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Wed, Feb 1, 2023
The Wednesday Drop-in group is a weekly event, now in person, that goes from 7:10 to 9:00 PM. It includes a 30-minute period of Zazen meditation and a brief service in the zendo, followed by tea and refreshments and an hour of reading and discussion in the Community Room. The group particularly welcomes newcomers to Zen Buddhist practice and/or new to Berkeley Zen Center. It also provides an opportunity for practitioners to sit and study together on an ongoing basis. We meet every Wednesday except for the five-day Spring Practice Period sesshin(retreat) in June, the annual seven-day Buddha’s Enlightenment sesshin in December and during the two-week interim period during the December holidays. We also maintain a google group to share reading materials we are studying, announce other BZC events and issues related to logistics. The groups is facilitated by a BZC Priest, Ikushin Gerry Oliva. Gerry can be contacted at gryoliva@gmail.com for further information.
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Thu, Feb 2, 2023
Introduction to Zen
Hozan will offer a five-week Introduction to Zen class on Thursday evenings at 7:15, from January 12 to February 9. This class will explore the history of Zen by way of five pivotal figures in our tradition: Bodhidharma, Huineng, Tungshan, Dogen, and Suzuki Roshi. Each of these figures has left us a living legacy of Zen practice.
Class materials will be available online and will be sent to the BZC listserve weekly. The main text will be Nelson Foster's classic book, "The Roaring Stream." A pdf of the entire book is available by downloading from this link: https://terebess.hu/zen/roar.pdf
Up to 30 people can be seated in person in the zendo,. The class will also be video conferenced and is available through the "Enter Zendo Here" button on the BZC home page.
Please register here: https://forms.gle/TZb6iCSL7o47J2VY7 (paste into browser)
For further information, contact class coordinator Ryushin Andrea Thach at andrea.thach@gmail.com. Suggested donation for the class is $50, or whatever you can afford. (She is away 1/11-1/15)
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Fri, Feb 3, 2023
This talk is a change of pace from our usual First Friday student talks. Byakuren Judith Ragir is a Dharma teacher in the Katagiri Roshi Zen lineage with whom she studied for 17 years. She was instrumental in founding Clouds in Water Zen Center in St. Paul, where she was the Guiding Teacher for nine years and is currently Senior Dharma Teacher Emeritus.
Judith will speak about some of the themes of her new book, Untangling Karma; Intimate Zen Stories on Healing Trauma, interspersed with stories from the book of her personal journey of healing.
Healing from trauma can seem daunting at times or even impossible, and yet there are psychological and spiritual guides to help the process of digesting and releasing our pain. Judith suggests that we can balance ourselves through the understanding of the ascending and descending aspects of spirituality. Using several modalities—Buddhism, 12-step recovery programs, psychotherapy and non-violent communication—and by telling her story, Ragir weaves the possibility of a path of spiritual healing and the alchemy of transformation.
5:40 pm: zazen
5:45 pm: way-seeking mind talk
Sat, Feb 4, 2023
Our monthly Bodhisattva Ceremony (or "full moon" - ryaku fusatsu - ceremony is based on practices going to back to the early days of Buddhism. During the ceremony we bow and chant the Formless Repentance, Homage to Ancestors, the Four Vows, and the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts (printable version of the ceremony). The bowing and chanting is an offering up of ourselves to Buddha - the awakened nature within each of us.
In India at the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, the monks would congregate twice a month, at the full moon and the new moon, to make public their shortcomings with respect to the precepts, and to re-avow their intention to practice the Way. We preserve this tradition by scheduling this ceremony on the Saturday nearest the full moon.
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Sat, Feb 4, 2023
Saturday Morning Schedule
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Mon, Feb 6, 2023
There will be an open discussion in the online zendo right after a shorter period of zazen:
7:30 am: zazen
8:00 am: open discussion
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Wed, Feb 8, 2023
The Wednesday Drop-in group is a weekly event, now in person, that goes from 7:10 to 9:00 PM. It includes a 30-minute period of Zazen meditation and a brief service in the zendo, followed by tea and refreshments and an hour of reading and discussion in the Community Room. The group particularly welcomes newcomers to Zen Buddhist practice and/or new to Berkeley Zen Center. It also provides an opportunity for practitioners to sit and study together on an ongoing basis. We meet every Wednesday except for the five-day Spring Practice Period sesshin(retreat) in June, the annual seven-day Buddha’s Enlightenment sesshin in December and during the two-week interim period during the December holidays. We also maintain a google group to share reading materials we are studying, announce other BZC events and issues related to logistics. The groups is facilitated by a BZC Priest, Ikushin Gerry Oliva. Gerry can be contacted at gryoliva@gmail.com for further information.
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Thu, Feb 9, 2023
Introduction to Zen
Hozan will offer a five-week Introduction to Zen class on Thursday evenings at 7:15, from January 12 to February 9. This class will explore the history of Zen by way of five pivotal figures in our tradition: Bodhidharma, Huineng, Tungshan, Dogen, and Suzuki Roshi. Each of these figures has left us a living legacy of Zen practice.
Class materials will be available online and will be sent to the BZC listserve weekly. The main text will be Nelson Foster's classic book, "The Roaring Stream." A pdf of the entire book is available by downloading from this link: https://terebess.hu/zen/roar.pdf
Up to 30 people can be seated in person in the zendo,. The class will also be video conferenced and is available through the "Enter Zendo Here" button on the BZC home page.
Please register here: https://forms.gle/TZb6iCSL7o47J2VY7 (paste into browser)
For further information, contact class coordinator Ryushin Andrea Thach at andrea.thach@gmail.com. Suggested donation for the class is $50, or whatever you can afford. (She is away 1/11-1/15)
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Sat, Feb 11, 2023
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Mon, Feb 13, 2023
There will be a student talk in the online zendo right after a shorter period of zazen:
7:30 am: zazen
8:00 am: way-seeking mind talk
What is a "way-seeking mind" talk? See below.
Way-Seeking Mind at Berkeley Zen Center
“Way-Seeking Mind” talks by practitioners at Berkeley Zen Center have been a regular event on Monday mornings for more than thirty years. Each of us came to Zen practice as a seeker, with a spirit of inquiry. Each of us arrives at BZC from our own diverse backgrounds—social, familial, educational, religious, and so on. The idea of our way-seeking mind talks is for students to share how it is that they came to practice. Each person tells his or her own story in a unique way that often blends autobiography, spiritual biography, and the practice questions that each of us is engaged with.
The talks are by invitation, and last about twenty-five minutes, including time for presentation and short question & answer period. For newer students, this is a chance to meet and hear those we are sitting with. Those invited to talk have been sitting steadily at BZC; for them it is an opportunity to tell their story and be seen and heard. One of the teachers or senior students is available for advice in shaping one's talk, should that be useful.
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Wed, Feb 15, 2023
The Wednesday Drop-in group is a weekly event, now in person, that goes from 7:10 to 9:00 PM. It includes a 30-minute period of Zazen meditation and a brief service in the zendo, followed by tea and refreshments and an hour of reading and discussion in the Community Room. The group particularly welcomes newcomers to Zen Buddhist practice and/or new to Berkeley Zen Center. It also provides an opportunity for practitioners to sit and study together on an ongoing basis. We meet every Wednesday except for the five-day Spring Practice Period sesshin(retreat) in June, the annual seven-day Buddha’s Enlightenment sesshin in December and during the two-week interim period during the December holidays. We also maintain a google group to share reading materials we are studying, announce other BZC events and issues related to logistics. The groups is facilitated by a BZC Priest, Ikushin Gerry Oliva. Gerry can be contacted at gryoliva@gmail.com for further information.
All day
Sat, Feb 18, 2023
If you have questions, please contact the Sesshin Director, Rob Lyons at robertlyons2305@gmail.com
Winter Sessin information here: https://berkeleyzencenter.org/SrvLJ
General Sesshin information here: https://berkeleyzencenter.org/X9AAC
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Sat, Feb 18, 2023
This lecture is occuring during a one-day sesshin. Non-sesshin participants may attend the following periods:
All day
Mon, Feb 20, 2023
No talk or service. Informal zazen, details to be announced.
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Mon, Feb 20, 2023
There will be a student talk in the online zendo right after a shorter period of zazen:
7:30 am: zazen
8:00 am: way-seeking mind talk
What is a "way-seeking mind" talk? See below.
Way-Seeking Mind at Berkeley Zen Center
“Way-Seeking Mind” talks by practitioners at Berkeley Zen Center have been a regular event on Monday mornings for more than thirty years. Each of us came to Zen practice as a seeker, with a spirit of inquiry. Each of us arrives at BZC from our own diverse backgrounds—social, familial, educational, religious, and so on. The idea of our way-seeking mind talks is for students to share how it is that they came to practice. Each person tells his or her own story in a unique way that often blends autobiography, spiritual biography, and the practice questions that each of us is engaged with.
The talks are by invitation, and last about twenty-five minutes, including time for presentation and short question & answer period. For newer students, this is a chance to meet and hear those we are sitting with. Those invited to talk have been sitting steadily at BZC; for them it is an opportunity to tell their story and be seen and heard. One of the teachers or senior students is available for advice in shaping one's talk, should that be useful.
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Wed, Feb 22, 2023
The Wednesday Drop-in group is a weekly event, now in person, that goes from 7:10 to 9:00 PM. It includes a 30-minute period of Zazen meditation and a brief service in the zendo, followed by tea and refreshments and an hour of reading and discussion in the Community Room. The group particularly welcomes newcomers to Zen Buddhist practice and/or new to Berkeley Zen Center. It also provides an opportunity for practitioners to sit and study together on an ongoing basis. We meet every Wednesday except for the five-day Spring Practice Period sesshin(retreat) in June, the annual seven-day Buddha’s Enlightenment sesshin in December and during the two-week interim period during the December holidays. We also maintain a google group to share reading materials we are studying, announce other BZC events and issues related to logistics. The groups is facilitated by a BZC Priest, Ikushin Gerry Oliva. Gerry can be contacted at gryoliva@gmail.com for further information.
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Sat, Feb 25, 2023
Saturday Morning Schedule
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Sat, Feb 25, 2023
A document honoring women ancestors will be conferred to members (open to those who have received Lay or Priest Ordination) in a simple ceremony on Saturday, February 25, at 11:45 a.m. If you are interested in receiving this document, please contact Hozan’s assistant Jonathan Koltz (jonkoltz@gmail.com).
All day
Sun, Feb 26, 2023
... is full! Please join us on most Saturdays for instruction, meditation, and a talk.
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Mon, Feb 27, 2023
There will be a student talk in the online zendo right after a shorter period of zazen:
7:30 am: zazen
8:00 am: way-seeking mind talk
What is a "way-seeking mind" talk? See below.
Way-Seeking Mind at Berkeley Zen Center
“Way-Seeking Mind” talks by practitioners at Berkeley Zen Center have been a regular event on Monday mornings for more than thirty years. Each of us came to Zen practice as a seeker, with a spirit of inquiry. Each of us arrives at BZC from our own diverse backgrounds—social, familial, educational, religious, and so on. The idea of our way-seeking mind talks is for students to share how it is that they came to practice. Each person tells his or her own story in a unique way that often blends autobiography, spiritual biography, and the practice questions that each of us is engaged with.
The talks are by invitation, and last about twenty-five minutes, including time for presentation and short question & answer period. For newer students, this is a chance to meet and hear those we are sitting with. Those invited to talk have been sitting steadily at BZC; for them it is an opportunity to tell their story and be seen and heard. One of the teachers or senior students is available for advice in shaping one's talk, should that be useful.