What we’re about
Buddhism is a practice and it is actually through practice that you learn how it empowers your life to be all that you can be and reach your full potential.
A good teacher is necessary to walk us through the process. First and foremost, listening to the unchanging Dharma is the key.
Join us for an informal introduction session and let's get to know each other.
Feel free to send us a private message with your contact information if you'd like us to contact you to decide the time and place of our activities.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Purpose-Driven Lab: Having a CLEAR-CUT vision of the purpose of life is the keyLink visible for attendees
Hi, our Dharma friends!
This meeting is an online event.
The passcode of the Zoom meeting room is written at the end of this event description.
This event is a friendly get-together of like-minded people starting with light-hearted ice-breaking for 10 to 15 minutes followed by a Dharma talk, which is more like a lecture for 30 minutes. During the last 10 minutes, we have a Q&A session. (The length of time varies according to time and circumstances)
The following is the review of our recent meeting. Main topic: In life we're busy with many short-term goals and long-term goals. But don't we want to find out the overarching goal that brings meaning to everything?- We all have our purpose in life, which energizes us to move on.
- Our ultimate goal is different from our short-term goals or mid-term goals in life, such as marriage, landing a job, forming a family, or retirement.
- If we think about our mortality and impermanence of life, minor issues become less important, and we feel an urgency to accomplish our real purpose.
- It is helpful to have friends and family members who can support us as we travel through this Saha world of suffering toward our destination.
- Practicing compassion and kindness to such good people is important.
- We all have shared imperfections, and sometimes we hurt each other because we are human and are fallible. Self-reflection can help us move through such troubled times. Remember, we’re all in this together, we are all struggling, and we are all suffering.
- Buddha said the purpose of this journey is to find genuine happiness that overcomes life’s sufferings.
- The eight universal sufferings taught by the Buddha are: birth ( life), aging, sickness, death, separation from the beloved, encountering the despised, and being of the flesh (our body). This last suffering contains all the other sufferings.
- When we practice Six Paramitas (our daily practices), our good efforts will be rewarded. Good people will be drawn to us and be a source of support. It might take some time but no effort is wasted. Some seeds take time to bear fruit.
- When we know our purpose – self transcendence – we can overcome our limitations, the obstacles in our way, and the pain we suffer on our journey.
- Self transcendence is to forget the desire for instant gratification and remember those people who will benefit from our effort, and to be grateful for the people who have been supporting us.
- If you don’t have such people please make an effort to find at least one such person. And of course, coming to this meet-up you will be a part of the community.
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Our classes are free for the first 10 sessions or so. After 10 sessions, if you see value in joining, please consider offering a contribution.
Our classes & sangha are sustained completely by the dana gratitude contributions of people like you! Dana gratitude donations for our classes are gratefully accepted on Venmo @Bita-Enayati If you don't have Venmo, please email me at [email protected]
so you can offer your contribution through PayPal or ZelleSuggested donation for the event is $5 - $20.
Check out our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@right-view-lab!
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Thank you for your support and encouragement in helping us continue to bring quality teachings to you, day in, day out. It's not the amount that matters but your desire to be part of a cause greater than ourselves.
Stay well and let's go forward towards the light of unconditional goodness together! Please message me at [email protected] with your self-introduction if you'd like to get to know each other more and also to confirm your RSVP.
If you're interested in learning Buddhism but have a schedule conflict, please write to me for a one on one session. And we have about 10-18 people join us so hope you don't get discouraged by seeing the few RSVPs here on this page. See you soon too!!!
Also we're planning to record this session and upload to our Right View YouTube channel for access by our premium members who can't join us live. Thank you for your understanding.
Last but not least, once you RSVP, you will see the link to the Zoom meeting room. When you click the link and your Zoom application starts, then you'll be required to type the passcode. The passcode is 426646.
Bita and Yuichi Asakura - Happiness Lab for Advanced Sangha MembersLink visible for attendees
Hi our Dharma friends!
Welcome to Buddhism for our advanced members! Our Happiness Lab meeting is a friendly get-together of like-minded people to learn about happiness in Buddhism.
If you're new to Buddhism, please check out our Sundays 10 AM Eastern time class for beginners to Buddhism.
Our weekly “Advanced” meetup group is open to those who have completed our basic course and are a contributing, sustaining member of our Sangha community. Each week we prepare a Dharma presentation for you on that week’s Buddhism topic, followed by Q&A. We kick off each meeting with some introductions and short ice-breaking to encourage one another to take our Dharma practice to the next level!
Check our our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@right-view-lab !
To better explain the philosophy behind Happiness Lab (our weekly Saturday events, focusing on happiness):
The ultimate goal of Buddhism is experiencing true happiness. But if we don't know what it is, we won't know how to go about it. There's a goal, or the finishing point of experiencing happiness that does not abandon us, Buddha teaches us. That is lasting peace of mind and satisfaction.
Buddha teaches us what lasting happiness is in contrast to our fleeting sense of it.
A great master of Buddhism expressed his own experience of attaining such happiness as follows:
"Swiftly receiving the wisdom of Buddha, gaining perfect and flawless satisfaction."
Just visualize the beautiful image of a full moon in the night sky. The full moon has a perfectly circular shape, which is symbolic of something perfect in Buddhism.
How can we experience perfect happiness? It's when darkness of mind or avidya in Sanskrit will get lifted. It takes no time. When the light comes, our dark mind will be instantly gone. That's the moment we achieve true happiness.
Dark mind is like a spiritual illness of not knowing why we suffer, why we're born, why we live. It's the ignorance about our true self as well.
Why do we feel pain when we say goodbye to our loved ones? Why is separation always painful? A popular Japanese singer once said, "Human beings are immersed in pain from the beginning but while we have our loved ones around us, we can forget about our pain. But when we say goodbye to them, the pain comes to the surface. In a sense, our loved ones work like a painkiller." There are all these forms of “painkillers.” – social media, playing games on your phone, drinking, binging Netflix, etc.
Why do we lack energy to move forward? Is it because we feel we're stuck in a circular marathon? When do I reach the finishing line? How long should I continue doing this?
The following are the lines from a popular song of Japan.
Over this hill, happiness lies waiting:
Clinging to that hope,
seven hills have I crossed so far,
this my fiftieth year.
We want to reach a point of completion. Seeking is tiring, you know.
Artists seek perfection in their artwork. But it's difficult to find a point of perfection. One popular singer said this:
"I always focus really hard on an album or a tour, and at the time I'll think, “This is the greatest!" But when it's over, somehow I’m always like “Nope, I still have a long way to go.”
Don't we look for lasting joy through our work/hobbies/relationships? But each time, we feel disillusioned.
The original pain comes from our dark minds. Listening to the Dharma illuminates this pain and eliminates it.
------ Also please note that we're going to livestream this zoom session on YouTube for later access by our premium members. There will be an announcement from the Zoom app when it starts.
- We would appreciate it if you use the same name as your Meetup account so that the host of the meeting will easily recognize the contributing, sustaining participants. Your camera must be on when you enter the zoom just to greet the hosts.
- Our classes & sangha are sustained completely by the dana gratitude contributions of people like you! Dana gratitude donations for our classes are gratefully accepted at https://donorbox.org/purelandschooldonation Suggested donation for the event is $5 - $20.
Last but not least– the Zoom passcode is 426646.
Stay well and let's go forward towards the light of unconditional goodness together!
We’re looking forward to meeting you!
Bita and Yuichi - ABCs of Buddhism for NewbiesLink visible for attendees
Hi our Friends,
Either me or a good Dharma friend is going to share the teachings with people new to Buddhism. Once our life is transformed through the Dharma, we can't keep it to ourselves. Hopefully other Dharma friends will volunteer to share their wisdom too!
Join us and study together! We will have Q&As at the end of the presentation too!
The password for zoom is 426646.
The first 20 minutes I'd like to get to know who is joining our zoom session so please have your camera on. After that, we will record our presentation and Q&A and upload to YouTube for the public. Thank you for your understanding.
If you're interested in learning Buddhism but have a schedule conflict, please email Bita at [email protected]
Our classes are free but our classes & sangha are sustained completely by the dana gratitude contributions of people like you! Dana gratitude donations for our classes are gratefully accepted at https://donorbox.org/purelandschooldonation. Suggested donation for the event is $5 - $20.
Once you finish this basic course, if you'd like to be part of our sangha (community of like-minded friends who are contributing, sustaining members), you're welcome to join our advanced course.
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Below is the self-introduction of one of our presenters:
My name is Pam and I am from Nepal. I have been listening to Buddhist teachings, reading books about Buddhism from the sources of what ever was available in my country, I used to listen to Buddhist monks, gurus. In the beginning of 2020 my husband met one sensei through facebook who was teaching Buddhism online so from there we started listening to Buddhism.
We listened in daily basis, we had at least one hour session every day where we learned much more than what we had just learned within my country. Listening to dharma has motivated me in many ways specifically if I could share then it would be being a better person every day.
No matter what the world throws at you, no matter how people treat you , no matter what you go through but you make sure that you become a better person. And listening to dharma /Buddhism has really helped me a lot, understanding life, relationships and more.
It is just the beginning I feel there’s much more to go, so the best thing is you listen to dharma and feel more deep. Be kind have compassion.
And one more best thing you can do is sharing it. So that many people can benefit in many ways.
Before I was just growing by age but after listening to dharma I am sincerely grown up now, I have learned how to communicate, apologize, be truthful and accept accountability of my deeds / karma without blaming someone else. I'll be happy if I can share that with you too.
