Wednesday Evening Meditation Practice with Chong An Sunim

Chong An Sunim joins us for our Wednesday practice session. The doors open at 6:30 pm and the practice session begins promptly at 7:00 pm with the chanting of the Heart Sutra. We then sit in meditation (zazen) for twenty-five minutes, do walking meditation for five minutes, and another twenty-five minutes of sitting. After the last sitting, we serve tea, have a brief Dharma talk and discussion related to our practice. We usually finish up by 8:30 pm.

Paying Attention

Getting to know ourselves through our meditation practice. Sunday 2/09/2020.

clouds

Making Clouds Disappear

When I was a child, I used to play a game with friends called “making the clouds disappear.” Days that clouds were scattered and puffy were ideal. We would each pick a cloud and focus all our energy on making it disappear, and sure enough, with patience, they would disappear! What was wonderful about the game was the experience of oneness, of sky, mind, space. It was the magic of active imagination! As adults, we intellectually might grasp that this […]

Last few days of 2019 – Celebrating Buddha’s Awakening

Buddha’s enlightenment is said to have happened in December, so we celebrate his awakening. As we bring the year to an end, I would like to leave you with two Dharma Talk Podcasts. The first one is by Norman Fisher and includes a wonderful “Fairy Tale” about Buddha’s enlightenment that comes from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Old Path White Clouds. Norman Fisher – “The Buddha as a completely normal person“ http://everydayzen.org/teachings/2013/buddha-normal-person-all-day-sitting-december-2019/ The second Podcast is last Sunday’s Dharma talk at […]

The Gift of Winter

Abbot Will Rauschenberger shares that the winter of our practice is the wonderful gift necessary for our growth and nurture.