MAY 2025 NEWSLETTER
- Kaya Fruchtman
- Apr 30
- 8 min read
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
The Great Gift
Richard Driscoll
Sometimes as practitioners the Dharma turns up in unexpected places or we may see something in a newer, more Dharmic light. Something like this happened to me with an excerpt from the poem, “All Night, All Night” by Delmore Schwartz which I read long ago in my pre-Buddhist days. When I first read this I was struck by the despair in the poem and the sense of existential dread. Schwartz had been a celebrated young poet of the 1930s and 1940s who drifted into relative obscurity and passed away in the 1970s after struggling with alcoholism and mental illness.
The setting of the poem is a night train in which the poet is traveling and, unable to sleep, he gives himself over to somber reflection. Suddenly he notices a bird flying parallel to the train, just outside his window and it is as if bird is speaking to him -
And then the bird cried as if to all of us:
O your life, your lonely life
What have you ever done with it,
And done with the great gift of consciousness?
What will you ever do with your life before death’s
knife
Provides the answer ultimate and appropriate?
When I first read this I thought it expressed a sense of wasted time and the inevitability of death and, indeed, that is how the rest of the poem reads. Now, however, I see it differently. The description of impermanence is powerfully rendered in this excerpt - one of the four thoughts that turn the mind towards Dharma in Buddhist teachings. When I contemplated it recently I began to see it as more of an exhortation to make use of what is left of life. But what is most
powerful upon rereading is this line -
[What have you ] done with the great gift of consciousness?
I have been asking myself - what am I doing right now with my awareness, this powerful gift which, according to the Buddha, could actually liberate me from suffering? Is it glued to my iPhone? Is it absorbed in today’s news? Is it expressing kindness to others? The expiration date of this great gift is fast approaching. What am I doing to make my life meaningful? The nature of
awareness is presented at length and in detail in the Buddhist teachings and is another key to liberation along with the Noble Truth of suffering and its origin. This fact that awareness is a gift, actually a miracle, that we are endowed with, I believe could also help turn one’s mind towards the Dharma and open up into a path away from suffering. As the Buddha once said, “The key to liberation is in the palm of your hand”.
May we all be able to realize the importance of this great gift and thereby use it to make the remainder of our lives meaningful for ourselves and all those with whom we come in contact!
Winning with fiercely compassionate mindfulness
In this podcast, Jonathan Katz, Fairfax criminal lawyer explores with Michael Carroll how to apply mindfulness to the challenges the criminal courtroom.
We would like to remind you to take some time and visit our Instagram page, @wisdomseat_stevemccurry. Here, you will find an array of enlightening teachings and breathtaking images that are bound to inspire and awaken your mind and spirit. We have curated these posts with utmost care and diligence to provide you with a source of inspiration and learning.
We are thrilled about our collaboration with Steve McCurry Studios, a partnership we believe will bridge our communities. Through the combined power of beauty and wisdom, we aim to create deep and meaningful connections among us all. We look forward to your continued support and engagement with our content.
Wednesday Meditation
Ongoing offering: Online meditation every Wednesday evening 6:15 to 7:30 PM EST
Worldwide Wednesday evening online sitting meditation practice.
We, at The Wisdom Seat, invite you to meet on Wednesday evenings from 6:15 – 7:30 PM Eastern Time to practice the sitting meditation discipline as taught in the Buddhist & Shambhala tradition of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Nyinthun: Everyone is welcome!
Ongoing offering: Nyinthun (in-person and online)
The first Sunday of every month.
All day sitting interspersed with walking meditation. The word nyinthun*, is Tibetan for “day session.”
In understanding dharma, Trungpa Rinpoche placed a strong emphasis on mindfulness/awareness meditation practice. This community practice of Nyinthun - all day sitting interspersed with walking meditation - gives us the opportunity to experience the full spectrum of our mind, make friends with our immediate experience and rediscover our natural sanity.
Please take a look, and sign up to join us for some nyinthun retreat days. It is ok to join for as much of the day as you can.
Collaborative practice undertaking with The Wisdom Seat & The Profound Treasury Retreat
The Wisdom Seat encourages as many opportunities for practitioners to engage in the discipline of mindfulness/awareness (shamatha/vipashyana) as one can engage in. We are happy to invite the Profound Treasury Retreat (PTR) with their offering of Sunday sitting.
PTR community is hosting a 2-hour sitting session from 9:30am to 11:30 am EST
There will be meditation instruction every third Sunday of the month, given by a qualified meditation instructor.
Dates: May 11th, 28th, & 25th
Here is the Zoom link for this session: Sunday Sitting Zoom Link
All are welcome to attend.
The Wisdom Seat Retreat
October 25 - November 2, 2025
Karma Triyana Dharmachakra
Woodstock, NY
We invite you to join us for this in-person Autumn retreat at the Karma TriyanaDharmachakra monastery in the delightful upstate New York Catskill Mountains. Michael Carroll, cofounder of The Wisdom Seat will be leading this 8-day practice intensive, supported by members of The Wisdom Seat staff. This retreat is designed to help us deepen our mindfulness-awareness meditation and integrate it into our daily life. The retreat will include:
6 - 7 hours of daily shrine room meditation alternating sitting and walking during each session
Breath and body relaxation practices
Outdoor walking meditation
Periodic group meditation instruction
Readings from Buddhist texts
Dharma talks and discussion
Individual meditation instruction upon request
An hour+ of helping hands
Participants will be asked to observe “functional silence” throughout most of the retreat, limiting verbal communication to a minimum.
Vegetarian breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be offered, with access to snacks, coffee, and tea throughout the retreat.
Since the retreat will be limited to 30 participants, those attending will be expected to participate in all 8 days of the retreat.
Local Commuters may participate 8 days or less.
Dorje Denma Ling
Radical Awakening: A Residential Retreat on the Sharp Vajra of Awareness Tantra
with Anam Thubten Rinpoche
July 22 - 27, 2025
This is a collaboration between Dharmata Foundation and Dorje Denma Ling.
The Sharp Vajra Tantra is a terma, or revelation, written down by Dzogchen Master Dudjom Lingpa of the 19th Century. It encapsulates the entirety of Vajrayana, Tantric Buddhist practices such as Dzogchen. This profound text holds a potency that can awaken our minds and transform our hearts. Anam Thubten has published his teachings on this text in Voice of the Primordial Buddha: A Commentary on Dudjom Lingpa’s Sharp Vajra of Awareness Tantra.
During this retreat, he will draw from these teachings to guide participants in the practice that brings a direct experience of the nature of mind. This experience is the heart of this text. Anam Thubten feels strongly that Dudjom Lingpa’s teachings are the right medicine for our psyches in this age of chaos that, albeit challenging, holds a great potential for awakening.
Registration Link: https://dorjedenmaling.org/programs-listing/2342/radical-awakening-a-residential-retreat-on-the-sharp-vajra-of-awareness-tantra/
Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality
Chögyam Trungpa: The Spiritual, Humanitarian, Artistic, and Scholarly Vision in his Life and Work
Wednesday, May 7th, 2025
2pm - 5pm EST | 7pm-9pm (UK time)
Online Zoom Forum
There will be five talks, each of 12 minutes, followed by discussion among the speakers and the chair, Dr Brion Sweeney, followed by Q & A.
By Donation
Prof Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., Sparks of Wisdom: Chogyam Trungpa’s Educational Vision
When Tibetan Buddhist meditation master Chogyam Trungpa came to the west, he briefly studied at Oxford University as a Spalding Fellow. In 1974, he founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, envisioning a way to revitalize western education with meditative wisdom. This presentation will outline Rinpoche’s vision for infusing secular education with pedagogies and curricula that spark an experience of personal journey. Examples from Naropa University’s 50-year history will illustrate the impact this vision has had on American higher education.
Carolyn Rose Gimian, Creating a Buddhist Vocabulary: How Chogyam Trungpa Shaped the Discussion of Buddhism in the West
Chogyam Trungpa began learning English in India in the early 1960’s and continued his studies in England, becoming fluent and accomplished in the English language. In both England and America, in his lectures and his writings, he increasingly chose psychological and poetic language to describe human experience and the practice of meditation. His work has been extremely influential in shaping the vocabulary for Buddhism, especially Buddhist practice, in the English-speaking world. As Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche stated in 2018: "And how can we forget Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche venturing alone into places totally unknown to him and bringing himself down to the most ordinary human level to single-handedly create nuances, terms, language, atmosphere, discipline and stages of practice for new dharma students? To take just one example among thousands, coining the term “basic goodness” of human beings brilliantly spoke to the hearts and minds of people in the here and now without ever deviating from the most traditional Buddhist teachings." We will examine all of this in the presentation, which will include several slides from his time in England.
Prof Lee Worley, Chögyam Trungpa and Artistic Process: Space is Solid, You are Empty
When Chögyam Trungpa came to the west our idea of space was pretty much that it was the empty area between things. Things were solid and space was empty. Turning this idea on its head, giving space the significance that modern science is discovering, introduced us to the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism without religious dogma. Trungpa saw artistic process as a way to experientially communicate the fullness and emptiness of space. A Master of visual and performing arts, he created opportunities to discover space as both element and homeland.
Judy Lief, Back to Square One: Sitting Meditation, Foundational Teachings, and Leading a Dharmic Life
Trungpa Rinpoche’s emphasis on the importance of shamatha or mindfulness training for his students and the unique way in which he presented it. His relationship with Suzuki Roshi and the influence of Zen forms. How he trained senior students at Vajradhatu Seminaries structured on the three stages of the Tibetan Buddhist path.
Prof Mitchell Levy, MD
Using lessons from mindfulness to deliver bad news in clinical practice. This session will discuss lessons learned on teaching palliative care/communication skills to Internal Medicine residents. Participants will explore how aspects of the practice of meditation can help to develop deep communication skills necessary for working with patients and families facing death. The program is designed to bring together a wide variety of participants--including physicians, other care-givers, and laypeople—who are actively involved or concerned with end-of-life situations and decision-making.
How invisibly
it changes color
in this world,
the flower
of the human heart.
~Onono Komachi, The Ink Dark Moon
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