2021 Annual Report

After another challenging year, we are grateful to have been able to continue Chicago Buddhist Meditation Group (CBMG)’s activities throughout the year of 2021. Below we share a report of those activities with you, and we would like to take this opportunity to also express our gratitude to all those who have contributed in various ways.

In June, with the number of COVID cases declining and more people fully vaccinated, we were hopeful that we could return to in-person sitting soon. We held a Sangha Meeting, and emailed those who couldn’t attend, to get the Sangha’s feedback on their comfort levels for returning to in-person, various COVID safety protocols once we were to return to in-person, as well as camera equipment preference to enable a hybrid set-up so that those who have been joining us from afar or who don’t feel comfortable joining us in-person for whatever reason could still attend CBMG via Zoom every week. However, soon after that Sangha Meeting, the Delta variant began to cause COVID case load to rise again. In August, the City of Chicago began to mandate mask-wearing indoors, and in September, the same mandate was enacted for the entire state of Illinois. For the safety of our members and the community at-large, we decided to continue to meet online only. We are monitoring the pandemic situation and government announcements, and hope that we can return to in-person/hybrid at our beautiful rental space at Kiku Matsu Aikido Dojo sometime in 2022.

Throughout this year, we continued to have members joining our weekly practice from other states as well as from the Chicago area. We have met many new people – both beginners and long-time practitioners alike – and, as always, enjoyed the company of all the regular attendees as well.

Many of us have, by now, known someone who has gotten COVID. In some cases, perhaps even someone who has died from the disease or has suffered severe symptoms. At the same time, the world experiences increasing misinformation, health care and vaccine inequity, racial divides, wars and unrests, climate crisis, natural disasters, and more. 2021 has continued to be a trying year for many. We hope that our Sangha and our weekly practice space provide helpful support to those who need it, while we meditate and study Dharma together to further cultivate our compassion and wisdom, and develop skillful means so we may bring benefit to others as well.

We are grateful to everyone who has attended our weekly practice, and those who have supported us in other ways, so that we may continue to offer this space for all who find it helpful.

As a Sangha that is, by design, not tied to any specific lineage, we have been able to study authentic Buddhist teachings from diverse traditions, hearing lectures from many teachers in Chan/Zen, Tibetan, and Theravada traditions. We also encourage diverse voices from within our Sangha, and are thankful to the following members who volunteered to present Dharma Sharing, facilitate Teachers’ Corner, and/or tell Dharma Stories from sutras and other sources this past year: Alan, Belinda, Dave, Dorothy, Joy, Kimberly, Margaret, Phyllis, and Stephen!

With these volunteers’ help, in 2021, we studied and investigated a wide range of Dharma topics, including:

This year, we held a few special programs:

• Watching two Buddhist-themed documentaries (“Saving Mes Aynak” and “The Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World”) followed by discussions.
• Holding two Sangha meetings – one in January and another in June.
• Having the honor of a special guest teacher, David Listen, joiningus live in May. David led meditation that day and gave a Dharma Talk on: “The Core Principles of Buddhadharma: How They Guide Our Life Practice.” About 30 people attended this special event.

~ The Metta Sutta