and support EHZCRetreats, Classes, Workshops, and Special Events
These activities are in addition to our regular practice schedule (shown to the right under Open for Practice).
January
3 Sunday
Regular Morning Program 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Dennis
10 Sunday
Regular Morning Program 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Susan
15 Friday
Welcome for Michael Wenger 7:00-9:00
Festive desserts and coffee, favorite film Enlightenment Guaranteed.
17 Sunday
Day with Dairyu Michael Wenger 9:00-4:30
See flyer, pre-registration essential
I. Morning Retreat, 9:00-1:00, includes lunch.
II. Brush Painting Workshop.
24 Sunday
Regular Morning Program, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Dennis
31 Sunday
Regular Morning Program, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Susan
February
7 Sunday
Regular Morning Program, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Dennis
14 Sunday
Regular Morning Program, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Susan
21 Sunday
Workshop, Practicing with Sound, 9:00-4:30
This all day workshop will offer initial training in playing our various temple instruments - gongs, inkin, han, mokugyo. It will be led by teachers and senior students. It will be framed by four periods of sitting and walking meditation as well as an afternoon service. Please bring a sandwich for your lunch. Beverages, fruit and snacks will be provided. Pre-registration is required. There is no charge for members, $10 for non-members.
26 Friday
Film NIght, Ground Hog Day, 7:30 PM
28 Sunday
Regular Morning Program, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Dennis
March
7 Sunday
Regular Morning Program, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Susan
Annual Community Meeting, 12:00
Please join members of the Board of Directors (Susan, Dennis, Deb, Chuck, Mary, Liz, Bice, and Catherine) and our practice leaders (Elena, James, Leyla , Bruce, and Glynn) for our Annual Community Meeting on March 7th. We will present the Treasurer’s report of our financial status as well as updates from the following committees: Buildings and Grounds, Fundraising, Website, Membership. This annual meeting is legally required; it also is a wonderful opportunity for sangha to have a voice in discussing plans for the upcoming year. Further, two Board members will be stepping down after three years of service on the Board, and so there is also the special opportunity for two or three volunteers who have been pledged members for at least one full year to serve in this capacity. The Annual Community Meeting is open to everyone who practices here, even if not currently a member.
light buffet lunch will be served
13 Saturday
Zen Kids!, 4:00PM
14 Sunday
Regular Morning Program, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Dennis
New: Basic Buddhism Class, with Susan; 12:15
Practicing with the Six Paramitas: Generosity, Morality, Patience, Effort, Meditation, Wisdom
This will be a six month series, three classes in the Spring, three in the Fall, in which we will invite practice of these fundamental elements of Buddha's teaching to open us up to new possibilities and fresh inquiry. Each class will include a short presentation and then open discussion among participants. Copies of key texts and a list of optional further reading will be available soon. This series is open to all who practice here, whether newcomers or experienced sitters. Pre-registration is required; commitment to the full series is encouraged. There is no charge for members, $10 for non-members.
21 Sunday
Regular Morning Schedule, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Susan
New: Dogen Study Group, with Dennis, 12:15
Our study of Master Dogen's Zen, led by Dennis Shofu Keegan, will resume this Spring with a series of three monthly meetings, March 21st, April 11th and May 2nd, from 12:15 - 2:30, following the Sunday Morning program. The first two will focus on Shushogi: the Significance of Practice/Realization, a document of the Soto School that provides a digest of teachings from Dogen's Shobogenzo. The May meeting will examine Shoji, a short essay from the Shobogenzo that explores the Great Matter of Zen: life/death. Downloadable translations of the texts will be identified subsequently for registrants. Participation in our prior Dogen study is not required, but commitment to complete all assigned readings is expected. This Dogen Study Group is free to currently pledged members of Empty Hand Zen Center. For all others, a $25 fee is payable at each meeting.
26 Friday
Film Night, Buddha's Lost Children, 7:30 PM
28
Spring Practice Period 2010 March 28– April 25
You are all invited to join as Practice Period Participants. All of us will benefit as we “turn up the burner” of our practice for this one month period. A Commitment Petition needs to be completed (with discussion with teachers as needed). It is expected that participants will attend on March 28th and April 25th which mark the opening and closing of this Practice Period. A written commitment to increase formal practice in three ways is also required. Please visit the link above for more information.
28 Sunday
Spring Practice Period Opening Retreat, 9:00-4:30
Ordination Ceremony, Deb Mushin Wood, 3:00PM
April
4 Sunday
Closed for Holiday
11 Sunday
Regular Morning Schedule, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Dennis
Buddha's Birthday Ceremony, 11:15 (children welcome)
Buddha's Birthday Celebration, an adaptation of a traditional Asian Buddhist ceremony, involves readings, chanting, and poetry honoring the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha. Flower offerings are brought to the altar and all are invited to take a turn bathing the baby Buddha with sweet tea. These offerings are a reminder of the unexpected blossoms and the sweet rain which are said to have marked Buddha's birth in Northern India, some 2,500 years ago. Families with children, the Zen Kids group especially, are invited. Doors will open at 11 am. Everyone is encouraged to return home with some flowers they did not bring - a lovely spring time exchange.
As Zen students, please remember that this kind of devotional ceremony need not be seen as dualistic - we are, intrinsically, Buddha (which means Awake.) We celebrate our own birth, our own being washed clean and purified, our own flowering.
Dogen Study Group, 12:15
18 Sunday
Regular Morning Schedule, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Susan
Basic Buddhism Class, 12:15
25 Sunday
Spring Practice Period Closing Retreat, 9:00-12:00
70th Birthday Celebration/Luncheon for Susan
30 Friday
Poetry and Practice, Zen Poet Peter Levitt, 7:30 PM
We are delighted to welcome Zen Poet and Dharma friend Peter Levitt for an evening of exploration around the theme of Practice and Poetry.This will include a sale and book-signing of his newest publication, Within Within. Peter was introduced to Zen practice in the late 1960's, and received Jukai in the Soto lineage of Suzuki Roshi by Jakusho Kwong Roshi. In recent years he has been allied with Zoketsu Norman Fischer of Everyday Zen. He is the author of ten books of poetry, as well as fiction and translations. He is presently Associate Editor of a new translation of Zen Master Dogen's Shobogenzo, edited by Kaz Tanahashi, which will be published by Shambhala in the summer of 2010. This is a rare opportunity to meet directly with an award winning poet whose expression rises up from the heart of practice. No charge, open to all.
May
2 Sunday
Regular Morning Schedule, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Susan
Dogen Study Group, 12:15
8 Saturday
Zen Kids!, 4:00PM
9 Sunday
Regular Morning Schedule, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Dennis
14 - 16 Friday - Sunday
Weekend Sesshin at Garrision Institute, see flyer
Pre-registration required and full payment due May 5.
21 Friday
Film Night, Departures, 7:30PM
23 Sunday
Regular Morning Schedule, 9:00-12:00
Dharma Talk - Susan
New: Jukai Class, with permission of instructor
NOTE: 2010 Sesshin Dates: May 14 - 16 and October 15 - 17