Bodhisara Course and Event Listings

Classes | Dharma Study Group
Community Gatherings
Weekly Sittings | Non-Bodhisara Mark Hart Events

Giving Peace a Chance
Tuesday Evenings, 7:30-9:00PM
Sept 15- Oct 20
The Cadigan Center for Religious Life, Amherst College
Suggested Donation: $75

This 6-week series will focus on learning to meet life from a place of non-anxious presence and to recognize and rest in the silence and stillness of one’s being. This class offers a basic introduction to insight meditation for beginners and ongoing instruction for those familiar with the practice. Each class includes instruction, practice and discussion, and “awareness homework” during the week is sometimes given. Students who will gain the most benefit from the class are those who attend all classes and commit themselves to practicing meditation for at least 20 minutes daily.

Finding Heart: Living from Non-separation
Tuesday Evenings, 7:30-9:00PM
Oct 17- Dec 15
The Cadigan Center for Religious Life, Amherst College
Suggested Donation: $100

In this eight-week class we will learn to drop down from the conceptual mind in order to find and remain in the heart-space, exploring its fundamental qualities of openness, non-separation, and tenderness as well as how it can be a source of action and living. Each class will include 30 minutes of meditation as well as teaching and inquiry.

Sundays and Sittings

Dharma Inquiry Group:

2^nd and 4^th Sundays,
Oct 11- Jan 24
7:00- 9:00 p.m., Leverett
Suggested Donation: $100
Commitment to consistent attendance is required

The inquiry group is for those who wish to explore within a group what is true and what liberates. Each member takes responsibility for discovering his or her own real questions about the Dharma and sharing that inquiry with the group. We aim to talk about what is most alive and energizing in each person’s practice as well as what is stuck and difficult. We also read a book in conjunction with this exploration. This fall’s book will be Adyashanti’s The End of Your World. Members must have an established Buddhist meditation practice for at least two years and registration is limited to 12. Priority is given to prior members.

Sunday Morning Sitting Group
Sundays 10-11:30AM

Each group includes 45 minutes of sitting and 45 minutes of conversation in which we share, in a context of spiritual friendship, our own exploration of truth and freedom in our lives. Not a teacher-led group. Held Sundays 10:00-11:30 a.m. at Julie Graham’s home, 75 Town Farm Road in Shutesbury. Please email Mark at harts@crocker.com or call 259-2145 to be added to our email list for this group if you are planning to come because we sometime change the venue.

Adyashanti Gathering
Third Friday of each month, 7PM

This group is for all who are interested in the teaching of Adyashanti. Each gathering includes meditation, a tape or DVD teaching by Adyashanti, and a discussion. It is held on the third Friday of each month at 7 PM at a home in Hadley. Contact Mark Lange at lange.mark@charter.net for more information..

Community Gatherings

Non-Bodhisara Teachings by Mark Hart

At the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, (978) 355-2347:

Identity, Personality and Freedom, September 27-29 (residential weekend)

At IMCPV, Eastworks, 116 Pleasant St. Ste. 2310, Easthampton (no pre-registration):

Inquiry for Awakening, October 24, 9:30-4:30 PM, $20-30 +teacher dana
Giving Peace a Chance, Mondays Nov. 9-30, 7:00-8:30 PM, $28-$40 + teacher dana

At Insight Meditation Community of Martha’s Vineyard
Day-long retreat Oct. 17, 10-4:30 at the Unitarian Church, 238 Main Street, Vineyard Haven, $25 plus teacher dana

At Northampton Insight Meditation Community (in the Karuna Center:

Dharma Talks on Sept. 20 and other dates in the fall to be scheduled in the Karuna Center, Northampton, dana

About the teacher
Mark Hart has practiced insight meditation for 20 years, primarily studying with teachers from Insight Mediation Society in Barre, MA. He has taught meditation for 14 years and is the founder and guiding teacher of the Bodhisara Dharma Community. He holds a Masters degree in counseling and a PhD. in theology, has a small private practice in psychotherapy in Amherst, and is a lecturer in religious studies at Smith College. His work reflects his experience as a parent, therapist, scholar and one who has lived with chronic illness.