Dharma Study Group
Welcome to Dharma Study Group (DSG). Currently, we study and practice together online, once per week on Thursday evenings, and also meet for practice online on a weekend day about once per month, all on zoom. In person meditation instruction and meetings are also possible for those in the Kalamazoo Michigan area, and meditation instruction and tutoring by zoom or phone is also generally available.
Our regular meeting day and time is Thursday evenings, 6:30 p.m. for sitting (mindfulness-awareness meditation) practice, with class beginning around 7:05 p.m. Meditating before class is the norm, and individual instruction in this approach is available and encouraged. At this time, September 2024, we will soon be beginning a class on the "Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo" teachings, commonly known as the "Tibetan Book of the Dead." Here is a link (scroll down a bit): Classes - Dharma Study Group Kazoo (dsgroupkazoo.com) Please contact us if you are interested in this. Advanced students (who have completed studies and practice roughly through Shambhala Training level 5) will continue with the Shambhala teachings on some Saturdays. To join in with any of our classes, contact or write Robert Walker, group teacher and coordinator, through this website, or at ngejungzoo@gmail.com. We are happy to invite you to check us out, and if you then decide to attend on a regular or occasional basis, donations are accepted, though not required.
Teachings on the meditation practice itself, as well as awareness practice in everyday life, permeates all of our study and conversation, especially short talks on our half-day or all-day practice days, which usually happen on Saturdays. See also the meditation section of this website. Meditation Practice - Dharma Study Group Kazoo (dsgroupkazoo.com) Other teaching topics can be found in the teachings section of this website Buddhist Teachings - Dharma Study Group Kazoo (dsgroupkazoo.com).
At Dharma Study Group Kalamazoo, we study and practice in the tradition of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987), Tibetan Buddhist meditation master, scholar, artist, poet, and educator. Before fleeing the Communist occupation of Tibet in 1959, he was supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries. The main teacher and host of this group, Robert Walker, was and is a student of him and his lineages.
Trungpa Rinpoche gave over 2000 talks related to all levels of buddhadharma, the Shambhala teachings, teachings related to the arts, talks to educators, talks to business people, talks to his students about community matters, talks to psychologists and other health professionals, and so on. He was, among other things, an educator, founding a college, high school, middle school, and elementary school. There are dozens of books. His teachings provide a gateway to a number of classic Buddhist texts. There are also a number of talks from teaching seminars by his dharma heir, the Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin, which we study together. There is no lack of source material.
Our approach is to listen to, read, and discuss one seminar or book at a time, preserved on audio or in his books, from beginning to end. Our intention is to, first, understand what's being taught, as best we can, then to check that against our own experience, and discuss with each other, following the traditional Buddhist approach of "hearing, contemplating, and meditating". (In this context, "meditation" includes the process of ripening our understanding through practice on the cushion as well as contemplation of our everyday lives). We don't hurry to "cover material," but leave space to chew and digest whatever we're studying. Friendships naturally develop when people practice and study together, sharing our truths with each other as best we can and communicating in a respectful way. Although our focus is on the teachings of Trungpa Rinpoche, his lineage, and teachings suggested by him, most group members also study and practice with other teachers and communities.
The teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha are sustained by a stream of teacher-student relationships which have transmitted these teachings for over 2500 years in the form of words, understanding, meditation, and realization. The Buddhist teachings as presented by Trungpa Rinpoche are primarily based on the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. There are also connections to certain elements of Zen and Theravadin traditions, especially teachers who were supported by and sometimes recommended by Trungpa Rinpoche. For all of these approaches, there is a strong emphasis on mindfulness-awareness practice. Such practice is encouraged in the form of daily sessions, whatever the student has time for, along with occasional day-long, week-long, or month-long group group retreats (nyinthun, weekthun and dathun respectively), as well as individual retreats.
The teacher and coordinator, Robert Walker, takes responsibility for choosing topics, the pace of study, and promoting respectful communication. Other group members have input as well with respect to possible topics, especially those who have been around for awhile. Please contact us through this web page or at ngejungzoo@gmail.com if you have any questions.
