Announcement: Special Zazenkai NEXT SUNDAY w/ Ben Connelly, of "INSIDE THE GRASS HUT"

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  • Jundo
    Treeleaf Founder and Priest
    • Apr 2006
    • 40361

    Announcement: Special Zazenkai NEXT SUNDAY w/ Ben Connelly, of "INSIDE THE GRASS HUT"


    Dear All,

    I am pleased to announce that REV. BEN CONNELLY of the Minnesota Zen Center and author of INSIDE THE GRASS HUT: LIVING SHITOU'S CLASSIC ZEN POEM, will be offering a very special Zazenkai and Talk NEXT SUNDAY MARCH 22nd, LIVE. Please come sit with us.

    INSIDE THE GRASS HUT is our current "non-selection" in the Treeleaf "BEYOND WORDS & LETTERS" BOOK CLUB (LINK), and you are all invited to join there too for weekly reflections on this book. Truly, I believe it is one of the best, most direct, clearest Zen books I have read in recent years, and I also very much recommend it to all.

    A little about Ben ...

    Ben Connelly is a Soto Zen priest in the Katagiri lineage training with Tim Burkett at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center. Connelly began teaching at MZMC in 2006, was ordained in 2009, and was made shuso, or head monk, in 2012. Ben is a musician by profession: a singer and songwriter, guitar teacher, film composer and multi-instrumentalist. As a priest in training at MZMC, he has taught a variety of courses to both newcomers and long-term Zen practitioners, and developed and leads Mindfulness in the Mountains backpacking/meditation retreats in Northwest Montana. He lives in Minneapolis, MN, and is dad to a teenage son.
    From a review of the book ...

    Shitou Xiqian’s “Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage” is a remarkably accessible work of profound depth; in thirty-two lines Shitou expresses the breadth of the entire Buddhist tradition with simple, vivid imagery. Ben Connelly’s Inside the Grass Hut unpacks the timeless poem and applies it to contemporary life. His book delivers a wealth of information on the context and content of this eighth-century work, as well as directly evokes the poem's themes of simple living, calm, and a deep sense of connection to all things. Each pithy chapter focuses on a single line of the poem, letting the reader immerse himself thoroughly in each line and then come up for air before moving on to the next. Line by line, Connelly shows how the poem draws on and expresses elements from the thousand years of Buddhist thought that preceded it, expands on the poem's depiction of a life of simple practice in nature, and tells stories of the way these teachings manifest in modern life. Connelly, like Shitou before him, proves himself adept at taking profound and complex themes from Zen and laying them out in a practical and understandable way. Eminently readable, thoroughly illuminating, Inside the Grass Hut shows the reader a path of wholehearted engagement—with the poem, and with the world.

    AVAILABLE:
    Enter the mind and practice of Zen: apply the insights of one of Zen’s classic poems to your life—here and now. Shitou Xiqian’s “Song of the Grass Roof Hermitage” is a remarkably accessible work of profound depth; in thirty-two lines Shitou expresses the breadth of the entire Buddhist tradition with simple, vivid imagery. Ben Connelly’s […]

    http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Grass-H.../dp/1614291217
    HOW TO JOIN OUR ZAZENKAI LIVE:

    The festivities will begin [PLEASE REMEMBER DAYLIGHT SAVINGS CHANGES] at 11pm Japan time Sunday (that is New York 10am, Minnesota 9am, Los Angeles 7am, London 3pm and Paris 4pm, all Sunday March, 22nd). Our sitting schedule will look like this ... perhaps 30 minutes of Zazen, a little Kinhin, a Talk by Ben for 25 minutes or so, and some Questions from our participants. I anticipate the the event will be about 90 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the Q&A.

    Of course, the Zazenkai will be recorded and available to sit 'real time' at any time thereafter.

    IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE LIVE 'TWO-WAY' BY GOOGLE+ HANGOUT:

    I will try to have TWO HANGOUTS going simultaneously on two separate computers and separate wifi routers (I believe I can avoid technical issues with the second group that happened in the past). If you feel you are a person who would like to attend, are familiar with Google+, and have a reliable computer and good internet connection, please post in this thread that you would like to attend and can commit to attend at that time. (If you have any question on how to sign up for Google+, please PM DOSHO or SHINGEN and we will do our best to get you up to speed by Sunday)

    We have 8 seats in the main Hangout, and up to 9 seats available in the second Hangout. We will also accept a waiting list of folks in case there is need. I will announce Hangout assignments this weekend, and provide further instructions for getting in.

    If you wish to sit live, but only One Way instead of Two Way, the Zazenkai will be livecast on Youtube for one way viewing, and I will be accepting Questions for Ben via email during the Zazenkai, if you have. Remember, our way is "Not One Not Two Way!"

    It would be great to fill our hangouts and have a big turnout. I NEED AS MANY FOLKS AS POSSIBLE, ESPECIALLY THOSE FAMILIAR WITH HANGOUTS, WHO CAN COMMIT TO JOIN US LIVE FOR THIS ZAZENKAI! If you are interested and commit can come, please post in this thread. It will be worth your time.

    Please make sure you state clearly "have Google+ and hope to sit in Hangout". Otherwise I will be confused about who is joining one way.

    In fact ... where will we be sitting? Why, in the boundless Grass Hut right along with Master Shitou, of course!

    Gassho, Jundo

    Last edited by Jundo; 03-18-2015, 08:58 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE
  • Mp

    #2
    Wow Jundo, this is wonderful! =) If you have an extra seat available I will be more then happy to sit live, but will be sitting either way if it is a full house. =)

    Gassho
    Shingen

    SatToday

    Comment

    • Joyo

      #3
      I will be there. Either live, or if there is not room participating along with the recording. Very exciting, thank you Jundo!

      Gassho,
      Joyo
      sat today

      Comment

      • Jundo
        Treeleaf Founder and Priest
        • Apr 2006
        • 40361

        #4
        Guys, please state clearly "have Google+ and hope to sit in Hangout". Otherwise I will be confused about who is joining one way.

        Thanks.

        Gassho, J
        Last edited by Jundo; 03-18-2015, 02:52 AM.
        ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

        Comment

        • Mp

          #5
          Originally posted by Jundo
          "have Google+ and hope to sit in Hangout"
          Yes please it spot available. =)

          Gassho
          Shingen

          SatToday

          Comment

          • Daiyo
            Member
            • Jul 2014
            • 819

            #6
            Hi, have Google+ and hope to sit in hangout.

            Gassho, Daiyo

            #SatToday
            Gassho,Walter

            Comment

            • Shinzan
              Member
              • Nov 2013
              • 338

              #7
              I would like to be there live in the G+ hangout, barring the persistent computer glitch I've had.
              _/st\_ Shinzan

              Comment

              • Anshu Bryson
                Member
                • Aug 2014
                • 566

                #8
                "have Google+ and hope to sit in Hangout"

                Gassho,
                Anshu/Bryson

                ​sat today

                Comment

                • Shugen
                  Member
                  • Nov 2007
                  • 4535

                  #9
                  Dear Jundo,

                  "I have Google+ and hope to sit in Hangout"

                  Gassho,

                  Shugen

                  #sattoday


                  Shugen
                  明道 修眼
                  Meido Shugen
                  明道 修眼

                  Comment

                  • Jika
                    Member
                    • Jun 2014
                    • 1337

                    #10
                    Hi Jundo,

                    I have G+ and hope to sit in hangout.
                    (Hangout on air tried and tested, but should anything be different, please put me in the second row in case it does not work.)

                    Gassho,
                    Danny
                    #sattoday
                    治 Ji
                    花 Ka

                    Comment

                    • Kokuu
                      Treeleaf Priest
                      • Nov 2012
                      • 6844

                      #11
                      Hi Jundo

                      How wonderful! I will sit live but one way if that is okay. Look forward to it.

                      Gassho
                      Kokuu
                      #sattoday

                      Comment

                      • Ongen
                        Member
                        • Jan 2014
                        • 786

                        #12
                        Fantastic! Thank you

                        Gassho,


                        Ongen / Vincent
                        Sat Today
                        Ongen (音源) - Sound Source

                        Comment

                        • odiedoodie
                          Member
                          • Apr 2012
                          • 72

                          #13
                          Hi
                          Thank you again, Jundo, for having your zendo available to us.
                          I will attend via Youtube.
                          Gassho
                          Jon T

                          Comment

                          • Kyotai

                            #14
                            I will likely have to view it one way or participate later. Thank you Jundo for lining up all these wonderful guests.

                            Gassho, Kyotai
                            Sat today

                            Comment

                            • Hotetsu
                              Member
                              • Jun 2014
                              • 230

                              #15
                              I have Google+ and am signed up for hangouts and would love to sit live with everyone .

                              Gassho,
                              Hotetsu

                              #SatToday
                              Forever is so very temporary...

                              Comment

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