Sunday, March 25, 2012

Starting a sit tonight

So the day is finally here.  Perhaps it's a small thing, but to me it is huge.  I'm going to have a drop in sit at my house.  I developed a plan, talked about it with my friends, and executed my plan with lots of support, and there's even potentially 2-4 newcomers coming.  I'm very excited, and anxious to make it the best supportive thing for meditation.

It was suggested to me that if you've only got one night reliably free, have a drop in sit.  It mixes beginners with the new.  So my concern is that I will be basic enough for the beginners, and interesting enough for those advanced.

So we'll gather, have a sit, with instructions for the beginners, process our experience, take a tea break, and then have a Dharma discussion.  I can see things spinning off in different directions.  Maybe I give a short talk.  Maybe we listen to a snippet of talk from Free Buddhist Audio (I've been downloading Dharmabytes trying to find one I feel is appropriate for the first night.)  Maybe we will have a simple meal if we're all hungry.  Who knows.  But I have anxiety about the unknown of how it will evolve.  Will there be regular attendance.  Will it fluctuate with new people and regulars?  Will it fluctuate greatly.  Lots of questions and unknowns.

I was talking to someone, and I worried that Sunday night would be a bad time.  But I was talking to someone who said that Sunday night is a good time, it's a good ending to the weekend, a good transition to the week.

I'd better go clean some to make it a welcoming environment.  Wish me luck!

And e-mail me at unionandmain@gmail.com if you'd like to join in, here is Kew Garden Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, United States of America.


2 comments:

SJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SJ said...

So proud of you Steve!!! I was right there with you in spirit. Sadly, the rest of me had duties to tend to elsewhere. You are planting marvelous seeds!