Entering the Buddha Way: A six-week class with Ryushin Paul Haller

Dear Followers of the Buddha Way,

In the sesshin the core notions I presented were: Leaving home/staying home; Sustaining engagement; Cultivation; Immersion; and Discovering harmony. The class will unpack each of these notions using classic teachings and contemporary commentary. In addition to the weekly class there will be suggested practices and the option of joining a small group that will meet weekly during the class to share participants’ experiences in practicing with the teachings. The class will be online and will happen from 10:30 AM to 12 noon Pacific Standard Time (6:30 PM to 8 PM Belfast time). A recording of each class will be emailed to class members, so you’ll be able to participate even if you can’t be available at 10:30 AM.

Please contact Djinn at reverendmyogan@gmail.com for more details and to sign up.

Warmly

Paul

Morning Zazen in our Online Zendo: New Password

Posted by djinngallagher

zafus1

7 am – 8 am Monday to Friday; 10 am – 11 am Saturday and Sunday

Join us for morning zazen via Zoom, with two 25-minute periods of zazen separated by 10 minutes of kinhin.

The times are:

7 am to 8 am Monday to Friday
10 am to 11 am Saturday and Sunday

(All times are local Belfast time.)

We will open the online zendo approximately 5 minutes before the scheduled time. Our Zoom ID is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7630773412 and the password is the word zendo

Zendo Closed

Posted by djinngallagher

Medicine-Buddha

In the shadow of Covid-19, we’ve taken the difficult decision to close the zendo until things settle down. We encourage you to think of this time as an opportunity to sit quietly in your own space. If you are free in the afternoons, Monday to Friday, online zazen at San Francisco Zen Centre happens at 12:50 our time (it will change to 13:50 on Sunday, March 29): https://www.sfzc.org/online-programs/online-zendo

Here is a poem by Lynn Ungar that expresses a way to practise at this challenging time:

Pandemic

What if you thought of it

as the Jews consider the Sabbath—

the most sacred of times?

Cease from travel.

Cease from buying and selling.

Give up, just for now,

on trying to make the world

different than it is.

Sing. Pray. Touch only those

to whom you commit your life.

Center down.

And when your body has become still,

reach out with your heart.

Know that we are connected

in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.

(You could hardly deny it now.)

Know that our lives

are in one another’s hands.

(Surely, that has come clear.)

Do not reach out your hands.

Reach out your heart.

Reach out your words.

Reach out all the tendrils

of compassion that move, invisibly,

where we cannot touch.

Promise this world your love–

for better or for worse,

in sickness and in health,

so long as we all shall live.

–Lynn Ungar 11/3/20

Six-week Class with Ryushin Paul Haller

Posted by djinngallagher

Monday, June 1 to Monday, July 6, 7 pm to 8:30 pm

Ryushin Paul Haller is offering a six-week online class on Mondays, starting June 1 and ending July 6. The class will begin at 7 pm and end at 8:30 pm, Belfast time. Please email here to register and we’ll send you the Zoom link. These classes are offered by donation so that everyone can attend. Here is Paul’s description of what we’ll be studying:

The six paramitas (perfections), giving, discipline, patience, effort, continuous contact and wisdom, are a traditional list of the virtues that arise with dedicated practice. They are also the wholesome dispositions/behaviors that are intentionally engaged as we follow the Path of Awakening. They both help overcome the hindrances to awakening and express its intrinsic liberating qualities.

In this class we will study a variety of teachings on the paramitas from early Buddhism, Zen and contemporary commentaries to reveal in detail the qualities of mind and behaviour the paramitas promote and the afflictions and suffering they dissolve.

Each week there will be guided meditations, practices based on the paramitas that you can bring into your daily life, and time for a Q&A.

There will also be the option of participating in a weekly online small group where each participant will share their experience of practising with the paramita of the week.