Dear All,
Our series continues, welcome to all, even if you have not been joining in our "No Words" Book Club readings!
Zenki Mary Mocine, Abbess of the Clear Water / Vallejo Zen Center, will be visiting us on Saturday, April 29th, 10:10AM, California Time (yes, ten minutes after ten), to offer a netcast Talk and Chat about her essay on HOW NOT to HATE, and HOW TO COME TOGETHER in DIVIDED TIMES ...
“I Hate Donald Tr***”
... published in the book we are currently reading, "Zen Teachings in Challenging Times." The essay, written in the divided times soon after the U.S. 2016 election, remains sadly relevant to the divisions and issues that continue today, in the U.S. and in many other countries. We are all frustrated by the state of society, and the "other guys" whose views and attitudes differ from our own (often in violent and quite ugly ways), no matter where we stand ourselves.
More about Zenki:
Mary Mocine was born in Los Angeles in 1944, grew up there, graduated from UC Berkeley in 1965, went to Hastings College of the Law and graduated in June 1971, then practiced law until 1989. In 1988, she became interested in Zen Buddhism and began to practice at the Berkeley Zen Center and at Green Gulch Farm. In 1990, she entered the monastery of the San Francisco Zen Center, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and was there almost four years. She was ordained a priest by Sojun Mel Weitsman in September of 1994, and has also studied with Yvonne Rand, Norman Fischer, Blanche Hartmen and Reb Anderson. She also taught meditation at the Solano State Prison. In 1998, she formed a meditation group in Vallejo California, and Clear Water Zendo was formally opened in January of 2000. A Lawyer for 18 years, Mary practiced legal aid, a bit of criminal defense, plaintiffs’ personal injury and labor law, and has led a dharma support group for lawyers for many years.
We begin with listening to ourselves. What is going on inside? Fear? Hate? Anger? Impatience? Start with your body and your breath. Know your tendencies when you are upset. The more you know about such tendencies and the more you known how they manifest in your body and breath, the less likely you are to act or speak from them. The more you know about your reactivity in the face of fear and anger, the more you can cut another person some slack -- understanding that they also suffer. You already know that nobody wants to suffer. When you can remember you common humanity in this way, the more likely you are to be able to hear what another is saying.
It can also be viewed "one way" at the time, or later, at the following screen:
Even if you do not have the book, you can read a PDF version here from PAGE 67 (please consider to purchase the book if the remainder looks interesting to you):
Zen Teachings For Challenging Times - First Half (PDF DOWNLOAD LINK)
There will be a Q&A after her talk, at which you can either ask a LIVE question, or email me a question 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.
DONATION:
The event is free, but we ask those who can afford to make a voluntary donation, whatever you might afford and feel's right, to her Sangha which she works hard to maintain (it is not easy), via this paypal link ... or go to the Clear Water Zen Center web page, please, and click on their donate button:
... and if that does not work, go to https://clearwaterzen.org and click on the Donate button there.
Thank you.
Zenki's essay is also part of an AMAZING book which I cannot recommend highly enough to all, a very unique collection of short essays by a group of women Soto Teachers, focused on Zen Wisdom and Compassion applied to real life problems. The book deserves to be better known, and is not to be missed. We are currently reading and reflecting on it in our "No Words" book club (LINK)
Gassho, Jundo
stlah
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