Zen and the art of harmonizing difference and equality — an invitation to healing and transformation of what divides us within and without.
New Class Series Offers Alternating Weekly Themes
Please contact the teachers for future individual Sunday topic schedule.
Please note the time has changed to 10:10-11:00 AM to allow for Practice Period Tea and Discussion beginning at 9:00.
In-person at McGowan House.
Suggested donation $15-$30 per single class meeting or $60-$100 per month to include 4-5 meetings.
The themes of social justice, interconnection and liberation will be investigated in alternating weekly classes began Sunday, October 1st. Initially, the series will alternate weekly between the practices of How to be an Antiracist, using the New York Times bestseller by Ibram X. Kendi and others and led by Shogen Danielson and study of The Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi, one of Soto Zen's seminal teaching poems by Dongshan Liangjie (J. Tōzan Ryōkai) is led by Robert Reese. Both class leaders are members of the MBZC Teaching Council.
The class endeavors to create a safe space for sincere self investigation where it’s okay to make mistakes, vulnerability is valued and impact is included alongside intention.
How to be an Antiracist practices will include: compassion and equanimity to nurture courage to be with discomfort; trying on new ideas; seeing and questioning deeply internalized beliefs/habit energies and gently letting them go; and loving without attachment. These will be essential to make this a practice of liberation and transformation. Kendi’s work “points us toward liberating new ways of thinking about ourselves and each other. Instead of working with the policies and system we have in place, Kendi asks us to think about what an anti-racist society might look like, and how we can play an active role in building it.”
The Song of the Jewel Mirror Samadhi (Dharma poem) has been studied and recited for centuries in the temples and monasteries of many Zen lineages. Attributed to the Chinese Zen Ancestor Dongshan Liangjie (807-869 C.E.), the poem uses a series of metaphors to express the interaction between the relative and the absolute. While the verse may initially appear obscure, it conveys a subtle understanding of our human existence, which can be profoundly reflected in our experience of seated meditation.
Through meditation, talks and discussion, we will explore these influential texts. The class series intends to investigate the interplay of antiracism and Zen. That is, the practice of collective liberation including ourselves. We also hope to show monthly movies in the Cherry Center’s theater.
A sliding scale donation of $15 to 25 per class is suggested, or $60-$100 to cover 4-5 classes. All are welcome regardless of income or lack of funds.
Image by Amy on Pixabay