Please note

As it is, there will be no formal Saturday Morning or Sunday.Evening Practice this weekend (10-11Oct).

The chapel/zendo and bookshed remain available for your use.

Keep us in mind.

Summer 2015, Events at Meetingbrook

Note: All silent sittings and meditation practice takes place in our chapel/zendo meditation cabin. Conversations take place in the main house Raimon Panikkar Wohnkuche (kitchen living space)

Prologue: A word about Meetingbrook Hermitage Events:

• All are welcome. All events at meetingbrook are free, open, and informal. 
• Each conversation, each night, each practice stands by itself. You’ve missed nothing. Just stop by and join the sitting practice or the conversation. 
• Each silent sitting is just that, nothing more. Each event and conversation begins with a space of silence.  
• Residents of meetingbrook include two dogs (Rokpa and Cody) and two cats (Panta and Chitta). 

1. Monday: No events. 

2. Tuesday: 

Tuesday Evening Conversation, 5:30—6:30 PM,  Eastern Traditions focus (Taoism, Buddhism, Vedanta, poetry and philosophy of Asia, East Asia).  Format: brief silent sitting (5mins), followed by circle reading, open reflection conversation, final circle.  

Current default book: Mother of the Buddhas: Meditations on the Prajnaparamita Sutra, 1993, by Lex Hixon   

Lex Hixon's "contemplative expansion" of forty passages from the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the basic scripture of all schools of Mahayana Buddhism, yields a text of devotional beauty that is at once dramatic and uplifting. The text sets forth the Bodhisattva path to enlightenment. Features a foreword by renowned American Buddhist scholar Dr. Robert A. Thurman. 

3. Wednesday: Meetingbrook Mornings at Maine State Prison -- Independent Studies. 
                           No evening events.

4. Thursday:

a) Morning Hospitality, 9:00AM - 11AM (coffee, tea, toast, muffins or eggs)  

b) Thursday Evening Conversation, 5:30pm-6:30pm.  Western Traditions focus (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Non-theism, current philosophical thought). Format: brief silent sitting (5mins), followed by circle reading, open reflection conversation, final circle. 

Current default book: The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love, 2013, by Ilia Delio 

The award-winning author of Christ in Evolution and The Emergent Christ breaks new ground with this capstone in a trilogy that opens our eyes to the everywhere active, all powerful, all intelligent Love that guides and directs our new awareness of interrelatedness and interbeing. 

She writes: We all have a part to play in this unfolding Love; we are wholes within wholes; persons within persons; religions within religions. We are one body and we seek one mind and heart so that the whole may become more whole, more personal and unified in love. This is our Christian vocation, to live in the Christ who is rising up from the ashes of death to become for us the God of the future.  

5. Friday:

a) Meetingbrook Mornings at Maine State Prison, Warren ME. (7:30am--11:00am). Silent Sitting, Walking Practice, Conversation, Final Circle. 

b) Poetry, Tea, and Thee, at Quarry Hill  (Retirement/Assisted Living Facility, Camden ME) 1st and 3rd Fridays, (3-4pm) 

c) Friday Evening Conversation at Hermitage, 5:30pm--6:45pm. Format: Conversation focusing on Current Issues, Mystics, Poets, Philosophers, Non-traditional and Various Other Thinkers. Reading, or video, from various traditions, conversation, Soul-friend sharing. Currently our reading/conversation is open to whatever is suggested by attendees.

6. Saturday:

Saturday Morning Meditation Practice, 7:30am--8:45am, Buddhist/Meditative Focus. Format: 30min silent sitting, chant, reading, circle reflection, metta, (Coffee, tea, toast after available).

7. Sunday:

a) Sunday Morning Collation, An Interreligious Centering Prayer/Lectio Divina (focusing on contemplation, conversation, correspondence), 9:00-10:00am. Format: A silent period (10mins), followed by reading from particular scriptures of two traditions, then reflective conversation, round-table.

b) Morning Hospitality 10:00am-noon. 

b) Sunday Evening Practice, (Practicing Between Contemplative/Meditative Traditions), 6:00pm--8:00pm. Format: 40min silent sitting; 5min mindful walking; Heart Sutra chant; 15min table reading; 10min silent eating; 15min open conversation; final circle.

..........

Note: See website, Today at Meetingbrook,http://meetingbrook.blogspot.com/ for any change/elaboration of schedule 

Epilogue:  

Meetingbrook Hermitage is a place of collation and recollection between 
Ragged and Bald Mountains. 

We practice, with simplicity, between traditions. 

We cultivate our promises of contemplation, conversation, and correspondence. 

This is attempted in the spirit of deep listening and loving speech. 

Stop by any time to visit meditation cabin or bookshed.
The yurt is used for solitary retreats. Inquire.

Hiking trails of both mountains abound.

Meetingbrook Dogen & Francis Hermitage, is a Schola Gratiae et Contemplationis, i.e., a School of Gratefulness and Contemplation. Begun in 1994, it was formed as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization in 1998 for the purpose of serving as a place of collation and recollection for the side-by-side practice and study of Buddhist Zen Meditation,  Christian Contemplative Prayer, and the Engaged Service flowing from each. Central to Meetingbrook is its Schola dedicated to Interreligious Dialogue—Unveiling and Practicing Peace Between Ways. Donations are always gratefully accepted for the continuance and deepening of Meetingbrook.

 m.o.n.o.s (monastics of no other, silencio).

We are grateful for any efforts that encourage
an ongoing creation rooted in prayer, meditation, study, and service.  

Winter 2015, Jan-Mar, Events at Meetingbrook

Note: All silent sittings and meditation practice takes place in Merton Bookshed/Winter Zendo. Please note changes in our Winter practice

Prologue: A word about Meetingbrook Hermitage Events:

All are welcome. All events at meetingbrook are free, open, and informal. 

Each conversation, each night, each practice stands by itself. 

Each silent sitting is just that, nothing more. 

Each event and conversation begins with a space of silence. 

 Residents along with Bill and Saskia are 

two dogs (Rokpa and Cody) and 

two cats (Panta and Chitta). 

1. Monday: No events. 

2. Tuesday: 

Tuesday Evening Conversation Practice, 5:30-6:30pm. Eastern Traditions focus (Taoism, Buddhism, Vedanta). Format: brief silent sitting, followed by circle reading, open reflection conversation, final circle.

3. Wednesday: No events

4. Thursday:

a) Morning Hospitality, 8:30 - 11AM (coffee, tea, toast, muffins or eggs)  

b) Thursday Evening Conversation Practice, 5:30pm-6:30pm.     Western (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Non-theism thought) Traditions focus. Format: brief silent sitting, followed by circle reading, open reflection conversation, final circle.

5. Friday:

a) Meetingbrook Conversation at Maine State Prison, (Only Bill, Saskia, Rokpa currently going in.) Warren ME. (7:30am--11:00am). 

b) Poetry, Tea, and Thee, at Quarry Hill  (Retirement/Assisted Living Facility, Camden ME) 1st, 3rd Fridays, (3-4pm) 

c) Friday Evening Conversation at Hermitage, 5:30pm--6:45pm. Format: Conversation focusing on Current Issues, Mystics, Poets, Philosophers, Non-traditional and Various Other Thinkers. Reading, or video, from various traditions, conversation, Soul-friend sharing. Currently open to whatever is suggested by whoever attends.

6. Saturday:

Saturday Morning Meditation Practice, 7:30am--8:45am, Buddhist/Meditative Focus. Format: 30min silent sitting, chant, reading, circle reflection, metta, (Coffee, tea, toast after available).

7. Sunday:

a) Sunday Morning Collation, An Interreligious Centering Prayer/Lectio Divina (focusing on contemplation, conversation, correspondence), 9:00-10:00am. Format: A silent period (10mins), followed by reading from particular scriptures of two traditions, then reflective conversation round-table.

b) Morning Hospitality 10:00am-noon. 

b) Sunday Evening Practice, (Practicing Between Contemplative/Meditative Traditions), 6:00pm--8:00pm. Format: 40min silent sitting; 5min mindful walking; Heart Sutra chant; 15min table reading; 10min silent eating; 15min open conversation; final circle.

..........

Note: See website, Today at Meetingbrook,http://meetingbrook.blogspot.com/ for any change/elaboration of schedule 

Epilogue:  

Meetingbrook Hermitage is a place of collation and recollection between 
Ragged and Bald Mountains. 

We practice, with simplicity, between traditions. 

We cultivate our promises of contemplation, conversation, and correspondence. 

This is attempted in the spirit of deep listening and loving speech. 

Stop by any time to visit cabin, bookshed, or yurt. 

Hiking trails of both mountains abound.

Meetingbrook Dogen & Francis Hermitage, is a Schola Gratiae et Contemplationis, i.e., a School of Gratefulness and Contemplation. It was formed as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization in 1998 for the purpose of serving as a place of collation and recollection for the side-by-side practice and study of Buddhist Zen Meditation & Christian Contemplative Prayer, and the Engaged Service flowing from each. Central to Meetingbrook is its Schola dedicated to Interreligious Dialogue—Unveiling and Practicing Peace Between Ways. Donations are always gratefully accepted for the continuance and deepening of Meetingbrook.

Saskia Huising & Bill Halpin, co-founders &m.o.n.o.s (monastics of no other, silencio).

We are grateful for any assistance
in the ongoing creation