Summer Solstice 2023: Turning Points

The summer solstice is a turning point in the year. In the northern hemisphere, it is the longest day of the year and the shortest night. Mitra Mark will offer a short teaching on this occasion and, as is his habit, he might offer us some poetry, providing inspiration and reflection on qualities and characteristics of  light at this time of year.

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

—Mary Oliver

SCHEDULE

5:30 Talk by Mitra Mark Power
6:00 Aspiration Prayer of Samantabhadra (chanting & liturgical practice)

DETAILS

This program will be held online. A zoom link will be emailed upon registration.

The program is offered at no charge, but participants are welcome to practice generosity by making a Teacher’s Gift.

Please contact Karen de Luna (karendeluna@nalandabodhi.org) if you have questions about this event.

Mitra Mark has been a student of the Dharma for several decades and has studied with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche since the early 1990s. Over the years, Mark served in a variety of leadership and service roles within Nalandabodhi. In 2005, he was appointed as a teacher (Mitra) and made a member of the Mitra Council where his focus is the Path of Mindful Activity — the intersection of dharma and daily life.

Mark worked for many years as a chaplain and palliative care consultant in healthcare settings. In 2014, he broadened his focus to include life-transition and executive coaching. Mark lives in the Hudson Valley town of Red Hook with his wife Marion. They have two kind and creative adult daughters, a very hip son-in-law, and a much doted on granddaughter!