Buddha’s Birthday, May 2014

BuddhaBdayPikes Peak Buddha Day

May 10th | 1:00 to 4:00pm

Manitou Bindu at 513 Manitou Ave, Manitou Springs CO 80829
The Pikes Peak Buddhist Community presents the 2nd annual Buddha Day celebrating Vesak, the birth, enlightenment, and paranirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha. Our intention is to promote loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity.Last year, we reached 17 local Sanghas and communities and had over 150 participants. This year we are planning more activities, including a guided meditation, speakers, kirtan (chanting), food, walking meditation, eating meditation, tai chi, intention paper making, and a children’s program with the creation and dissolution of a sand mandala, and time for socializing.If you have any questions, please contact Liz Cramer (elizabeth.cramer51@gmail.com).

BUDDHA DAY

PROGRAM SPEAKERS

1:00 pm until 2:00 pmGreeting and Opening Meditation
Paulette Morris, Open Heart SanghaWhy We Celebrate The Day
Ben Mikolaj, Executive Director, Rocky Mountain InsightMy Experience With The Dharma
Gale Derrick, Open Heart Sangha
Andrew Palmer, Sensei Open Source; and, Vast Refuge AFA
Sue Lowell, Sun Mountain Sangha

KIDS PROGRAM

Nan Karsh, Bodhi Mind Center
Tracy Schneider, Open Heart Sangha
Felicia Barbera, Nichiren Daishonin Community
During the speakers program, kids will create a sand mandala
and rejoin the main group for chanting

CHANTING

2:00 pm until 2:15 pm
Bhagavan Kirtan

ACTIVITIES

2:30 pm until 4:00 pm

Food And Socializing

Enjoy treats, cake, fruit and cookies lovingly provided by our local Sanghas and Communities. Meet with friends and neighbors, make new connections. All ages

Walking Meditation And Mindful Movement

Ellen Johnson-Fay, Sun Mountain Sangha
Walk as if your feet are kissing the earth. Relieve tension and calm the mental chatter.
Offered in two sessions. All ages

Intention Paper Making

Cole Bennett, Sun Mountain Sangha
Participants can add their intentions to this paper making art project. A section of the completed art piece will be sent to each of the area Sanghas and Communities. All ages

Mindful Eating Meditation

Pat Komarow, Rocky Mountain Insight
Discover the joy to be found in the present moment, even in our daily routines.
Offered in two sessions. All ages

Koan Practice

Sarah Bender, Springs Mountain Sangha
Koan interaction is a beautiful, powerful art peculiar to Zen practice, ancient and modern.  This will be a chance to sample its distinctive flavor.
Rather than telling you about transformation and freedom, koans “face the world and move sideways” and so offer the experience itself–intimate, vivid.

Information Table

Various Sanghas and Communities
Representatives from local Sanghas and Communities will be available to answer questions, provide literature, and schedules of their practice.

Dissolution Of The Mandala

4:00 pm
The kids will sweep away the Mandala they created earlier in a lesson of impermanence. Each of the kids will be given a small amount of the sand to take home with them.

Printing courtesy of Smokebrush Foundation and Budget Signs