Series

Dharma in Depth 1 for Experienced Students: Practicing with the Four Noble Truths

Tara Mulay: Overview and First Noble Truth

Sunday, January 17; 10:00-11:30am

Suggested donation: $8-20 per session registration  + teacher donation

In this class for experienced practitioners, we will progressively explore practice through the lens of understanding the Buddha's essential teaching of the Four Noble Truths.  Students can attend one class or more -- there is no need to attend the whole series.

This class is open for those who have established a regular practice, and are comfortable with the basics, but would like to ask questions and learn more. We will do a combination of sharing about our practices, exploring various meditation techniques and delving into some of the teachings which can be used to deepen practice. You are welcome to register if you:

• have been practicing daily
• and/or have been practicing for a few years
• and/or have been on retreat.

This class will be offered on one Sunday per month (either the third or fourth) and will be taught by Tara Mulay and Michael Grady.  Registration for each month is requested.

Schedule:

January 17 - Overview and First Noble Truth - Tara Mulay

February 21 - Second & Third Noble Truth - Michael Grady

March 28 - Fourth Noble Truth - 1st Basket - Wise View & Wise Intention -Tara Mulay

April 18 - Fourth Noble Truth - 2nd Basket - Wise Action, Wise Speech, Wise Livelihood - Michael Grady

May 16 – Fourth Noble Truth – 3rd Basket – Wise Effort - Tara Mulay

June 27 - Fourth Noble Truth - 3rd Basket - Wise Mindfulness & Wise Concentration - Michael Grady

Tara Mulay has practiced Insight Meditation since 2003. She has undertaken numerous intensive retreat practice periods in the United States and Myanmar. She is a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Community Dharma Leaders Program and is currently participating in Insight Meditation Society’s 2017-2021 teacher training program. In 2016, she co-founded the San Francisco People of Color Insight Sangha. She remained a core teacher with the group until the spring of 2019, when she relocated to Western Massachusetts. Her root tradition stems from the teachings of Mahasi Sayadaw.

​She has gratefully drawn influence from many other teachers within and outside of the Mahasi lineage, including Howard Cohn, Kamala Masters, Gil Fronsdal, Joseph Goldstein, Sayadaw U Tejaniya, and Ayya Anandabodhi. Tara practiced criminal defense law in California for over 20 years, and her dharma offerings often reflect a focus on daily life practice, including in the realms of work and livelihood. Tara is of South Asian (Indian) descent. She felt initially drawn to dharma practice upon encountering the Buddha’s teachings rejecting social caste as a measure of worth and of capacity for awakening. She believes classical Buddhist practices, designed to cultivate compassion, non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion, are uniquely potent vehicles for empowering people in marginalized communities and effecting social change.​

Michael Grady began practicing Insight Meditation with Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg in 1974 when they first returned from Asia. He has also been a student of the late Chan master Sheng Yen who taught the practice of Silent Illumination - a practice which emphasizes relaxing the body and mind while practicing awareness without expectations or an agenda. Michael is a Core teacher at IMS in Barre, MA and was a Guiding Teacher at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center for more than 20 years. Having taught extensively in both intensive retreats and in an urban dharma center, Michael encourages an attitude towards practice which is wholistic - that all of life is viewed as an opportunity for awakening to freedom. 

Event thumbnail by Arcot Gautham on Unsplash