Buddhism -

I am very interested in learning about Buddhism here in the city, I live in Queens. But the places I have found online make you pay like 10 bucks per session to attend. This contradicts what I liked about Buddhism. If someone knows where I am going wrong here or where to study please let me know. Or possibly a NYC religion website. I could'nt find one.


Red -

If you read this... For some reason I can not reply to mesages only start new topics so if you know why this is please let me know. I keep getting this message whey I try to reply. If it is just my comp. than I will try to fix it, just let me know if this is a common problem. I searched it and did not find anything:

"You have an error in your SQL syntax near 'ORDER BY message_id ASC LIMIT 1' at line 1: DELETE FROM phorum_user_newflags WHERE user_id=299 AND forum_id=34 ORDER BY message_id ASC LIMIT 1"

By the way, The Greenpoint Y was well worth the money. You can't beat 50 bucks a night. Plus it was a cool neighborhood and the police station was right across the street so I always felt safe. I have been so busy job hunting I haven't had a chance to get out much to the bars or restraunts. If you know of some good places please let me know. I will look up Chips.

my sister is really into Buddhism as well. She's always going to some lecture or class or something. Let me ask her and I'll get back to you.

one good place to go to learn about buddhism is the New York Shambhala Center.

[ny.shambhala.org]

i go there all the time, and am currently in their 2 year Buddhist studies program. It is really great. that is a series of classes for 2 years, and the cost is $125 per class - each year has 4 or 5 classes that meet once a week.

In addition, every Tuesday night they have a "Dharma Gathering" - that is a good place to start. That is how I started. It is 30 minutes of meditation, or instruction for those who are new,followed by a talk on a given Dharma (the word of the Buddha) topic. It is very popular - about 100 people attend each Tuesday!
The cost of that is a suggested $5.

Why does it cost money?? For starters, the rent of the Shambhala center is $13,000 a month. The Shambhala center is very upfront about their finances for all of there centers across the country and the world for that matter, and trust me, they are not making any money. They are barely surriving based on their memebers donations. In NYC, it just cant be free.

Another place to try is :
www.dharmapunx.com
they have weekly meditation and offer classes for much less. It is run by Noah Levine, who is a younger guy and has written a best selling book called "Dharma Punx". I havent been there, but know people who have, and they like it. It is a really relaxed environment...and if i remember corrrectly, the classes there are about $50 for a 4 - 6 week course. not bad. They meet on Bowery somewhere.

If you have any other questions, just ask!

also, try this website:

www.dharmanet.org

that is a good resource and they have listings of all the practice places in all areas of the country.

i was just thinking about the cost of these classes...
i know at most places you can participate in a work-study program. at the shambhala center, for every 1 hour you volunteer, it gets you $10 towards a class.
the weekly "dharma gathering" is a suggested donation only -- if you cant afford it, then pay what you can, or not at all.
they are really very flexible.
the New York Open Center - www.opencenter.org - offers many classes on a variety of spiritual topics - and you can volunteer there as well. After 20 hours of work, you can sign up for free classes. They are linked to the Tibet House in New york - so i used to volunteer there, and then go to the Tibet House and take classes for free.
So, there are ways....

you also have to keep in mind that "generosity" is a key in buddhism. who is paying for the centers to be open? it costs money - and they are not funded and opened by some wealthy person.

for example, recently the Shambhala center was doing a "cushion campaign". the meditation cushions they have were very old and dirty and needed funding to replace them after many years of use by many students. Everytime i went in, i dropped some money in the box for the cushions. They are expensive! About $100 a set - but i kept reminding myself that I go there so often - and need to sit on their cushions when i am there - why shouldnt i contribute?

that's my sister

Excellent info. Good going Kellys sister Kim! Very useful. Ommmmmm