2024 Annual Report

In 2024, we welcomed over 35 new members who found and checked out our group. Several of them even began signing up to facilitate Dharma Sharing or Dharma Stories sessions!

As always, we continued to offer Dharma learning opportunities that drew from our diverse membership’s research and experiences, as well as from teachers from various Buddhist traditions. In addition, based on feedback we received at the 2024 Sangha Meeting, we began offering a new program called “Practice Sharing” – an open session where members could bring their practice-related questions, challenges, discoveries, and insights to share and discuss with each other. We are grateful to our members who proposed this idea – this new program truly exemplifies the peer support model of our Sangha. Also based on Sangha members’ feedback that they enjoy walking meditation, we changed our Dharma Story & Snack weeks’ program to incorporate a brief walking meditation session in-between two shorter seated meditation sessions – this provides additional walking meditation practice each month in addition to the Mini-retreat weeks as well as a more accessible format for beginners who may find longer sitting difficult.

In May, Naman, a member who lives in and joins us from India, hosted another session of his personal photo tours – this time of Buddhist temples he visited in Southeast Asia and Bhutan. Also in May, Belinda and Phyllis were invited by the Northwestern Zen Club to lead a meditation and discussion session with their members, continuing our connection with students at Northwestern University. In July, per members’ expressed interest, we made use of the beautiful summer weather of Chicago and led an outdoor, water-bowl walking meditation session. And we wrapped up the year with Metta (Loving-Kindness) Meditation followed by a group social dinner during the very last CBMG session in 2024.

On the cyberspace front, we have begun work on making our website more accessible to individuals with disabilities, following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) international standard.

Below we share a more detailed report of our regular and special activities in 2024. We would also like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to all those who have contributed in various ways – whether by volunteering to facilitate a Dharma discussion session, by donating to CBMG, by providing feedback to us, by helping us welcome new members, or by simply showing up to sit with us. With your support and friendship, we hope to continue offering our Sangha and our weekly practice space to serve those who need it.

As per our non-denominational approach, we have been able to study authentic Buddhist teachings from diverse traditions, hearing lectures from many teachers in Chinese Chan, Insight Meditation, Japanese Zen, Plum Village, Thai Forest, Tibetan, and Vipassana traditions. Our Sangha members brought diverse voices to our weekly sessions. We are grateful 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, Jackson, Janet, Kamala, Lou, Margaret, Naman, Phyllis, and Stephen!

With these volunteers’ help, in 2024, we studied and investigated a wide range of Dharma topics, including: 

In 2024, we held a few special programs:

• In March, we held a Sangha meeting.
• In May, Naman, our distant member in India, gave Part 1 of a two-part presentation on: “Buddhist Temples in Southeast Asia & Bhutan.” He took us on a virtual photo tour of temples he visited in Bhutan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. We saw the beautiful pictures he took and heard his informative commentary of each country and temple he visited. He is scheduled to give Part 2 of this presentation in 2025.
• Also in May, the Northwestern Zen Club – a non-denominational meditation group at Northwestern University in Evanston – invited Belinda and Phyllis to one of their weekly meetings to lead meditation and discussion with their members. The session began with slow moving meditation, followed by guided relaxation and a short silent sitting period, and then an open Q&A and discussion period while tea was served. It was very lovely to meet and talk with these students, and to have the opportunity to continue our connection with this Zen Club.
• At one session in July, after indoor sitting meditation, we went to a nearby park for a special “water-bowl walking meditation.” Each person held a small bowl fully-filled with water while walking from one tree to another. Afterwards, the group shared how they appreciated this special meditation method as it helped them practice relaxation and focus while still being fully aware of the surroundings such as other people’s voices, bird songs, and planes flying overhead. Members also mentioned they became aware of how the movement of the water in the bowl reflected their state of mind at every moment – the more focused it is, the more stable the water, and vice versa. Finally, everyone said it was very joyful to spend some time as a group outdoors, especially on a day with such lovely weather!
• On December 29th, the very last CBMG session of the year, we bid farewell to 2024 with a guided Metta (Loving-Kindness) Meditation session, following the recorded instructions of Insight Meditation teacher Jack Kornfield. Afterwards, eight members enjoyed a meal together at a vegan restaurant at our holiday social. Everyone who attended commented on how wonderful it was to get this chance to eat together and get to know each other better, and said we should do this more often!