~ ZAZEN
MEDITATION INSTRUCTION AT MANSFIELD ZEN CENTER,1568 LEXINGTON AVE. APT. 4G, WILL BE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. CALL
MICHAEL AT (419) 632-8438 or (419) 709-2144 If you have never done zazen before
Zazen is now at 5
pm on Wednesday evenings. Zazen instructions for first time people are by appointment only. Please call ahead of your
first time here and schedule an anointment so I can show you what to do if you have never done zazen before. 419-632-8438.
Schedule:
Takes one hour
breakdown below:
(Please be early)
Zazen (sitting
meditation) 20 minutes Zazen is a particular kind of meditation that functions centrally as the very heart of Zen practice.
Basically, zazen is the study of the self. The great Master Dogen said, "To study the Buddha Way is to study the
self, to study the self is to forget the self, and to forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things."
Upon his own enlightenment, Buddha was in seated meditation. Kinhin
(walking meditation)
for 5 min.
Zazen
again for another 20 minutes
People often confuse meditation with prayer, devotion, or vision. They are not the
same. Meditation as a practice does not address itself to a deity or present itself as an opportunity
for revelation. This is not to say that people who are meditating do not occasionally think they have received a revelation
or experienced visions. They do. But to those for whom meditation is their central practice, a vision or a revelation is seen
as just another phenomenon of consciousness and as such is not to be taken as exceptional.
The meditator simply
experiences the ground of consciousness, and in doing so avoids excluding or excessively elevating any thought or feeling.
To do this one must release all sense of the "I" as experiencer, even the "I" that might think it is privileged
to communicate with the divine. --Gary Snyder
Soto
Zen Liturgy
(Bowing & Chanting)
for10 min. Liturgy (A rite or body of rites prescribed for public worship) In theistic religions,
liturgy reaffirms our relationship with God. Zen Buddhism, by contrast, is nontheistic, so its emphasis is on realizing our
Buddha nature, the nature of the self. Therefore, all of Zen's rituals point to the intimacy between the self and the
ten thousand things. Zenliturgyisupaya, skillfulmeans. Like zazen and all the other areas of training, it functions as a way of uncovering the truth which
is the life of each one of us.
Dharma Talk and Discussion (when
a teacher is here).
A Zen Buddhist Reading,
Audio or Video
and discussion
when there is
no
teacher.
1 hour
(alltimesare
approximate)
END
RETREATS FOR 2008
October 16-18 "Compassion and the Search for the Nature of Mind" Fall Retreat with Lama Kathy Wesley at Glen Helen (near
Yellow Springs, Ohio) Download flyer with full information here (PDF)
Fall Zen Sesshin ~ YELLOW SPRINGS DHARMA CENTER
Nov. 17 - 22, 2009
Full 5 days, or weekend option
Five-day sesshin begins Tuesday,
Nov. 17 with supper and ends
Sunday,
Nov. 22 with lunch, about
1:30 p.m. Cost: $350
Weekend option: begins Friday
Nov. 20 with supper and ends with
lunch Sunday, Nov.
22.
Cost: $240
Non-refundable deposit: $50
Fees cover the cost of
all meals,
rental of the facility, travel
arrangements for the teacher.
Scholarships
are available.
Registration Deadline:
Nov.
9, 2009
www.ysdharma.org
Retreat Center, Loveland Ohio. Download registration from website (www.ysdharma.org)
You can support Mansfield Zen Center by buying from this link for Movies Unlimited:
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...And Spring (Bom Yeoreum Gaeul Gyeoul Geurigo Bom) [DVD](2003) DVD Powerful
and thought-provoking Korean drama examines the triumphs and tragedies of existence. Through five seasonal segments--each
representing a stage in the life of a Buddhist monk--issues of innocence, desire, lust, evil, atonement, enlightenment, and
rebirth are explored. Oh Yeong-su, Kim Ki-duk, Kim Young-min star. 103 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtrack: Korean Dolby
Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English, French. Enlightenment Guaranteed [DVD](2001) DVD From Doris Dorrie ("Men...") comes this
spiritual comedy about two brothers whose lives are on a downward spiral. Seeking some sort of connection
to the world and themselves, they travel to a Zen monastery near Tokyo, but before getting there, they find
themselves lost and broke in Tokyo's neon jungle. Will the siblings reach their goal and be able to leave their fractured
past behind them? With Uwe Ochsenknecht and Gustav-Peter Wohler. 105 min. Widescreen; Soundtrack: German
Dolby Digital stereo; Subtitles: English; interview.
