Going for Refuge At the foot of the Bodhi Tree, beautifully seated, peaceful and smiling, the living source of understanding and compassion, to the Buddha I go for refuge. ––Thich Nhat Hanh Since our dear Sangha friend Claudia Brandenburg died in November, I have found myself increasingly drawn into a deep inquiry about what it…

By Michael Stoner, president, Valley Insight Board of Directors As I reflect on our experiences as a Sangha last year, I’m aware of how shifts in our larger society have affected some of our longtime practices. In this brief report, I’ll focus on two important initiatives for Valley Insight last year and share an update…

“It is not just a matter of faith; it is a matter of practice.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh When our dear Sangha friend Claudia Brandenburg died in December, many of us noted that she had truly lived her life in the Dharma. We knew this through the focus of her attention, through her words and…

“Man is capable of care as much as he is of destruction.” –– William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court justice and leading environmental voice. On the first Saturday of this month, Valley Insight prison volunteers were, as usual, in Berlin, New Hampshire at the Northern New Hampshire Correctional Institute, sitting in meditation and reflection with…

We are delighted to offer you one of our Voices from the Sangha reflections this month, this one by Judith Randall. A Quaker for many years, Judith began Vipassana practice at IMS in the 1980s, then lived and practiced at San Francisco Zen Center for fifteen years. She met Gil Fronsdal there in 2010 and…

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living…