Begins Thursday Sept. 2 at 7:45p     Book Discussion Group
Discussion and practice based on the book Start Where You Are by Pema Chodron.  The group meets Thursday evenings, Sept. 2  though Dec. 16.  The reading schedule can be found on the Book Group webpage  The group will be co-facilitated by Donna Denman and Katie Egart. For more information, contact Donna Denman at 767-7877.

September 8,15,22,29   October 6&13  7:45 pm    Meditation Course
The Dharma Center is offering a Basic Meditation course, given with out charge to the entire extended community and designed especially for those who wish to begin meditating or perhaps enrich an ongoing practice.  We will use the book, Why Meditate, Working with Thoughts and Emotions by Matthieu Riccard. This particular session will include the time honored Buddhist meditation technique of concentration and awareness, and as the course progresses, compassion and tonglen (taking and sending) meditation will be introduced. Each session begins with breath awareness and easy, relaxing yogic movements to “bring the mind home.” You may begin at anytime though each session has a particular focus and builds upon the other.    Instructor for these 6 weeks is Dianeah Wanicek.  For more information call please call her @ 767-1034.

Sept. 18    Zen All-day Sit
The Zen group will host an all-day sit on Sept. 18.  From 7:30 to 9:15 there will be regular meditation, ending with a brief sutra chanting service.   Beginning at 9:30 there will be 25 minute periods of zazen followed by 5 minutes of kinhin starting on the hour and half hour until 3:30 p.m.  There will be a 1 hour break at noon.  Please bring your lunch and drink.  Silence will be maintained all day, including mealtime.

Sept. 25 at 7:00p     Chanting
Lynnell Lewis will return to Yellow Springs to present an evening of sacred chanting at the Dharma Center.  With Indian tambura accompaniment, Lynnell teaches and leads chanting from all Buddhist traditions as well as Hindu, Sufi, Christian and African.  For more information call 767-2113.

The Dharma Center is offering a Basic Meditation course, given with out charge to the entire extended community and designed especially for those who wish to begin meditating or perhaps enrich an ongoing practice.  We will use the book, Why Meditate, Working with Thoughts and Emotions by Matthieu Riccard. This particular session will include the time honored Buddhist meditation technique of concentration and awareness, and as the course progresses, compassion and tonglen (taking and sending) meditation will be introduced. Each session begins with breath awareness and easy, relaxing yogic movements to “bring the mind home.” You may begin at anytime though each session has a particular focus and builds upon the other.    Instructor for these 6 weeks is Dianeah Wanicek.  For more information call please call her @ 767-1034.

The proper address is 932 O’Bannonville Road, Loveland, OH‎
Telephone: (513) 683-2340‎

View Larger Map

Here are some of the many opportunities for volunteer work.

The Library. We are currently looking for someone (or two people) to serve as Librarian. This is an important position at the Dharma Center, caring for our wonderful accessible library. It requires no more than about two hours total each month. For more information, visit our contact page and select “General Information”.

The Communications Committee is responsible for publicity for all the evnts sponsored by the Dharma Center as well as the monthly calendar, our quarterly newsletter Bodhi Leaves, our website, Facebook, email contacts, and general outreach to the greater community. The Committee welcomes help from anyone, with or without experience, but is also looking in particular at the present time for (1) a coordinator of web media, (2) a coordinator of print media, and (3) an email coordinator. Meetings are generally held about every other month. For more information, visit our contact page and select “General Information”.

The House and Garden Committee is responsible for maintenance of the physical plant, including the house and our beautiful gardens. During the growing season, gardening is done on Fridays following morning meditation (7:45AM) for about an hour or so. All are welcome. Other opportunities for work on the building or grouns can be arranged through the committee. Volunteers with carpentry and painting skills are especially welcome to help with the house maintenance. For more information, visit our contact page and select “General Information”.

The Residents Committee. Up to four people, usually college students, live at the Dharma Center at any given time. This small intentional Buddhist community provides an experiential learning situation for these residents, who have important responsibilities as well: attending monthly Board meetings, facilitating evening meditation periods, maintaining the downstairs public area, and committing to a regular meditation practice. The Committee is responsible for PR for this program, interviewing prospective residents and facilitating the process of moving in, and in general dealing with issues regarding life at the Center. For more information, visit our contact page and select “General Information”.

Please download and print a membership form PDF, then fill it out and mail it to us — or just drop it by — at 502 Livermore Street, Yellow Springs, OH 45387.

Unlike some Western ideas of giving, where one expects something back in return, Dana is energy freed from the constraints of selfishness. As expressed by Roshi Bernie Glassman:

“Shakyamuni Buddha and his monks and nuns based their survival—day-to-day food, clothing and shelter—on the layperson’s giving practice, dana.  Today in our Western Buddhist world, we give generously to our own places of practice.  We help support the center or temple, the teacher, and the sangha, and in return we get retreats, scheduled meditation, teachings, and a Buddhist community…Regardless of our resources, I think our generosity should benefit ourselves and our family, our dharma center or temple, and the world.  This will really expand our hearts and practice from self-concern to Self-concern, and serve all beings.”

—Tricycle Magazine Spring, 2010 p. 55

With its attention on the motivation of the giver, Buddhist dana practice works to disarm selfish tendencies and unleash compassionate energy, allowing our hearts to expand and connect with others.

Our latest big expense was the installation of two  new boilers.    They look for all the world like two rather squat robots, or perhaps time machines ala HG Wells.

Dear Dharma Center Friends:

We have again filled a year with rich experiences of the dharma at our Center in Yellow Springs.  Visiting teachers, retreats, special events, and our schedule for meditation practice have sustained us, challenging us to deepen our practice and to welcome in the wider community.

We began the year with a New Year’s Eve meditation gathering for World Peace. We organized two Zen retreats with Daniel Terragno Roshi, a Vipassana retreat with Rebecca Bradshaw, and also arranged for Rebecca to give a talk open to the entire Yellow Springs community.  Daniel gave two talks this year, and the second (in November), entitled Wisdom and Compassion, was scheduled to coincide with celebrating the long awaited publication of The Charter for Compassion.

In October the Dharma Center, the Dzogchen Community of North America and Yoga Springs Studio jointly hosted a Yantra Yoga workshop, led by Lynne Sutherland.  Yantra Yoga is one of the oldest recorded systems of Yoga and comes to us through Tibet. It is a practice for integrating body, speech, and mind in a state that is beyond normal dualistic concepts.

We continue to improve our garden area, and a regular work team gathers on Friday mornings to lend a hand with weeding and new plantings.  The House & Garden Committee had sangha members design stepping stones for our garden walkway.  Eagle Scout Jake Kintner, a longtime friend of the sangha, organized a crew to install a large new compost system – surely one of the most attractive in all of Yellow Springs!  Centerville metal artist Mike Wolters created the OM artwork. Our garage doors were repaired, and Pierre Negley added the magnificent frieze.

The Communications Committee published Bodhi Leaves issues devoted to “what it is like to do a retreat”  in each of our three traditions. Our little journal also provides a space for members’ artwork and we encourage you to send things in.

The book discussion group has continued to thrive, as did our rotating series of Introduction to Meditation classes.  Each session has a different senior practitioner from our three traditions as leader, so the program offers a way to explore more than one Buddhist meditation practice.  Lynnell Lewis of Richmond, IN came over many times to teach us chants from many traditions. Ken Simon continued to teach meditation at the Lebanon Correctional Institution, and his reports of their gratitude for the Practice continue to inspire us.  Ken also helped us continue a very popular “Movie Night” at the Dharma Center.

Thanks to the generosity of our friends, the mortgage payments have been met on time, and we were able to reduce the principal.

The Dharma Center has always relied on the “dana” of the community.  We thank you deeply for your support.  All events at the Center are offered free of charge and are organized completely by volunteers.  It is through the generosity of our members that we are able to provide this wonderful space for the beautiful teachings of the Buddhadharma.  Once again we ask you to renew your membership with the Dharma Center.

May all beings be peaceful, happy, and free from suffering.

The Yellow Springs Dharma Center Board of Trustees.