Calendar

2024 BZC Calendar of Events (Updated 4.17.24 )

Weekly Schedule

Week of Oct 1st

  • Way-Seeking Mind Talk: Dean Bradley

    Way-Seeking Mind Talk: Dean Bradley


    Mon, Sep 30, 2024

    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.

  • Drop-in Sitting and Study Group

    Drop-in Sitting and Study Group


    Wed, Oct 2, 2024

    The Drop-in Sitting and Study Group meets weekly from 7:10 to 9:30 PM on Wednesdays. It
    includes a 35-minute period of zazen meditation in the Zendo, followed by an hour of reading and
    discussion, tea and refreshments in the Community Room. The group particularly
    welcomes newcomers to Zen Buddhist practice or folks new to the 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 group is facilitated by a BZC Priest, Ikushin Gerry Oliva.
    Gerry can be contacted at gryoliva@gmail.com for further information.

  • Way Seeking Mind Talk: Jean Selkirk

    Way Seeking Mind Talk: Jean Selkirk


    Fri, Oct 4, 2024

    BZC schedules a Way-Seeking Mind Talk on the First Friday afternoon of each month. The talk, followed by Q&A, begins at 5:45pm after five minutes of zazen and runs until 6:25pm. Please note, our First Friday afternoon WSM Talks are online only. The zendo is closed for in person Zazen on the First Friday of the month.

     

  • Dharma Talk: Abbot Hozan

    Dharma Talk: Abbot Hozan


    Sat, Oct 5, 2024

    Jukai (Lay Ordination) Ceremony

    Jukai (Lay Ordination) Ceremony


    Sat, Oct 5, 2024

    Please join our sangha members who will be receiving precepts at the annual Jukai ceremony on Saturday, October 5, at 3:00 p.m. On this joyous occasion, after six months of sewing and study, the ordinees will receive their inscribed rakusus, dharma name, and lineage papers from their preceptor. In our attendance we, too, renew our vows as we support our sangha friends. The ordinees this year are Debra Callahan and Margaux Winter, who are receiving precepts from Abbot Hozan; Juliayn Coleman from Hozan and Ellen Webb; Peter Enyeart and Hax Baker from Ikushin Gerry Olivia; and Preston Evers from Ryushin Andrea Thach.
    This will be a hybrid event. There will be limited attendance in the zendo and com­munity room, but all are invited to join the reception, which will take place at about 4:30 in the courtyard.