We meet one another as buddhas in the zendo. Coming from the silence of zazen, how can we bring that awareness to our interactions with one another, to how we speak and how we listen? This class will focus on communicating with openness and curiosity.
When everything is removed, taken away, seen through, then what? Does any basis for practice or awakening remain? Emptiness is a central concept in every school of Mahayana Buddhism. In this gathering we will clarify the teaching and investigate the ways it may play out in our lives. Although we will read and discuss the various doctrines of emptiness, the focus of the group will be on our own experience. We will use both group discussion and one to one dialogues as our primary tools.
The theme of the Practice Period is “Dharma Friendship.” This class poses the question: What is the practice of being a dharma friend? In this six-week class, we will study Dogen’s essays, “Only Buddha and Buddha (Yuibutsu Yobutsu)” and “Bodhisattva’s Four Methods of Guidance (Bodaisatta Shisho-ho)
This six-week class will focus on hearing the Buddha within the functional layers of the body: structural, functional, organic, energetic, sensory, and cognitive. We will explore how each layer contributes to the intimacy of Zen practice with self and Sangha.
The Four Sublime Attitudes of Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity are effective antidotes to our most harmful and negative states of mind. Cultivating these attitudes is a traditional Buddhist practice that brings happiness to the practitioner and benefit to all beings.