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:
(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
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
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.
