FAQ

Welcome to the website of Kaylana Mitta Sangha, a peer-led Buddhist group practicing Vipassana meditation, located in Chelmsford, Mass.

Whether you are brand new to the idea of Buddhist meditation and you are interested in finding out more, or you are a seasoned practitioner, you’ve come to the right place.  We hope this page is helpful to you and welcome you to join us!

When and where does the meditation group meet?

We meet every Tuesday evening from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

What is Meditation?

The purpose of meditation is personal transformation…Your mind becomes still and calm…Thus meditation properly performed prepares you to meet the ups and down of existence. It reduces your tension, your fear, and your worry…We wake up to what life really is.

- Bhante Gunaratana, “Mindfulness in Plain English”

Meditation is many things to many people.  Stress relief.  Quiet time with yourself.  Cultivation of focus or concentration.  A deeply spiritual practice. 

Meditation has been proven to provide many physical and emotional benefits, especially in today’s high-speed, high-pressure world.  It’s time to take a breath, and catch your breath.

What is Buddhist Meditation?

About 2,500 years ago, Siddhartha Gautama, better known simply as the Buddha (“awakened one”) recommended the practice of meditation as part of his teachings on achieving liberation from suffering. 

In our group, we practice two forms of meditation from the earliest Buddhist teachings: vipassana (“vih-PAHS-ahn-a” – known as “insight” meditation) and metta (“loving kindness”).  Vipassana meditation simply focuses on your breath, in and out.  If you find your mind wandering, no problem; just re-focus on your breath.  By doing so, we reduce and even stop the focus on all the random thoughts, worries and concerns of our everyday lives. 

Metta meditation focuses on specific thoughts of loving kindness or goodwill, such as these:

“May I be safe and protected. 
 May I be healthy and strong. 
 May I be happy and peaceful.
 May I awaken to my true nature.” 

These phrases can also be focused on other people, but often meditators begin with good wishes for themselves, and perhaps then reach outwards to others.

What is Buddhism?

Buddhism, the fourth largest religious/spiritual practice in the world, is unique in many respects.  Unlike many other world religions, Buddhist practice is grounded in personal experience, not theological belief. In fact, Buddhism does not require renunciation of existing beliefs you might already have.  Anyone can benefit from Buddhist practice.

Buddhism is about eliminating dukka – that gnawing, ongoing sense of stressful dissatisfaction with everyday life and circumstances.  It is more relevant than ever in today’s pressure-cooker, uncertain world.

Buddhists do not “worship” the Buddha; on the contrary, the Buddha taught techniques anyone can use to explore the very nature of perception and thought itself.  The greatest tool, the greatest practice he offered was meditation, which helps us reduce that frustrating sense of dukka and the superficial, petty, knee-jerk ways in which we might otherwise live our lives and waste our everyday attention and energy.

What happens in an evening of meditation?

Here’s what our group’s typical gathering consists of…

• A couple of minutes to chant (in the ancient Pali language, common during the Buddha’s lifetime) basic Buddhist precepts to help us put the day behind us and focus on our time together.
• 30-40 minutes of meditation, with helpful instructions from the evening’s leader.
• “Check-in” – discuss with the group, as much or as little as you wish, how your meditation experience went for you.
• Reading or readings from the evening’s leader; often from some spiritual book or article.

How did this group get started?

Our group was started in 2005 by a Buddhist hospice chaplain in Lowell, MA, originally for the spiritual support of hospice caregivers.  Our original teacher had to leave the area for health reasons, so we are now a peer-led group.  This is the reason for our name, Kayana Mitta Sangha, which simply means Community of Spiritual Friends.

Our group practices the Theravadan Buddhist tradition, common to Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, which emphasizes the practices of vipasanna and metta meditation.  Other closely allied forms of Buddhism you may have heard of are Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, more common in Japan and Eastern Asia.  These and other forms of Buddhism have come to America and beyond over the last 50 years and are growing rapidly.

We are fortunate that a Theravadan temple is in the area; a guest monk leads our practice once a month (usually the first Tuesday of the month).

If you are curious about meditation, you ‘always wanted to try it,’ you wanted to meet other people doing it, or if you already have a meditation practice, please join us.  Hope to meet you soon!