“Cultivating the Path”
First Saturday of the Month
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
To shape our lives around the practice of the Buddha’s teachings, rather than shaping the practice of the Buddha’s teachings around our lives.
Monthly daylongs of teachings, practice, and exploration, jointly led by Sakula Mary Reinard and Matthew Grad. Daylongs are held on the first Saturday of each month, starting April 6, 2013.
- Fostering the practice of sīla, samādhi and paññā with ever increasing clarity, depth and continuity.
- Sīla: The precepts and acts of generosity, goodwill and compassion.
- Samādhi: Stability of mind through formal practice.
- Paññā: Insight into the Four Noble Truths and Three Characteristics (impermanence, suffering, not-self).
- Nurturing our practice together as community, keeping harmony utmost.
- Cultivating a respectful and supportive attitude toward our lineage.
- Committing to the Three Refuges.
- Living by the Five Precepts.
- Undertaking the Eight Precepts on Full Moon Days.
- Making every effort to attend the Magga-Bhāvanā daylongs.
- Maintaining a daily meditation practice and attending at least one meditation retreat annually.
- Live by the Five Precepts.
- Mark the Full Moon Days in some fashion (e.g., by placing flowers on your alter).
- Regularly attend a PFoD offering led by one of this program’s teachers: Matthew’s Walking the Eightfold Path and/or Sakula’s Friday Night Dhamma.
If you are interested in possibly joining, or would just like to learn more, please contact Matthew Grad.
Sakula is the Spiritual Director of Portland Friends of the Dhamma and a student of the Western Forest Sangha—the lineage of Ajahn Sumedho and Ajahn Chah. Soon after meeting Luang Por Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro in 1997, she made a formal request to Luang Por Pasanno who accepted her as his lay student, eventually giving her the Pali name Sakula meaning One of Good Family. In 2001, Sakula was invited by them to join eleven others and train as a lay minister, graduating in 2004. She co-founded Portland Friends of the Dhamma in 2000 and leads a meditation group every Friday.
Matthew Grad leads the bi-monthly class Walking the Eightfold Path and co-leads the monthly Magga-Bhāvanā Program. He has practiced in the Theravada lineage for over 25 years. Before joining our community, Matthew taught an ongoing course in sutta study for Spirit Rock Meditation Center. When teaching from the suttas (discourses of the Buddha) he emphasizes their direct application in daily life. His practice is rooted in Ajahn Sumedho’s teachings on intuitive awareness, and the teachings of Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Thanissaro on training the mind and heart.
