A Call to Ecstatic Contemplatives

[Michael Hawkins]

Hello all you rigorous, skillful and/or ecstatically-ambitious meditators!

I am renewing the Call to begin a meditation group here in the Boulder, Colorado area. My wife and I will host Sunday morning sits beginning after the New Year.

We will meet either weekly or bi-weekly, depending on the general consensus of participants.

The aim is to plant a seed for an ongoing ecstatic community, based primarily on meditation instructions delivered by the Buddha himself over 2,500 years ago.

I will lead the meditations, offering introductory talks and spoken guidance into each sit.

We will also choose material to study and discuss, around which a short dhamma talk (hopefully interactive, please!) will be offered. Study material will initially come from the Phala Nikaya (the Buddha's discourses on meditative attainment), but will open to writings from ecstatic mystics emerging from non-Buddhist traditions. The aim is to discover the ecstatic experience at the root of all true spiritual tradition.

Please contact me through email or "pm" if interested.

Many blessings,
Michael

[jhananda]

That is excellent news Michael. I hope to see more Ecstatic Meditation Groups forming around the country. I am sure you will have an excellent group of contemplatives join you at your group in Boulder.

Best regards, Jeffrey

[Michael Hawkins]

Thanks, Jeffrey! So far I'm getting some good response, although we may need to change it to Saturdays, as there is another weekly group (Ajahn Thanasatti in Louisville) meeting Sunday morning. Seems like folks are giving thought to a meditation practice now, which is, after all, what the world really, really needs right about now....

[jhananda]

What is the conflict with Ajahn Thanasatti in Louisville? Does he teach a jhana oriented discourse that then draws the same kind of people? If so, it does seem to be wise to not create a schedule conflict for those who may attend your sits.

[Michael Hawkins]

The Ajahn is actually female, and I know of one ecstatic contemplative who sits with her (it is actually Thanasanti -- I had it mispelled). The Ajahn has already expressed to me (through Facebook) excitement over an Ecstatic Meditation Group, so I think your instincts are correct: it's good to avoid a scheduling conflict.

[jhananda]

Is this Ajahn Thanasanti in Louisville somewhere near Boulder, CO, or is this Louisville, KY? If she is near Boulder, CO, and she supports an Ecstatic Buddhist interpretation of the suttas, practice strategy, and attainment, then perhaps you should support her sits by joining her, while creating your own sits at your home on days that do not conflict with hers?

[Michael Hawkins]

She's in Louisville, CO, just up the road. I don't know anything about her approach to jhana, Jeffrey, but I'm sure my friend who sits with her will fill me in. We shall see!