What’s So Hard About Zen? Four Koans on Choice and Practice, Online 5/13–6/3
Description
The Zoom link to participate in this event will be provided at least 24 hours before it begins. Please call 415-354-0360 if you have any questions.
Four Thursdays, May 13–June 3, 6:00–7:30 pm PT
Freedom from suffering for all beings is a project we can all get behind, and our Zen ancestor Dogen, in an unguardedly enthusiastic moment, makes it sound so easy—you study the self, you forget the self, you’re awakened by all things, and this awakening goes on forever. Who wouldn’t sign up?
But, as every serious practitioner knows, and our founder Suzuki Roshi acknowledges right up front, whatever else practice is, it is decidedly not easy.
Some time in the Tang Dynasty, Chan master Zhaozhou and his assembly had a little talk about this, and some of the exchanges are preserved in The Blue Cliff Record. The discussion centers around a phrase from the Xinxin Ming, a poem attributed to the patriarch Sengcan but probably written much later, that claims practice actually is easy, just as long as you avoid choosing.
We’ll talk about this proposition, its patent absurdity, how all of this bears on the ways in which Zen practice actually is difficult, and how it is nonetheless possible to meet this difficulty in a way that is skillful and creative.
Recordings:
All course sessions will be recorded, and registered participants will receive temporary access to the recordings for later viewing.
Fee Information
- Benefactor Ticket Price: $210 — supports others’ participation
- Standard ticket price: $168 — covers full program costs
- Member (Become an SFZC Member): $151 — for current SFZC members
- Supported: $101 — community supported rate
- Deeply Supported: $42 — for broadest accessibility
- Current SFZC residents and qualified SFZC retirees may attend this course for free. To register, please email onlineprograms@sfzc.org at least 72 hours before the program begins.
Registration Information
Or call 415-354-0360.
Anshi Zachary Smith
Anshi Daigi Zachary Smith has been practicing Zen since 1993. He took jukai in 1995, was Shuso (Head Student) in 2007, ordained as a Zen priest in 2014 and received Dharma Transmission on April 17, 2019, all with former abbot and Senior Dharma Teacher Ryushin Paul Haller. He currently directs North Mountain Zendo, a zazenkai (sitting) group in North Beach.