The meditation workshop on Saturday, April 20, 2024, has been canceled. Often the obstacles that prevent us from experiencing our lives fully are self-imposed by our limited views. Our meditation practice, by its very nature, is liberating. Several times a year we offer all-day meditation workshops. This is a unique opportunity to move beyond the constructs that falsely define our lives for us. OZS provides a supportive environment to dive deeper into our practice and share our experiences, thereby learning […]
Category Archives: Meditation
Exploring The Transmission of Mind with Huangbo
Good Friends, In the New Year, I will share a series of posts on the ‘Transmission of Mind’ by Master Huangbo (Similar to the series we did in August of the ‘Platform Sutra of Hui-neng‘). This series will primarily use the Book ‘Zen Roots – The First Thousand Years‘ by Red Pine as its main study text (There is a link to purchase the book on the website). Another good translation is ‘The Zen Teaching of Huang Po: On the […]
Retreat In Nature, 11/18/2023 – Photo Gallery
Thank you, wonderful retreat participants! You all made our retreat and precepts ceremony an auspicious and meaningful experience.
One Day In November
All Buddhas, in all the Buddha worlds, be present for this special day in November, a truly auspicious day! The OZS Silent Retreat Day – Nov. 18, 2023. This will be our third All Day Silent Retreat at Myakka River State Park. Come and join us for a day of peace and rejuvenation in nature. No previous experience with meditation is necessary. There will also be a Precepts Ceremony at the end of the retreat. Please register here, as space is […]
November 18th, All Day Retreat & Precepts
Good Friends, I would like to remind you that we are a month away from our All Day Silent Retreat at Myakka River State Park. Come and join us for this wonderful experience. No previous experience with meditation is necessary and an intro on how to meditate will be available. We will start promptly at 10:00 a.m. Arrive one-half hour early for the intro. The retreat will be in silence. There will be several sitting and walking meditations during the day, […]
News and updates – 10/1/23
Good Friends, Our ‘Silent Retreat in Nature‘ is getting closer and if you haven’t registered yet, I encourage you to do so! I want to especially congratulate those who have signed up for the precepts ceremony. The ceremony will be at the end of the retreat and I will be interviewing each participant during the day. When your time comes, someone will let you know. Nothing scary about the interview, just want to have a moment with each of the […]
OZS All-day Silent Retreat At Myakka River State Park,11-18-23
The next Retreat in Nature will be Saturday, November 18, 2023 Join us at Myakka River State Park for the Ordinary Zen Sangha all-day silent retreat! The natural setting surrounded by the beauty of nature will help us to relax, reflect, and renew ourselves. We will start promptly at 10:00 am (arrive early). There will be several sitting and walking meditations during the day, Dharma Talks, and a vegetarian/vegan potluck lunch. Tea will be served. The retreat will be over […]
Sunday Practice Session
I am happy to be back after a month off and looking forward to sitting together! Please join me this Sunday, 9-03-2023 at our Zendo or online for our practice session. After our practice session, I would like to invite sangha members to join me for an Indian buffet at the Royal Peacock Indian Kitchen. They are just up the road from our Sangha at 5445 Fruitville Rd (near Publix).
Hui-neng leads us to water, but we must drink it.
Our study of the platform sutra only leads us to our own minds, nowhere else, no other Buddha. ‘Each of us must practice ourselves. No one else can do it for us. Nor can any text take our place‘ It isn’t that the teaching is direct or not, sudden or gradual. ‘The teaching is simply so. When we finally understand it, it appears direct because it is right in front of us. When we don’t understand it, it appears indirect […]
Exploring the PLATFORM SUTRA with OZS
The Zen Teaching of Hui-Neng Hui-Neng was the Sixth Patriarch of China’s Zen sect. Over the centuries, he has become a most venerated teacher of one of the world’s great spiritual traditions. During my personal retreat this August, I will be focusing on the Dharma as presented by Hui-Neng. I read the platform Sutra many years ago and studied it as part of a curriculum in a Buddhist Studies class I took. Now it is time for me to take […]