Intimate Discussions: On Dogen’s Zuimonki
Led by Zoketsu Norman Fischer and Sokaku Kathie Fischer
March 2 – March 20
Registration is due Thursday, February 25.
About the 2021 March Intensive
The writing of Dogen (1200 – 1253 CE), the founder of the Soto School in Japan, can be dizzingly complex, especially in his masterwork Shobogenzo/Treasure of the True Dharma Eye. However, Dogen was also an everyday Zen teacher to the many monastics who came to practice with him. Zuimonki is a record of Dogen’s informal oral instructions to monks as recorded by his first disciple Ejo. In this text we meet a softer and more down-to-earth Dogen, who offers practical advice and compassionate discussion. In this Intensive we’ll select readings from this text (available as a free online PDF*) for study and discussion, and we’ll keep and share personal practice journals of what we discover.
*NOTE: The link to the PDF will be provided following registration.
As part of the Intensive, Norman and Kathie will teach a class on three Thursdays: March 4, 11, and 18, 7:30 – 9 pm PT.
The Intensive concludes with a three-day sesshin and concurrent one-day sitting (Saturday), beginning the evening of Wednesday, March 17, at 7 pm PT with an orientation followed by a Dharma talk at 7:30 pm PT. Thursday will include the evening class at 7:30 pm PT. Friday will be a regular sesshin day. The sesshin ends on Saturday, March 20 at 6 pm PT.
The Intensive includes:
- Zazen (meditation) – see details of the schedule on the Online Zendo page
- Weekly Class on Thursdays, March 4, 11, 18, 7:30 – 9 pm PT; the recorded video will be available for download for those who cannot attend live
- Dharma Talks on Wednesdays, March 3, 10, 17 at 7:30 pm PT and Saturdays and Sundays, March 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 at 10 am PT; all Dharma talks are recorded and available on the SFZC website and Dharma app link
- Interactive meetings hosted by SFZC practice leaders; a mix of SFZC residents and wider sangha participants; dates and times to be arranged by group
- Three-day Sesshin and One-day Sitting as described above
- Optional Online Sangha Practice Session - zazen and discussion
- Thursday, 5:30 – 6:30 pm PT with Abbot David Zimmerman and Guest Teachers
- Sunday, 5 – 6 pm PT with Abbess Fu Schroeder
Full Participation including the Three-day Sesshin
General: $255
Member: $229
Limited Income: $178
Participation not including the Three-day Sesshin
General: $165
Member: $148
Limited Income: $115
Registration is closed.
Access to the practice period website will be provided a week prior to the practice period.
The deadline for registration is Thursday, February 25.