Buddhism evolved about 2500 years ago in India. It spread east through Sri Lanka, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, continuing into Vietnam, Korea, Japan. As it encountered each region, the teachings were adapted to suit the country. Its last journey was north through the Himalayas.

Buddhism has three broad schools: Theravada, the Way of the Elders. This is the type of Buddhism practiced in Southeast Asia. Mahayana, the Great Vehicle, which is the practice of East Asia and includes Zen. Tibetan Buddhism is the Vajrayana and is practiced in Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and parts of Northern India.

At its core, Buddhism is a set of teachings that allows a person to experience all situations and not lose their dignity. It is the wisdom instruction on emptiness that, when coupled with the skillful means of meditation, allows one to handle whatever life sends our way.

Meditation is a tool. It can be a secular practice of being aware of your internal state. It dials you into your body, your breath, and can bring peace and ease. It is a means to become friends with your mind.

Not at all. We have people of many faiths and walks of life who attend our Sunday gatherings.

It can be useful to compare Buddhism to a medicine. The Buddha said it was important to test the teacher, and test the teachings. If what the Buddha taught works for a person, they will usually take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and then they are considered Buddhist. This is entirely voluntary.

In our Sunday meditations, Sunisa guides the whole time. The longest interval of silence is typically 7 minutes. Meditation is a practice, like learning to run. You get better over time. It can get you somewhere wonderful.

Nope! You want to find a comfortable seat. If you are able to sit on a cushion, or you like it, feel free. You need to bring your own cushion for now.

If you’d like to sit on a chair that is fine too. There are plenty of chairs in the room where we meet.

A sangha is a community that meets in noble friendship to walk the Buddhist path together. Sangha members often form a relationship with a teacher who serves as a spiritual friend, kalayanamitra. At the same time, sangha members understand that it is through their own effort in practicing the dharma that they discover inner awakening.

The name came to Sunisa after Anam Thubten made her a dharma teacher. On the outer level it speaks to healing our hearts, which might feel broken from so much suffering right now. We might want to ask whether we can move our mind from brain to heart center.

Heart also speaks to the wisdom of emptiness as articulated in the Heart Sutra. It speaks to the awakened heart, bodhicitta. With the help of our awakened hearts, we aspire to let the dharma restore us.

The ceremony to become a dharma teacher was a public acknowledgement of Sunisa's authority to teach. Anam Thubten invoked blessings and called the lineage to witness Sunisa being ordained. Sunisa held a candle to symbolize the light of dharma and the wisdom mind of the lineage masters. She took the bodhisattva's vow to illuminate the mind and heart of all sentient beings. She promised to help others alleviate their suffering, and to help them see their true Buddha nature.

Taking ordination was a personal and profound moment for Sunisa. She never thought it was a part of her path. She was honored as a woman and as a mother to have dharma teaching become an option for her.

To conclude the ceremony, Anam Thubten presented Sunisa with a zen, which is a Tibetan robe worn over the left shoulder. It is white to symbolize pure awareness. The shawl means that she is a lay dharma teacher and not a monastic. She wears it whenever she teaches.