Welcome to my site.  A few years ago I began to investigate the concept of living with an undefended heart. I believe this is the root of what the Buddha asks us to do in his teachings and it is now the lens through which I see the world. How do we defend ourselves and how do we free ourselves? This has been a rich journey that continues with ever unfolding subtlety. I look forward to joining with you on this path towards freedom.

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All Classes are Now Virtual

We’ve been online for a over three years and all regular classes remain available via Zoom. Thanks for a beautiful community.

Thursdays  7-8:15pm PT

Saturdays  5-6:15pm PT

Monday through Sunday  7-7:30am PT

Zoom Link for Daily and Weekly Classes

Details

A Year to Live

with Mary Stancavage
Starts April 21, 2024
via Zoom

Follow  link for more info

9th Annual Women’s Retreat

with Sydney Reece and Mary Stancavage
May 25-29, 2024
Big Bear Retreat Center

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A Morning Hike

Sunday April 14, 2024
8:30am

Place: TBA
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Women & Whiteness

Monthly Group: Next Meeting March 25
5-6pm PT via Zoom

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Insight Community of the Desert

Teaching Dates

Sunday April 7, 4:30-6pm via Zoom
Saturday April 20 – 9:15-12 in person
Sunday May 19, 4:30-6pm via Zoom

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What is Undefended Dharma?

The dharma can be seen as either the teachings of the Buddha or, more fully, the way it is. I love the phrase, “Right now, it’s like this” which embodies the idea that the dharma is front and center all the time. However, we have spent a lifetime protecting ourselves from reality especially if we think it will hurt us. We don’t want to relive past harms or we want to prevent the possibility of future pain. We live a defended life and unless we take the time to look at our defenses, we will continue to be trapped by our habitual patterns of thinking and acting. As I have investigated and framed my practice around the idea of living with an undefended heart, it implies that the dharma is undefended. We become willing to turn toward whatever our experience is, without preference and with equanimity. This is quite a task and one that can take years (it certainly has in my case and I’m definitely not done yet). I hope you will join me in practicing undefended dharma as we move towards living with an undefended heart.

This I Believe:
Much of what is taught is the acceptance of a “kinder, gentler suffering” that does not question the unwholesome roots of the systemic suffering and the structures that hold it in place. What is required is a new Dharma, a radical Dharma that deconstructs rather than amplifies the systems of suffering, that starves rather than fertilizes the soil of the conditions that the deep roots of societal suffering grow in. A new Dharma is one that insists we investigate not only the unsatisfactoriness of our own minds but also prepares us for the discomfort of confronting the obscurations of the society we are individual expressions of…It recognizes that the delusions of systemic oppression are not solely the domain of the individual. By design, they are seated within and reinforced by society.
Rev angel Kyodo williams, Radical Dharma