Living Zen - Newsletter
Contributions by the members of Zenwest Buddhist Society. If you have questions, comments or requests, please feel free to leave them below!
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Doyu (Tom) Oak's First Rohatsu Sesshin, Nov. 30 - Dec.8, 2013
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Intensive practice
With a new Intensive Preparation course starting on Feb 19 & 26th I am reminded of experiences with the one-day and five-day intensives offered by the Victoria Zen Centre, as the intensive prep course is a prerequisite for this type of intensive practice.
Mostly when I've talked with other people about intensive practice I've talked about the difficulties. Sitting for long periods of time is physically demanding and the form of practice also removes the distractions that mask unpleasant memories and feelings that come up from time to time. Having to experience all that stuff is tough.
A pointed comment by Ven. Eshu about this reminded me that it is in some ways easier to talk about the difficulties of intensive practice because it is tangible and concrete. Most people, even those who haven't done intensive Zen practice, can relate to "my legs hurt" or "it was hard to relive memories of crappy stuff that happened when I was a kid".
But there is so much going on in intensive practice that is really amazing too, I've just found it hard to put words to that. In the one-days there is the beauty of watching the sun come up and go down together, of eating together and experiencing the Sooke zendo really fully and deeply. In the five-day practice (sesshin) there is the residential component, 13 people living together in close quarters for 5 1/2 days with little sleep, all breathing together for 18 hours a day and working so hard in various ways (cooking, teaching, cleaning, serving tea, correcting form, leading chants, supervising zendo officers) to create the sesshin for each other. The depth of relationships with other people in the sangha who have shared intensive practice is a very special thing, unlike any other community I've ever experienced. And there are the hilarious things that happen in residential practice (who knew that dropping a bell could make it ring?).
There are also the things that happen before and after intensive practice from the powerfully transformative nature of intensive practice -- little and big shifts in everyday life. Those are much harder to express, but I was reminded at the Dana meeting last week how significantly different my life is now compared to pre-intensive practice. I'm actually here to enjoy my life instead of being completely entangled in thinking about the past and worrying about the future, which is a gift not to be taken lightly. And even though things aren't always easy there is so much more resilience, humour, and determination than was there before to get back up after falling down.
Although I'm not planning to re-engage with intensive practice in the immediate future, it is a very special component of what the VZC offers and I hope anyone thinking about it will go for it, to experience it for yourself and see what it is like!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Appreciating 'Other'
Since a friend gave me a Karen Armstrong book, I’ve found a feast of other books and talks by her, including a recent interview by Jian Ghomeshi on the CBC radio show Q:
Jian Ghomeshi interview: Click on Jan 17/2011 and start listening 51 minutes into the show.
Karen Armstrong’s winning talk on TED or actually here
Karen Armstrong speaking about the charter for compassion
The charter spoken on youtube
One year anniversary of the charter
Let me know what you think. Is any of this useful in your life, and how would you put it to work?
Soshin
Friday, January 7, 2011
Talking about sexual misconduct
While many teachers and abbots are rightly concerned about how Shimano is dealt with, and how those harmed by his behaviour can begin the healing process, it seems to me that individual sanghas could take this opportunity to talk about sexual violence, the abuse of the teacher/student relationship, and what it would take to never have this happen again.
I’m not condoning what Shimano did at all, but changing our culture of shame and secrecy would help empower the potential victims of this kind of abuse. If we create a sex-positive environment people might more clearly see when they are in danger of being abused or being abusive.
One of the really useful articles I’ve run into recently on this subject is ‘Real Sex Education’ by Cara Kulwicki (in an anthology Yes Means Yes! Visions of Sexual Power & a World Without Rape). According to Kulwicki the goal of real sex education is to teach people that sex should be “consensual and pleasurable”, and that we need to move from thinking ‘no means no’ to ‘yes means yes’. In other words we need to teach that “sex when someone doesn’t openly and enthusiastically want it is wrong.”
I hope you’ll read the article and then post a response here. What do you think? How does this apply to you and to our sangha if at all? How do you think we should break the silence?
Soshin
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Back from Rohatsu sesshin
Cuddled the cat, went for a walk enjoying the beauty of the neighbourhood, dropped off the recycling and visited Aubergine in Fernwood (very full of happy pleasant people), had a simple meal and watched the Korean film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ...and Spring. Gently easing into each moment here on Roseberry Ave.
Soshin
Friday, December 3, 2010
Sesshin memories
One year the chimney in our one room cabin developed a carbon monoxide-spewing leak. My plan to clean the chimney while Doshu was away quickly became an emergency, and with preschooler and toddler in tow, I made the trek (on working logging roads) to the coop hardware store to find replacement parts. Thank goodness for small communities! Although the sales clerk had never done the job, she cornered one of the old-timers in the store, who cheerfully gave us all the how-to wisdom and encouragement we needed to get the job done. Picture mom on the step ladder replacing sections of stove pipe with tiny kids bundled in winter coats playing happily amongst the debris.
Then there was the year the key broke in the ignition (again while Doshu was on retreat), but luckily while the kids and I were in town, and the local mechanic, who understood a lot about expediency, and resourcefulness, fixed the car by showing me how to start it with a screwdriver. Somewhere around that time there was the challenge of always parking our car on a slope, to get it started again.
In our family we consoled ourselves with food. So for years whenever Doshu went away we would clear cut the store and eat all the forbidden stuff: coffee, meat, sausages, bacon, real maple syrup, cake made with sugar, and ice cream!
It helped keep the trickster away.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
ANNOUNCING...the Zennies!
The Zennies are an opportunity for VZC members to honour and thank the many people who have contributed time, money, skills, and love to our zen centre in the last year.
These are awards where you get to choose both who wins and why: choose the nominee and the category! The rules:
- You can nominate anyone, whether they are a member of the VZC or not,
- You can nominate the same person for multiple reasons,
- You can nominate as many people as you want to, and
- Your nomination has to be true.
DEADLINE = Sunday, November 14th
Email nominations to Ekō at jgoldberg@shaw.ca
Sunday, August 29, 2010
A hole in the sidewalk
I’ve been reflecting on my practice lately, now that I’m sitting again (after bounce number…3?). I came across a story that resonated pretty strongly with me and my relationship to practice.
The story was about a woman that encounters a hole in the sidewalk and falls into it. It’s a very deep hole and it takes her a while to climb back out.
The next time she is walking down the same street she encounters the hole again, but is oddly attracted to it, she gets curious of it and once again falls in. But this time she manages to climb back out a little quicker.
The next time she walks down the same street, she encounters the same hole again. But this time she is certain she can jump clean over the hole, but when she tries she falls back in.
The next time she is walking down the same street she knows there is a deep hole, but is curious about it. She carefully walks up to the hole and peers in, thinking “Damn, that’s a really deep hole”. Then she carefully walks around it…
Finally, she chooses to walk down a different street entirely and decides not to walk down that same street anymore because she knows there’s a great big hole there!
I’m not sure exactly where in this process I am. But I’m hopeful that the next time I encounter a big, black, gaping hole in the sidewalk I’ll turn around and take a totally different street. The hole isn’t that interesting to me anymore.
Cory.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Four Gardensattva Vows
All berries without number
I vow to masticate
Endless bindweed plants
I vow to uproot
The fallen down arbour
I vow to levitate
The great veggie garden
I vow to maintain.
(with thanks to Reese for his help adapting the Four Bodhisattva Vows)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Warning: Administrator has prohibited access
Yesterday my computer warned me : "Administrator has prohibited access to CD/DVD ROM drives"
Suddenly I could no longer use the DVD player which has become our entertainment centre here on Roseberry. It's also the backbone of my language studies now that the Greater Victoria Public Library has such a great foreign film collection on DVD.
Doshu and I had recently vacuumed inches of dust out of the computer, had this dislodged a wire? Also, Doshu had upgraded his computer which is networked with mine. Had he done this to me? Lots of opportunity for practice! I'd like to think that because of meditation the situation was a little lighter than it could have been. (Doshu says MUCH lighter-but maybe he's being his usual kind self)
The fix, after I googled the warning message, was to uninstall a desktop driver, reboot and reinstall it. Apparently the Intel Desktop Utilities program that helps us monitor the cpu temperature, and has access to the motherboard, was interfering with a patch, or an upgrade, or a virus?? that was also trying to access the same area of the motherboard?? Result: no dvd capabilities and a weird warning message.
What came home to me was how very, very little I understand the workings of this computer. How the hell does it do what it does?
When I apply that sense of wonder to my own programming and wiring, I see how little I know about myself, and how simple and insignificant core beliefs like "being too tired is a valid excuse", or "I'm entitled to this" or "what I am is real and lasting" can have huge and unforeseen effects in my life.
Similarly, what if meditation, which seems too simple (breathe), too easy (just be present), too gentle (I don't feel any different...) to change 50+ years of habit, what if meditation really is the "simple fix" that can have deep and unexpected results in my life?