The dharma is alive and well and flourishing in the Midwest! This blog is dedicated to the wide variety of thriving dharma centers located in and around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Although I am a regular member of the Shambhala Meditation Center of Minneapolis, I visit and blog on all manner of dharma centers. Since I travel a lot, I get to check out centers outside the Twin Cites as well. Please see my bio for more info about me...here's the scoop on local dharma-
Shambhala Meditation Center of Minneapolis is kicking into high gear for the fall. We are offering 2 Shambhala School of Buddhist Studies Classes in the fall (Life of the Buddha and Sadhana Mahamudra) as well as Shambhala Training Level 2 in October. October is also the month that we welcome Shambhala President Richard Reoch on his (ambitious) mandala wide meet & greet. For those of use who completed Leve 5 (whew!), we will embark on the Sacred Path with Great Eastern Sun in November.
Rime Foundation is hosting a Tibetan teacher - Khen Rinpoche Sherab Sangpo. Rinpoche will be teaching at the Shambhala Center of Minneapolis every Wednesday night through September. Rinpoche starts a 6 week class on August 23rd entitled Mipham's Wheel of Analytic Meditation. Details are available on the Shambhala website or you can email me for a flyer.
The newly named Windhorse Retreat Center is offering a great variety of programs this fall. Their website is updated through the end of the year. I attended a weekend retreat in June featuring talks and practice with Ashe Acharya John Rockwell. It's a great space and it sits on beautiful property. It's located north of Milwaukee, just east of Sheboygan, about 5-6 hours from Minneapolis. Defintely worth the drive....they have beds! and good food! Those of you that have gone on retreat can appreciate that...
The Twin-Cities is home to many Tibetan Americans and offers great shopping - Tibet Store on Hennepin in Minneapolis and Tibet Art on Grand in St. Paul - as well as great restaurants - Tibet's Corner on Hennepin in Minneapolis and Everest on Grand (actually Nepali cuisine.)
In addition, there is a Tibetan American Foundation in St. Paul that supports the local community. Minneapolis recently hosted the Maitreya Project Relic Tour for the second year. His Holiness Dalia Lama visited area Tibetans in the spring while he was in Rochester, MN at the Mayo Clinic for a check up.
If you are in the area, be sure to stop in and sit down at any of the centers on the list at left to enjoy a bit of Midwest dharma....Stay tuned for more postings about upcoming programs and events at local dharma centers...
