Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Blog Post from the Times

Those of you just back from the August sesshin may find these articles interesting.

Robert Wright, author of "The Evolution of God", and other things, posted an interesting account of a Vipassana retreat in the New York Times' "Happy Days" blog. You can find it here.

The same blog had a post about a Soto retreat earlier this month. You can find that article here.

-JW

1 comment:

  1. Dear Sangha,
    Last week Chia-ju and myself visited Seabrook Village in Tinton Falls, a senior citizen residential community. We were invited to go there to take part in a program that was being offered to residents who were interested in learning more about eastern mysticism. Chia-ju made a presentation on Zen Buddhism to about 40 residents. These seniors listened very attentively and I hope they realize now that Zen is not a mystical religion. As she developed an overall view of Zen, she focused on the koan as the primary tool of Zen practice. I think many of the residents were "mystified," but at least one showed having some previous experience with Zen by suddenly calling out "Mu" as an answer to one of her questions. After about 10 minutes of zazen during which everyone stayed very quiet, Chia-ju held up an orange in a manner reminiscent of the Buddha's use of a flower during his sermon to convey a taste of the essence of the Zen experience to whoever in the audience might be receptive. The final event was a demonstration of calligraphy after which the residents were given the opportunity to use the ink and brush to create their own Zen calligraphy. Many of them really enjoyed participating in this event.

    gassho,
    Sandy

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