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Manny Mansbach teaches Insight (Vipassana) Meditation in Vermont and elsewhere in New England, and offers counseling and consultation for individuals, couples and organizations.

For his entire adult life, Manny has been keenly interested in nurturing and facilitating the connections between transformative inner work such as meditation and therapy, relational practices based in skillful communication, development of wholesome community, and nonviolent social transformation.

I hope your meditation practice continues to support you in staying loving, balanced and clear in these very challenging times.  I’m cheering you and all beings on!

What’s Happening? When?

Second Saturday Sangha

Upcoming Saturday Sangha Dates:

April  8th, 2023 9:45 AM

Please Note: There will be no Saturday Sangha in May.

June 10th, 2023 9:45 AM

Feel free to email me if you have questions…or if you would like to be added to the email list.

I look forward to seeing you on Saturday mornings at 9:45am!

Class:  Dimensions of Emptiness Part I

Winter 2023 class

“From true emptiness, the wondrous being appears.”      –Suzuki Roshi

“All yogas have only one aim: to save you from the calamity of separate existence.”  –Sri Nisargadatta 

Emptiness is a central word and concept in the Buddhist teachings. While it can initially be an elusive teaching to understand, it is actually a very pragmatic teaching that points to the fundamental lack of solidity or substantiality of our human experience.  As our course text by meditation teacher Guy Armstrong points out, “Emptiness is a property or characteristic of things that appear in the world. Understanding emptiness brings freedom to our experience as we live consciously in the world.”

One dimension of emptiness refers to a quality of mind where we are in touch with the present moment and not preoccupied with wants, needs, or issues of past or future. This can mature as a refined meditative state where perception is greatly simplified, allowing one to be present in a deeply balanced and peaceful way, leading to what the Buddha called “abiding in emptiness.”

The teachings on Emptiness clarify that while it is useful in daily life to employ conventional terms such as “I”, “me”, and “mine”, there are practical consequences to believing in them as ultimate truth, or identifying with them in ways that confuse us and contribute to our suffering. If we become clearer that there is nothing solid to hold on to in the first place, then our tendency to cling and hold on softens, and with that reduced rope-burn, we suffer less.

A more developed understanding of emptiness has major significance for our understanding of self, phenomena and awareness itself. It also has implications for a vital, transformed relationship to compassion, whereby compassion is the expression of a selfless state of mind. Rather than leading to detachment or indifference, understanding emptiness can help liberate love from self-concern and open wise ways to interact with and influence the world.

“Every existence is a flashing in to the vast phenomenal world.”    –Suzuki Roshi

Course Text:  Emptiness—A Practical Guide for Meditators, Guy Armstrong

Class Meeting Time: Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8pm.

Class Dates: Six sessions from January 25-March 8 (no class February 22nd).

This class will be held on zoom.

Suggested Donation: $120-150

Registration: Please email Manny at satisukha@gmail.com to register.