Thought Provoking
The Eight-Fold Path may begin on North McKean St. Then again, it might not.
Either way, those interested in studying meditation can attend upcoming sessions at the Maridon Museum, 322 N. McKean St. taught by members of the Butler Buddhist Sangha and Cynthia Marshall, an ordained Buddhist chaplain.
“Sangha is a 12-to-15-member group that gathers together to meditate. In Buddhism, meditation is your practice,” said Marshall of Butler, who is also the director of honors studies at the Community College of Beaver County.
“The Sangha supports each other,” said Celia Puz of Butler, a member of the Butler Sangha, which has been meeting for more than a decade.
Those attending the meetings at the Maridon set for 6 p.m. the second and third Thursdays for the month won't be subjected to a Buddhist hard sell, said Marshall, even though the third Thursday meeting will feature a dharma talk, an ethical lesson from Buddhist teaching.
Marshall said, “We have people of all religions attending. You don't have to be Buddhist to meditate.
“Buddhism is one of the few religions where we don't proselytize. It's concerned with the experiential. If it works for you, that is great,” said Marshall.
Marshall said she adheres to the Zen Buddhist branch of Buddhism.
“There are as many branches of Buddhism as there are of Christianity,” said Marshall.
“Zen is based on Japanese Buddhism,” Marshall said. “They perceive meditation as the most important practice.
“I spent eight hours a day in meditation for two weeks,” said Marshall while studying to be a hospice chaplain at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, N.M.
“Part of Zen Buddhism is that every December we spend a longer period of time in deep meditation.”
“Buddha was just a man. We don't pray to Buddha, nothing like that,” said Puz. “If it (Buddhism) works for you, fine. He never says you must believe this.”
“What you get in Buddhist teachings is the Eight-Fold Path and the Four Noble Truths,” said Marshall.The Eight-Fold Path is the Buddhist practice leading to liberation from samsara, the cycle of rebirth.The Four Noble Truths, boiled down, are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to suffering's end.Marshall's treading of the path began decades ago.“Twenty years ago, I experienced hospice through my father's death,” said Marshall. “I decided to be a hospice chaplain.”“That just enhanced my Zen journey,” she said. “I had already started my journey.”It wasn't all meditation, she added, she had to write a thesis as well.“Meditation is not hard to learn, buy it's difficult to continue as a practice because you are alone with yourself,” said Marshall.“Once you have a community to support you, you will find the benefits of meditation,” she said.She said studies have shown brain waves of people meditating fall between those of people awake and those of people asleep.“In the meditative state, the fight, flight or freeze portion of the brain is switched off. It gives you a space of calm,” she said.After meditation, she said, your thinking becomes clearer and your decision-making becomes clearer.“You find yourself not resorting to quick anger and it builds your compassion toward others,” said Marshall.Puz said, “The sangha has been meeting for 15 to 20 years under different teachers.”Marshall has been serving as the sangha's teacher for nearly 10 years.For the past year, Puz added, the group has been meeting the second and third Thursdays of the month at the Maridon thanks to Roxann Booser, the museum's executive director.Booser said, “Cynthiahas been a longtime supporter of the musuem and active behind the scenes. We were thrilled to have them.The Buddhist meetings, Booser said, “Fit in with our mission statement to promote Asian art and culture.”
WHAT: Two-hour Buddhist meditation seminars, taught by Cynthia MarshallWHEN: 6 to 8 p.m., the second and third Thursdays of the monthWHERE: Maridon Museum, 322 S. McKean St.INFO: Reservations required; to make a reservation, call 724-282-0123
