Greetings, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for many reasons! This year, I will spend it with my adult children in Maryland, so there will be no practice session on Sunday, December 1st. Speaking of Thanksgiving, OZS is made possible by our supporting members, thank you for supporting OZS! We had a wonderful 10 days with Chong An Sunim. I posted 3 Dharma Talks with Sunim from our OZS practice sessions, enjoy.
Category Archives: Weekly Dharma Study
Upcoming Events – November 2024
We are pleased that Zen Master Chong An Sunim will visit OZS from Saturday, November 9th, through Sunday, November 17th. There will be many opportunities to practice with Zen Master Chong An Sunim and learn from a master deeply rooted in the tradition of Zen at our events and practice sessions. Our all-day retreat at Myakka River State Park is next Saturday, November 9th. There is still time to sign up for the retreat. Following our retreat on Sunday the […]
Don’t Miss Out On OZS Events and Sessions
We offer weekly meditation practice and Dharma talks. Our regular practice sessions continue and will be live on Zoom. I had to replace my mic to fix the audio issue of the last couple sessions. You may again join us on Zoom. Reminder: Chong An Sunim will be at our regular practice sessions on November 10, 13 and 17th. Come to our November events with Chong An Sunim! Our Silent retreat at Myakka River State park on Saturday, November 9th. […]
Upcoming Events in November
Don’t miss out! Remember you must RSVP for the Silent retreat. Come to all three events with Chong An Sunim! Our Silent retreat at Myakka River State park on Saturday, November 9th. A Talk at Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center on Tuesday, November 12th. Sunset Full Moon Meditation at The Bay Park on Friday, November 15th.
Calendar Update: Regular Practice Schedule
Join us tonight for our Wednesday Evening Practice Session, on July 3, 2024. Ordinary Zen Sangha practice sessions continue after a month off in June 2024. OZS is secular in its approach, no experience is necessary, and all are welcome. We practice at our Zendo on Wednesday at 7:00 pm. We chant the Heart Sutra, practice sitting meditation for 25 minutes, walking meditation for 5 minutes, and another sitting meditation for 25 minutes, followed by a Dharma talk and discussion […]
Hauling Away the Shit Pail
“It is foolish to use the verb “to appear” in describing the manifestation of the buddhas. We simply use the expression “a buddha appears in the world” to make it easier for sentient beings to understand. “Picks up a shit pail and hauls away all the shit of conceptual proliferation” means that a buddha removes all traces of various types of ignorant thoughts. If you do not depart from the original true reality of the middle way, then whatever words […]
Huangbo -Transmission Of The Mind – Intro
Dear Friends, Welcome to the New Year and our study series on the Teachings of Huangbo. The text we will be exploring is a record of a series of talks given by Huangbo in the fall of 842. The talks were recorded by an official named Pei Xiu. There are two translations that you may use for our study series. The first is The Zen Teaching Of Huang Po On The Transmission Of Mind by John Blofeld. The second can be […]
The Basis for Giving
Cultivate an attitude of all-pervading loving kindness. Directed not just to humans but to all sentient beings, with this attitude, we give freely of what we have without any regret. The three types of giving: The first is to give through your understanding of the Dharma. This means to devote yourself to the service of others by realizing, for their sake, the emptiness of yourself and your desires. The second is to give away material possessions without any reluctance. Giving that […]
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 […]
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 […]