Dear All,
My "Dharma Grandnephew," the Rev. Myozan Ian Kilroy, Soto Zen Priest and Teacher in Ireland, is coming to Treeleaf as a Guest Teacher on Tuesday, July 1st! (Sorry for a bit short notice, and the weekday scheduling.)
Please try to join us. I would really like to get LOTS of members of our 'Digital Sangha' to attend this event via ZOOM.
He has visited us before, but it has been a few years (LINK TO PRIOR VISIT), is one of the original Treeleafers and also appears in this video on practice in Ireland (VIDEO LINK).
More about Myozan:
Myozan Ian Kilroy is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest and a Dharma heir of Taigu Turlur Roshi, in the lineage of Nishijima Roshi and Rempo Niwa Zenji. Based in Ireland, he leads the Zen Buddhism Ireland sangha, where he is the founding teacher and abbot at Dublin Zen Centre. Myozan is the founding president of the Irish Buddhist Union and represents Buddhism on the Dublin City Interfaith Forum. He is also a registered teacher with the Soto Zen Buddhist Association. Myozan works in the school of media at the Technological University Dublin. Before that, he was a journalist for many years, working with the Sunday Tribune, Magill Magazine, the Irish Times, and the Irish Examiner, where he was arts editor. He still contributes regularly to the Irish Times and has contributed to the Ecumenical Review on religious matters. Active in campaigning for greater religious diversity in Ireland, Myozan advocates for reforming religious education curricula and extending chaplaincy services to other faiths. Originally from Galway, Myozan now lives in Dublin with his wife, Isabelle, their sons, Arthur and Éamonn, and their cat, Rocky Road.
It can also be viewed "one way" at the time, or later, at the following screen:
.
There will be a Q&A after his talk, at which you can either ask a LIVE question, or email me a question before or during the event, which I will read (email your question to Jundotreeleaf[a]gmail.com)
I would really appreciate a BIG TREELEAF TURNOUT for this event, and I assure you that it will be worth your time to attend.
About his books:
.
Do Not Try to Become a Buddha
In this collection of short essays, Irish Soto Zen priest Myozan Ian Kilroy describes how he came to practice Zen, introduces some basics of Zen philosophy, and recalls the challenges of establishing a Zen Buddhist community in Catholic-dominated Ireland. Along the way, he explores the rituals and practices that Zen brings to everyday life, from holidays to weddings to birth ceremonies to funerals. A former journalist, Rev. Myozan’s clear yet entertaining storytelling style paints a clear picture of how Zen has adapted to the culture and traditions of Ireland. (LINK)
Songs from the Denkoroku: The Transmission poems of Myozan Kodo
Songs from the Denkoroku is a series of poems inspired by Zen Master Keizan’s Record of Transmitting the Light, a classic of Zen Buddhist literature. Each poem in the sequence is based on the enlightenment experience of the historical Buddha, onwards through the successive generations of Zen teachers, up to Master Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen Buddhism, and beyond. The writing of these poems was suggested by the author’s Zen teacher, Taigu Turlur, as a preparation for the author’s own Dharma Transmission, as he became the 93rd in the line of succession, a line that stretches back to the Buddha’s original awakening under the Bodhi tree, some 2,500 years ago. The poems are teachings in themselves, capturing the spirit of Zen’s ‘direct pointing to reality’ – a spiritual tradition whose profound teachings awaken us to the true nature of reality, and that reconciles us with our place in it. (LINK)
Three Rock Sonnets
Three Rock Sonnets is a series of 108 poems written by Soto Zen Buddhist priest Myozan Kodo. Ranging from intimate lyrics drawing on family life to meditations on the ineffable mystery of things, these poems belong to that ancient Zen tradition of contemplating the unutterable in verse. Including elegies for the poets Seamus Heaney and Allen Ginsberg, Three Rock Sonnets is a collection with electric concerns: from the discovery of the Higgs Boson at CERN, to the ancient riddles or koans of the Zen Buddhist tradition. In a way, these 108 poems are a devotional act. They are prostrations to the mystery that lies at the heart of reality itself, and to the great ‘Triple Gem’ of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Three Rock Sonnets is a collection that keeps faith with reality as we find it, despite the trials and challenges that face us, individually and collectively, at this moment in our shared destiny. (LINK)
In this collection of short essays, Irish Soto Zen priest Myozan Ian Kilroy describes how he came to practice Zen, introduces some basics of Zen philosophy, and recalls the challenges of establishing a Zen Buddhist community in Catholic-dominated Ireland. Along the way, he explores the rituals and practices that Zen brings to everyday life, from holidays to weddings to birth ceremonies to funerals. A former journalist, Rev. Myozan’s clear yet entertaining storytelling style paints a clear picture of how Zen has adapted to the culture and traditions of Ireland. (LINK)
Songs from the Denkoroku: The Transmission poems of Myozan Kodo
Songs from the Denkoroku is a series of poems inspired by Zen Master Keizan’s Record of Transmitting the Light, a classic of Zen Buddhist literature. Each poem in the sequence is based on the enlightenment experience of the historical Buddha, onwards through the successive generations of Zen teachers, up to Master Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen Buddhism, and beyond. The writing of these poems was suggested by the author’s Zen teacher, Taigu Turlur, as a preparation for the author’s own Dharma Transmission, as he became the 93rd in the line of succession, a line that stretches back to the Buddha’s original awakening under the Bodhi tree, some 2,500 years ago. The poems are teachings in themselves, capturing the spirit of Zen’s ‘direct pointing to reality’ – a spiritual tradition whose profound teachings awaken us to the true nature of reality, and that reconciles us with our place in it. (LINK)
Three Rock Sonnets
Three Rock Sonnets is a series of 108 poems written by Soto Zen Buddhist priest Myozan Kodo. Ranging from intimate lyrics drawing on family life to meditations on the ineffable mystery of things, these poems belong to that ancient Zen tradition of contemplating the unutterable in verse. Including elegies for the poets Seamus Heaney and Allen Ginsberg, Three Rock Sonnets is a collection with electric concerns: from the discovery of the Higgs Boson at CERN, to the ancient riddles or koans of the Zen Buddhist tradition. In a way, these 108 poems are a devotional act. They are prostrations to the mystery that lies at the heart of reality itself, and to the great ‘Triple Gem’ of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Three Rock Sonnets is a collection that keeps faith with reality as we find it, despite the trials and challenges that face us, individually and collectively, at this moment in our shared destiny. (LINK)
DONATION:
The event is free, but we ask those who can afford to consider one (or all) of his wonderful books, and/or make a voluntary donation, whatever you might afford and feel's right, to his Sangha, the Dublin Zen Centre, which they work hard to maintain, via this link at their web page (please indicate if you can that Treeleaf sent ya, and it is for this event
):.
Thank you.
I hope to see you there.
Gassho, Jundo
stlah
However, Nishijima Roshi insisted that marriage is fine, and not every Buddhist priest needs to be celibate. It was his personal choice.
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