BUDDHIST MEDITATION Santa Monica: Simply The Power of Much More Inner-Silence – Buddhist Meditation Westside Los Angeles – The LAUGHiNg BUDDHA SANGHA Santa Monica – Outside-the-Box-Buddhism – A Maverick Spirited Inner-Quest – 310-450-2268 – Beginners Buddhist Meditation Sitting Group Class in Mindfulness Vipassana Insight Awareness Meditation Dharma Study – Theravada Engaged Buddhism – Zen Buddhist Meditation Santa Monica – BUDDHIST 'CONVERSATIONS' on AWAKEN.MENT thru MEDITATION with former Buddhist monk Akasa Levi – The L.A. MEDICINE MEN'S LODGE – ZEN MEN'S GROUP – www.zentrance.com/mensgroup – L.A. Dharma www.ladharma.org – The SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD PROJECT – Individual Buddhist Therapy & Couples Marriage Buddhist Relationship Counseling – www.zentrance.com/counselingtherapy – www.losangeles.craigslist.org –

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welcome to http://www.zentrance.com v

MEDITATION & DHARMA • Information Pages • Updated: January 2006

this new web-page is in very-slow progress – it's still one long page –

so please have p a t i e n c e to read, click or scroll around • enjoy •

maybe hi-lite/copy/paste/save it to a Word.doc & read more later

class information • dharma poetry & quotes • take your time •

there's a lot of pithy, good Wisdom-Dharma reading in here !

If you start to Scroll from the very beginning, rather than click -
It all makes sense and lyrically ‘flows’ together better.

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TOP :: TABLE of CONTENTS: Click to Access

• WELCOME-WORDS & POETRY ~ just below

• DATES: for Winter/Spring Series

"Buddha: The Joyous Iconoclast"

• IMPORTANT NOTE about the approach of this class

• NEW to BUDDHIST-Styles of MEDITATION ?

• “The PATH of NO EXPECTATIONS”

• CLASS COMMITMENT / Why / How ?

• DETAILS / Times / What to Bring

• WHAT is the DHARMA ? ~ Question Reality

WHO was The BUDDHA ? ~ Question Authority

• “The ICONOCLAST” – Mavericks & Heretics

• TEACHER bio :: Akasa Levi

• BUDDHA and the Existential poet RILKE
The LAUGHiNg BUDDHA life-philosophy

• Akasa photo – Contact Info – web-page ends

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The Laughing Buddha Sangha v Santa Monica

BUDDHIST VIPASSANA MEDITATION & DEEP DHARMA Group Study with Akasa Levi

The L.A. MEDICINE MEN's LODGEvThe ZΞN MΞN MYSTIC WΩMΞN Circles

CA 90405 – USA – 310-450-2268 – AkasaLevi@msn.com – http://www.zentrance.com

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“ What is accepted by the majority of people ~ does not mean it is Real ” ~ The Buddha

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t

2006

ever freshly born

into this very moment

will it unfold

open up

flower into

beingness?

or stay within

its 'imagined' limits?

the moment is so elusive:

every time you 'look' for It,

you're looking away from It.

~ John de Ruiter ~

And then the day came
when the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful
than the risk it took to blossom ~ Anais Nin

wwwvtztvwww

"DEEP DHARMA" Study & MEDITATION with AKASA LEVI

Ongoing • 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM • most MONDAYS

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"One common mistake is to think that 'your' reality is THE reality.

You must always be prepared to leave your reality for a greater one." ~ Amaji Meera

Your mind certainly can transform & can be free and at peace all by itself !

All it needs is the right 'software' & a meditation 'method' to practice it with.

" I love you, gentlest of Ways –

who ripened us as we wrestled with you." ~Rilke

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] ”Namaste” – is the main greeting in everyday India,

a way of 'deep welcoming' - and it is profoundly saying to us ~

" I Directly See Into - and Meet In You ,

That Which Meets - and Sees Into Me "

( it's all the same seamless 'All-One-Consciousness-field' anyway )

"Break through the world of 'worldly' words

so that The Flower of 'Just Being' may bloom.
Just allow yourself to become suddenly still, inside and out,

so that you may pierce through the thin shell of the 'world',

and now fill the entire cosmos with a truly free mind." ~ Ji Aoi Isshi – 13th century

Open to a truly Liberated Present Moment of an Infinite 'Now' !

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• DATES: for Winter/Spring Classes

Back to Top – or leisurely scroll on

" BUDDHA:

The JOYOUS ICONOCLAST "

Winter/Spring 2006-2007 Dharma Study Series

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Classes to Nourish an "Iconoclast Intelligence" and

Compassionate Critical Thinking with a Warm Caring Heart

Definitely, a much more Outside-The-Box-Buddhism !

for a much more Maverick Spirited Inner-Quest

“ What is accepted by the majority of people ~

does not mean it is Real ” ~ The Buddha

7:30 PM - 9:30 PM most MONDAYS in Santa Monica

Inquire & Join our Ongoing Classes at any point

Newcomers: Please Phone-in First – 310-450-2268

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The book "BUDDHISM WITHOUT BELIEFS:

A Contemporary Guide to Awakening"

by Stephen Batchelor ~ will be our class discussion-text

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• IMPORTANT NOTES about

the approach of this class

keep scrolling or Back to Top

vPlease Note: This ONGOING, smaller, in-depth DHARMA STUDY & MEDITATION GROUP

encourages highly inquisitive, steady attendees committed to being present every week.

You do not have to be 'book-smart' or very intellectual to 'get' it. Just like to ask lots of questions –

and you'll fit in fine -- even if you are only a little philosophical-minded, and are willing to give it a try.

Be a naturally curious person with a deep love of learning & have a progressive, unflappable,

non-mainstream sensibility - relishing the abstract, intangible, even the absurd - with a genuine taste

for the elusive, indefinable 'existential' stuff.

Caution: for 'The Spiritually Sensitive' ~ These Unorthodox Buddhist Classes

Will Offer Some Refreshing, Risky, 'Radical' Spiritual Considerations of Reality !

We 'practice' as the renown poet Rainer Rilke suggested in 1908 – "To Love the Questions Themselves! " –

not as a mere spiritual 'consumer' - just coming for solace or easy to chew, pre-packaged, 'satisfying' answers.

We are playing 'Spiritual Hardball' here, but with lots of tender Heart – to unhinge the tenacious grip

of the totally illusory "ego-self-mind" and its obsessive demands for un-examined 'antidotes' & comfort-zones

for the mentally 'imagined' soul. As an option, we offer some unorthodox, ancient, sophisticated concepts

pointing►the way towards the poetic insights of simple, pure Awareness.

"One does not become enlightened by naively 'imagining' images of light,

but by making the mind's darkness conscious." ~ Carl Jung

"It is as though you have a Miraculous Eye

That sees All Forms ~ But does not see 'Itself'.

This is how your proud intellectual mind is –

Its bright light of intelligence

penetrates everywhere,

and engulfs everything –

So why, why does your mind not yet know itself?" ~ Zenji Foy'an

So ... “How Far Down The Rabbit Hole Do You Really Want To Go?”

~ Lewis Carroll - 'Alice Through The Looking Glass'

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• NEW to BUDDHIST MEDITATION quotes

Back to Top – or to read, just scroll

Buddhist Vipassana Meditation is a Silent Sitting 'Yoga of The Mind'.

Watching, Witnessing, Observing, Observing, Observing without Reacting.

Dharma Satsang is a Group Dialogue in Non-Duality Self-Inquiry Practice.  

Understanding the sacred psychologies of the basic Indian root-traditions

of Jnana Yoga, Raj Yoga, Dzogchen, Zen & Vipassana with a touch of Tao.

RNEW to BUDDHIST-Style MEDITATION ? - Beginners very, very welcome! You will be patiently guided.

Make One Evening a Week your 'Meditation Class Nite' – your ‘Quiet Time’ for Meditation & Dharma Study.

A two hour class-commitment weekly - may actually be the very best way to sincerely begin! –

There will be careful guided instruction to help you to learn ‘Silent Sitting’ Practice.

Or maybe you already meditate now? Come refresh, renew, revive or challenge your current meditation practice.

The very best way to maintain real 'practice' - is to be in stillness & silence with silent group support –

in the quietness we come to simply realize that ~ " Whatever 'It' is - 'It's' just a 'Thought'."

"There is nothing either 'bad' or 'good', but 'thinking' makes it so." ~ Shakespeare

“If you don't understand that ‘whatever’ appears IS meditation –
What can you achieve by applying a divine or spiritual ‘antidote’?
Ideas and conceptions are not abandoned by discarding them –
but are spontaneously freed by themselves when 'recognized'  
and 'realized' as simply only an Illusion."   ~ The Dakini Niguma

Inner Stillness Itself is what Awakens your Deep Radiant Heart of Grace and Wisdom"

All you have to do is - learn how to really Sit Still, and calmly, fully experience & mindfully observe everything –

Non-reactively - look deeply/see clearly. Silence informed by Dharma does all the rest !

"Become a True Disciple of your Own Silent Awareness"

Instead of 'trying' to become something other than we are,

we realize fully what is already here. Pure 'Is-ness'.

"True Silence is not the absence of sound –

it is the absence of Self. Silence Works !" ~ Sri Ananda Maitreya

"Solitude is such a beautiful thing! -

but it really needs someone to tell you

that 'solitude' is such a beautiful thing " ~ Balzac

"All human 'evil' comes from merely this:

a man's being unable to sit still in a room." ~ Pascal

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... here's a very good definition

MED•I•TATE \\ Latin: from MEDI - to be right there in the MIDDLE OF ~

and yet be of neither this side or that side; meta-physically 'to be on the fence';

to be in an alert semi-trance like state of observation where physical action is

voluntarily suspended - that enhances the ability to deeply observe, witness,

consider, contemplate or simply watch without judgment or the impulsive need

to arrive at a choice or decision or anywhere - to space-out (space-in) while being

fully mindful and very alert without 'obsessive' thought activity; a keen but restful

attentiveness without the impulse to action; to be serene, sublime, tranquil and

calmly passive by choice until a 'wisdom-informed' skillful action is appropriate.

Ideally, to be free of 'self-identified', self-conscious thinking. To allow a letting-go

and just sit there free of 'obsessive' desire and attachment. To be still and at peace.

Getting into the ‘Gap’ – to get into the open space

between thoughts - you need more Inner-Silence –

– allowing you a much more expansive space

to then Wake-Up the Deep "Inner-Conversation”

in the Dharma, in Self-Inquiry, in Truth & Reality,

in Your Very Own Self-Awakening Process.

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• PATH of NO EXPECTATIONS Back to Top – or to read, just scroll

v"The PATH of NO EXPECTATIONS" - developed by former Buddhist monk Akasa Levi –

is an 'intelligence'-based wisdom approach utilizing Insight Meditation and compassionate critical-thinking

as "The Path of No Expectations" for 'allowing' an intuitive, natural, spontaneous 'Awakening into Awareness'

to simply happen! This is a very eclectic form of Vipassana Self-Inquiry Meditation Practice -for consciously

evolving, highly inquisitive spiritual women & men who genuinely seek a more intelligent challenge & clarity

to experiencing ongoing Reality. By combining the gently focused sobriety and 'observation' approach of

traditional Vipassana Mindfulness -- with the ineffable 'crazy wisdom' irrationality of Non-Duality Zen –

which short-circuits the so obsessively 'self-absorbed-mind'.

Through meditation brain chemistry actually changes – there comes a calm, naturally expanded & strengthened

Awareness – as one develops a 'Dharma'-Informed Mind instead – through skillful study, a deep questioning and

a de-mystifying, open-minded, caring investigation into the True Nature of Reality - nourished by a rich, genuine

Empathy-based Wisdom. Creating a fearless 'life of compassionate practice' continuously dedicated to our own

self-awakening process - each at our own pace - that will spontaneously extend boundlessly towards the welfare

and happiness of all other living, feeling, sentient beings.

"My 'religion' is very simple. My religion is Kindness." ~The Dalai Lama

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" When you just stop expecting

Reality to manifest

through a 'special experience',

or with a 'specific' finite form,

you will discover Reality

showing up within every experience

and shining through all manifest forms" ~ metta zetty

"To be free of 'Desire and Attachment' –

is to be FREE of 'the desire' and of 'the attachment'   

to 'being free' of Desire and Attachment." ~ Ram Dass, our friend

"Take the first step in faith.
You don't have to see the whole staircase
-- just take the first step." ~ Martin Luther King

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• CLASS COMMITMENT - Why ?

Back to Top - or just scroll on

tIMPORTANT: A Weekly Class-Commitment is requested

from the time you do enter - this is not a drop-in class.

Entering class mid-stream is quite OK - you'll get the hang of it.

Let's talk person to person by phone & see if this class is possibly for you.

Attend one class & then do your best to commit for most of the ongoing series.

( We fully understand that from time to time, you may miss a class due to important plans )

Please phone us to inquire about how this all works. 310-450-2268.

Best phone times are Mon/Fri - Noon to 6pm.

Be welcome to call - Let's really talk n' see if this 'odd' class is really for you.

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• What is a Weekly Meditation Class with us all about? ~ 'Consistency'.

It's About Very Gentle Consistent 'Practice'. Even being 'mindfully-aware' of your 'inconsistency' - is being consistent.

There is no such thing, ever, as a bad or poor meditation - if you'd just SIT there and watch it all. You can do this!

Simply Being in Silence with silent group support – then afterwards, 'listening' deeply into a perceptive dialogue

about the 'practice', the path, the philosophy, 'the promises', the pitfalls, the projections, the problems, the impatience

– and yes, the inspiration, the insight, the awareness, the awakening, the opening, the empathy, and the epiphanies... 

• Why Weekly? – Ideally, each of us needs to willingly attend a meditation/study class to steadily maintain

a very consistent practice - just like doing yoga or the gym. Ideally, an ongoing 'sitting' class is specifically there

in order to support you in solidly developing meditation skills – cultivating true lasting clarity, inner-strength,

a whole lot of heart-softening, and a more stabilized level of Awareness. And relating with fellow meditators.

"There may be more to learn from climbing the same mountain a hundred times than by climbing a hundred different mountains." ~Tao

REPETITION: Ultimately, meditation & study does take consistent immersion & repetition – here or somewhere!

And there is no real spiritual development without a constant, gentle ‘repetition’ of the key core-teachings that

support & inform your meditation practice. So we offer you the opportunity to sit with us weekly – one evening

a week backed up by your good intentions and attempts at 'commitment' to sitting meditation at home. (I get it.)

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Questioner ~ "Do you teach people who come to you how to be 'meditators' ?  

Munindra-ji ~ "No, I teach people how to be 'waiters' – just like in a tea shop.

The waiter stands there and simply 'waits' to be called to your table. 

How to have 'patience' and really learn to just wait – sitting/waiting.

While waiting - to grasp at nothing - to want nothing! Just observe.

To just 'wait it out'. To sit there, meditate and wait."   ~ Sri Munindra

A guy dashing along 57th Street in NYC –

quickly asks another passerby -

"How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

The other man quickly responds,

"Practice, practice, practice!"

~ an old vaudeville joke that experienced 'meditators' never, ever forget

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• DETAILS – Back to Top - or just keep scrolling down

DETAILS for MONDAYS ~ 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm in Santa Monica ~