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The Unitarian Universalist Church has pioneered the concept of Buddhist groups in a church setting. However, out of nearly a thousand UU churches, less than 100 currently have Zen or other Buddhist groups. The pamphlet for the UU church is undergoing development.



Feet as you walk. Notice which part of your foot makes first contact and how the rest of your foot comes down. Feel how the weight of your body is carried forward onto the leading foot as you walk. Notice what muscles come into action and when. Also notice how your breathing has changed as you walk.

I don't like the word "rebirth." I prefer to use the word "relinking." In the Abidhamma, we learn that what exist are conditions. Mind is a reality. Because mind is within material, it doesn't move from one place to another. Perhaps this is difficult. Matter is something which moves, occupies space. One characteristic of mind is that it does not move. What makes mind arise is the existence of conditions, the laws of conditionality. That's why the term "relinking" is more appropriate to understand that when we die, we are "reborn." It's not that some mind is reborn in another. Another mind arises and it is related to the previous mind according to certain conditions.

Lay followers generally engaged in this kind of worship. Monks and nuns also worshiped these objects, but with a different goal in mind. They worshiped these objects in a kind of meditation, to be reminded of the Buddha's teaching.

When a thought arises, label it "Thinking." When a sensation arises, label it "Feeling." When a sound arises, label it "Hearing." Notice how the act of labeling something decreases its power to distract you. Do this and gently, relentlessly bring your awareness back to your breath. There is nowhere to go, nothing to do. Just sit, watching your breath. The key to greater inner freedom is your unwavering commitment to return to awareness, again and again.

theravada BN: Laughing. We may be getting some goats soon. You know the economics of this? They milk the goats. The female goats give birth to billy goats, but there is no use for the billy goats. So after 40 days, they kill the male goat to eat. So we are going to adopt a male goat. And see from there if we can add more. We do eat seafood here, but I'd like the monastery to become completely vegetarian. We still follow the practice of not eating after noon.

Place your hands either palms down over your knees, or the more traditional way is to cradle the back of your right or left hand in the palm of the other hand, with both palms up and resting on the feet. The tips of the thumbs touch below the navel.