

offers a unique perspective on navigating life's uncertainties.

Discover how to embrace the ambiguity of your journey with grace and courage,

transforming fear into a powerful catalyst for growth and self-discovery.

This talk is designed for those seeking to deepen their understanding

of themselves and the world around them, uncovering the treasures that uncertainty holds.

Come away with practical insights and tools to live more fully in the present,

engage with life's challenges with a sense of adventure, and thrive amidst the ever-changing landscape of our existence.

Taught by Diamond Approach teacher Andreas Mouskos.

You can register HERE for free.

Morton

We are blessed with this presence,
we are blessed with this man.

How far we have traveled together.

His doorway,

His threshold

His portal

Is a place of deep revealing.

I’ve found many places, small and vast as I’ve ventured
into the holograms of knowing in his room.

Following the strings that once bound my wings

Crossing inconceivable landscapes only to look over
and see him smiling as if welcoming me to this, my new home.

The Captain Kirk of inner galactic travel.

Love Seems like too small a word for the
gratitude and respect that one feels for him.

We are blessed with this presence,
we are blessed with this true human Being.

And now you travel on.

And my heart feels your freedom

With many adventures to come

At the Opening of a new threshold.

I bid you farewell

Knowing that you are well equipped

For your next dance.

David Martinez (March 2023)

We'd love to publish your poetry, articles, personal experiences, jokes, art, photographs and or cartoons/drawings in our newsletter. It only goes out to members of the school, and, with your approval, to those who have expressed interest in the Diamond Approach. Please send your submissions or questions to Bev for more information. If you have more ideas for our Community Newsletter please advise Bev of that too. We're also looking for photographs to be used in the graphics so don't forget to submit them too.