Anacortes Mindfulness Community

To live with grace means to flow freely with life. In this talk offered to The Guemes Island Community Church, Jonathan Prescott explores how Christianity tells the story of grace while Zen teaches the path to grace.

Jonathan Prescott explores how you can use contemplative practices to make your life more joyful. He shares his life-long contemplative practice techniques and encourages you to find ways to transform everyday activities into opportunities for deepening.

Many people around the world are suffering due to the actions of America's current President. Join Jonathan Prescott to explore how to find peace even in these difficult times. He helps us connect with the deep listening and skillful responses modeled by Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhistattva of Compassion, so that we can both protect ourselves from overwhelm and learn to respond effectively to this assault on American democracy.

Karla Johnston shares about how Zen practice supports us in using "imperfections" as gateways to increased awareness. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are expanded upon as tools for embracing an authentic life along with poetry, song and a brief guided "Imperfection" practice.

Jonathan Prescott explores how the Buddha's enlightenment story offers a map for creating a loving relationship between our ego and our awakened nature. This talk was offered to the Morning Light Sangha during a Day of Mindfulness.

The US election knocked many people off balance and caused them to grieve. Jonathan Prescott shows how to practice equanimity and wise grieving to help people find peace within, even during difficult times.

Michael Melancon uncovers the subtleties of our Zen practice forms so that we can be held in their wisdom. This talk was offered to the Morning Light Sangha. Enjoy!

Thich Nhat Hanh wrote: 'It's not this moment that makes you happy. It's you who makes this moment happy.' But how do we do that? Jonathan Prescott points the way in this Dharma talk called Nurturing Delight. He shows us how to practice deeply so that delight is present even when things aren't to our liking. Delight isn't a feeling to grasp after; it's a sign that we're on the path of freedom.

Jonathan Prescott shows the benefits of responding with love rather than reacting with fear. This talk was offered to the Guemes Island Community Church on July 21, 2024

Do the conditions of your life cause you to suffer? Even when those conditions are favorable? If so, welcome to being human! In this talk, Jonathan Prescott shares a 3-step method for finding peace within yourself, even when your life is not ideal. This talk was offered during the Morning Light Sangha's one-day retreat on June 30, 2024.

In this talk delivered the the Guemes Island Community Church, Jonathan Prescott explains what a contemplative practice is and how to open the 3 Contemplative Doors. He finishes with a Metta practice to help us feel the practice in our hearts and bodies.

Buddhism has so many elements that it's hard to know how to use them effectively. Jonathan Prescott shows you how to focus your efforts by opening the 3 Doors of Practice.

Jonathan Prescott offers a 3-step process for spring-cleaning our hearts so that we can restore relationships that have soured over the long pandemic winter. This talk was offered to the Guemes Island Community Church

The Buddha taught that ignorance is the root of suffering. To ignore means to turn away from the truth. While speaking to the Guemes Island Community Church, Jonathan Prescott shows how Buddhism and Christianity both point towards overcoming ignorance through awareness and love.

Jonathan Prescott offered this exploration of hospitality to the Guemes Island Community Church. Jonathan uses poems and stories to reveal deeper aspects of hospitality, including the call to welcome those we don't agree with.

In Jonathan Prescott's final talk to the Anacortes Mindfulness Community, he offers a concise map of Zen practice, beginning with the establishment of happiness and ending with the depth of Zazen.

13 centuries ago, Zen Master Deshan encouraged us to grab the life of an ordinary person. What did he mean? Jonathan Prescott shows how our ordinary lives can be our awakened lives. We just need to stop.

In this talk, Jonathan Prescott helps us understand and feel our grief. He describes common types of grief and offers ways to practice so that we can transform our losses into compassion.

Deep within all of us is a golden Buddha. It's been there all along, radiating goodness and wisdom. But because we feel vulnerable in this challenging world, we've covered this precious gift with a 'self' that traps us in a cycle of suffering. Join Jonathan Prescott for an exploration of our own goodness. We'll look at the price we must pay to awaken, paid bit by bit with the transformed fragments of our separate selves, so that the Golden Buddha within can emerge.

Suffering and liberation are intimately bound together on a continuum of interbeing, intersection, and interpenetration. Liberation is the birthright of our Buddha nature, available to us in every moment. Shining the light within we touch our original nature. Therein lies the liberation we seek. This talk by Michael Melancon was offered at Radiant Light Zen's Interbeing of Suffering and Liberation retreat, on October 11, 2023.

We often come to meditation practice with an aspiration to alleviate and transform our pain. Yet for many, sitting in silence with awareness of the breath may actually be quite stimulating rather than calming. In this talk, Monica Kingsbury will explore how Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness helps us better understand how our brain and nervous system function as we practice, allowing us to maintain safety and emotional regulation. This talk was offered at Radiant Light Zen's Interbeing of Suffering and Liberation retreat.

We all suffer. And we suffer because we create a war between how things are and how we want them to be. Jonathan Prescott shares the story of his own suffering and how the Buddha's example inspired him to end the war with his life. This is the first talk given by Jonathan Prescott at Radiant Light Zen's Interbeing of Suffering and Liberation retreat and focuses on suffering. The second talk, Take Down Your Wall, focuses on liberation.

In an effort to protect ourselves, we wall ourselves off. But this very wall becomes the source of our suffering. In this talk from Radiant Light Zen's Interbeing of Suffering and Liberation retreat, Jonathan Prescott offers practices to liberate us and shows how love and surrender are powerful tools for dissolving our protective walls.

We're not alone in our suffering and are not the first to yearn for liberation. Discover a Zen elder who teaches us how to work with suffering as a path to freedom. This talk was offered by Karla Johnston during Radiant Light Zen's Suffering and Liberation Retreat, October 12, 2023. Sources: Cambodia Oral Tradition, captured by Trent Walker First Buddhist Women: Poems and Stories of Awakening by Susan Murcott, Pamela Weiss article: https://tricycle.org/article/mahapajapati/ The First Free Women by Matty Weingast

Jonathan Prescott describes how the precepts arose from the Buddha's awakened mind. All these centuries later, the precepts still call us home to our own awakened minds.

We spend our lives looking for love. But love has been in our hearts all along. Join Jonathan Prescott as he explores how you can feel the joy of meeting life with love.

In this talk, Tim Motley takes a closer look at the true nature of our existence. We walk this path, each of us a collection of mostly empty atomic particles, pulsed out of a quasar, condensed into this time and space, with the extraordinarily rare opportunity to embrace life and consciousness held by mindfulness.

Karla Johnston shares lessons of Spring in 50+ feet of Tahoe mega-snow: active patience and acceptance. Two questions are provided to deepen our practice.

Morning Light Sangha celebrates its 3rd anniversary. Join us as Jonathan Prescott shares MLS history, Michael Melancon describes our Zoomdo practice form, and the Sangha offers words about what MLS means in their lives.

Jonathan Prescott describes our Zen practice forms and how we use them to unearth the freedom that lies just beneath our veneer of suffering.

In this Dharma talk, Jonathan Prescott investigates generosity: How we begin by practicing generosity towards ourselves, then experiment with giving what we can while refraining from taking what isn't offered. These practices show us our self-centered contractions and help us transform them into the joy of giving and receiving.

The point of all Dharma Teachings is that we can awaken and that such awakening is our birthright . . . . right here. right now. But how do we self-actualize our Buddha Nature?

The Buddhist Sutras are gems offered by our spiritual ancestors. This talk explores the origins of Sutras from the Theravada and Mahayana traditions and how we can use them to wake up.

Ram Dass once said: "If you think you're enlightened, try spending a week with your family." In this week's Dharma talk, Jonathan Prescott explores how Zen can help you smile to troublesome Uncle Ned and enjoy your sister's dry fruitcake. Happy Holidays!

Bright Buddhas show us how to be free. Shadow Buddhas show us how to suffer. In this talk, Jonathan Prescott offers a 3-step practice to help us embrace our Shadow Buddhas and turn them into transformative teachers.

On the first evening of the Listening with Love Retreat, Jonathan Prescott introduces sitting, walking, and eating meditation.

In this second talk from the Listening with Love Retreat, Jonathan Prescott invites us into the joys of silence.

In this third talk of the Listening with Love Retreat, Jonathan Prescott shares a model for listening with the head, heart, and body.

In this concluding talk from the Listening with Love Retreat, Jonathan Prescott shares how to transform our habitual suffering so that we can listen with love.

Jonathan Prescott offers a model of how our core suffering begins, how we create a self to avoid our code suffering, and how we try to force the world to play along with our scheme. He then offers practices for transforming our suffering, our self, and the world.

Jonathan Prescott explores Right Effort, one of the elements of the Buddha's 8-Fold Path. He shares stories and insights to help us find the balance between effort and ease. Photo credit: Steamfitter, by Lewis Hine, 1920

Since the human mind generates strong currents, we need a meditation anchor. Otherwise, we're swept away by thoughts and emotions. Join Jonathan Prescott as he demonstrates breathing techniques to help our meditation feel solid and fruitful.

Mercy isn't often explored in Zen but it is a powerful way to release attachment and deepen joy. Jonathan Prescott tells stories of mercy and invites us to become more merciful.

Thich Nhat Hanh wrote that happiness is here and now. In this talk, Jonathan Prescott shows how to find happiness in your own here and now.

In the Heart Sutra, Avalokiteshvara tells his friend Shariputra about the moment he awakened to emptiness. In this talk, Jonathan Prescott explores what these two ancient spiritual friends woke up to and how we can touch the same transformative insight in our modern lives.

In these three recordings from the Radian Light Zen Spiritual Friendship Retreat, Michael Melancon and Jonathan Prescott explore the role that spiritual friends play in our lives and practice. Michael shows us how to create and benefit from friendships, while Jonathan speaks about howpractice forms anchor us in the present moment and how adversarial friends help us wake up.

In these three recordings from the Radian Light Zen Spiritual Friendship Retreat, Michael Melancon and Jonathan Prescott explore the role that spiritual friends play in our lives and practice. Michael shows us how to create and benefit from friendships, while Jonathan speaks about howpractice forms anchor us in the present moment and how adversarial friends help us wake up.

In these three recordings from the Radian Light Zen Spiritual Friendship Retreat, Michael Melancon and Jonathan Prescott explore the role that spiritual friends play in our lives and practice. Michael shows us how to create and benefit from friendships, while Jonathan speaks about howpractice forms anchor us in the present moment and how adversarial friends help us wake up.

Mothering or Smothering? by Anacortes Mindfulness Community

Gathas are short poems designed to change our minds. Jonathan Prescott shares how gatha practice can turn mindlessness into awakening.

In this joint talk by Jonathan Prescott and Michael Melancon, they point us toward the depth of Thich Nhat Hanh's central teaching and help us find liberation in our breath.