Dad, Come Sit With Me!

What's the point of getting up on a Sunday morning to meet in a suburban church to meditate? Is it happiness? Happiness can be quite fickle. Contentment? Yes, though there's more to it than that. What it's really about is release. It's what the Pāli texts call cetovimutti, the release of the heart. And the Buddha's first instruction toward it isn't solitude in a cave or a forest. It's sitting down next to someone. Recorded at the first gathering of the Riverside Meditation Community, Brookmont Church, Brookmont, MD, September 2026. Texts & references: The Meghiya Sutta — the monk, the mango grove, and the five things that ripen release of heart (Udāna 4.1, suttacentral.net/ud4.1; also AN 9.3) · The Upaḍḍha Sutta — Ānanda on admirable friendship, and the Buddha's correction (SN 45.2, suttacentral.net/sn45.2) · D.W. Winnicott, "there is no such thing as a baby" · Wendell Berry, "Health Is Membership" — community as the smallest unit of health · the Roseto effect · Tara Brach Photo by Federico Enni on Unsplash