Two online classes with Ryushin Paul Haller

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We’re delighted to share an invitation from Ryushin to join him for two classes in January. If you’d like to participate, please contact us here.

Dear Followers of the Way,

Happy New Year. May you and all beings be well and flourish.

I’m writing to you to describe a two-class offering at Black Mountain Zen Centre based on the teachings I gave at Tassajara during the Fall Practice Period that ended in December. These online classes will be Thursday, January 20 and Thursday, January 27, at 7 pm-8:20 pm Belfast time (add one hour for Slovenia and Germany, two hours for Greece). 

We’ll send you a recording of the final summary of that nine-session Tassajara class in advance of our first online class together. During our class we’ll sit for twenty minutes, have a twenty-minute presentation and then a thirty-minute Q&A session. We’ll follow a similar format in the second class. 

The classes will be offered on a donation basis but you’ll need to sign up to receive the original audio recording of the summary class. The Tassajara classes described the cultivation of practice from initial intentions, through the details of engaging awareness, to the application of non-dual engagement in everyday life.

I look forward to practising together.

Warmly, 

Paul

How to Sit With Us Online

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To join our Zoom zendo, click here

(ID 7630773412, password zendo)

We sit for an hour every morning

We start at 7 am Monday to Friday (all times are GMT)

We start at 10 am Saturday and Sunday

Good to arrive a few minutes early

Your sound will be automatically muted when you arrive

There are three bells to begin

There will be two bells after 25 minutes, followed by a “clack” to begin kinhin, or walking meditation

After 10 minutes of kinhin there will be another “clack” to sit down again, followed by three bells for the second period

We end with one bell, followed by the robe chant, which will be on your screen if you want to join in

The person who is doing the bells will read a line or two from Suzuki Roshi

Most of us set up a cushion and a mat in front of the laptop or phone, but with the screen turned away so we’re not looking directly at it – you can experiment with the set-up that works for you

On Friday mornings we have a weekly check-in at 8 am that lasts about 40 minutes – we each talk about how our practice has been and what’s going on for us

On Saturday mornings at 11 am we have an hour-long study group that’s currently reading The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo

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Saturday Study Group

For our weekly study group on Saturdays, we are now reading The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo, by Kosho Uchiyama and Shohaku Okumura. This inspiring book, published in 2014, is a collection of the sayings of the great Zen teacher Kodo Sawaki, each with a commentary by his student Uchiyama. The teachings are translated and glossed by Uchiyama’s student Shohaku Okamura, whose clear English allows us to appreciate the wit and insight of the lineage he followed.

We encourage you take part in our investigation of this fascinating text every Saturday at 11 am Belfast time (12 noon in Germany, France, Norway and Slovenia, 13:00 in Athens). We’ll use the Zoom link 763 077 3412 with the password zendo for our weekly study group. We’ll use the same link for zazen beforehand, 10 am to 11 am, if you’d like to join us for that, too.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7630773412  (passcode: zendo)