This week Tahn Pamutto was away on a visit to the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (buddhistinquiry.org) This center is connected with the Insight Meditation Society and Forest Refuge and together provide a wealth of retreat and learning opportunities for practitioners both locally and from abroad.
The centers are lay retreat centers that only offer a small percentage of monastic-led retreats during the year. This was one such retreat, however, led by bhikkhuni Ayya Santussika. Ayya is the senior monastic and founder of the Karuna Buddhist Vihara in California. (Karuna Buddhist Vihara – Home (karunabv.org)
The retreat was on Anāpānāsati, the Buddha’s own system for breath meditation. This is a topic that never gets old! It’s always a joy to see a group of people practicing together and diving into study of the Pāli texts. Tahn Pamutto was joined by friends who’ve been going to the center for years as well as Andrew from the online Uposatha events, who traveled all the way from Texas.
BCBS is looking good, seemingly fully recovered from the pandemic and leading into the new year with a full schedule of offerings. Notably, they’ve expanded their repertoire of online offerings. Courses aside, it’s also a wonderful part of the fabric of Buddhism in the area. The community that lives, works, and volunteers among the three centers are a network of good people that stretch from one end of the state to the other. Here’s wishing them a successful year of programs!