2-day residential retreat with Hogen Bays

From Friday, March 9, 7pm to Sunday, March 11, 5pm
Check-in available from 5 – 6:30pm Friday
Sponsored by the North Shore Zendo, 4080 St.Georges, North Vancouver, (604) 990-6792, www.northshorezen.org.

Location: Alexandra Neighborhood House, 2916 McBride Avenue, Surrey (Crescent Beach), BC

Hogen Bays is co-abbott of Great Vow Zen Monastery in Oregon.

This silent retreat is suitable for both beginners and experienced students. It will include periods of sitting meditation and walking meditation, chanting, work practice, meals and talks by the teacher. There will be opportunities for individual interviews with the teacher.

The retreat fee of $125 covers the basic costs of this retreat but does not include any payment to the teacher. To help support his teaching, please make a donation at the retreat. For further information, contact Sylvia Taylor (registrar). northshorezenbc@gmail.com (604) 983-0990.

splendid news

20 minutes old

Emmeline was born today. Her mom and dad are “over the moon,” and Rita (our registrar) is now a Nana. Congratulation and a thousand blessings.

use your brain

I find intentions useful reference points for being in the world. My own bumpy Mindfulness practice — the directing of awareness to what’s right in front, inside of, and around me – benefits from guidelines such as there (adapted from Buddha’s brain: the practical neuroscience of happiness, love & wisdom by R. Hansen, 2009, p. 184-5):

• establish a deliberate intention  at the beginning of any activity that requires focus. Use statements such as May my mind be steady. Or just call up a silent feeling of determination.
• Get a bodily sense of being someone you know who is extremely focused. That uses the empathy systems in the brain to stimulate within ourselves the mindful nature of that other person.
• Keep reestablishing your intentions. For example, if you’re in a meeting [or conversation with someone], every few minutes you could resolve anew to stay focused.
• Make ‘the intention to be attentive’ the default setting of your life by developing the habit of everyday mindfulness.

“In this passing moment”

Hogen Bays

Written by Hogen Bays, co- abbot of Great Vow Zen Monastery, in appreciation for his Japanese teacher, Shodo Harada Roshi:

In the presence of Sangha, in the light of Dharma,
in oneness with Buddha — may my path
to complete enlightenment benefit everyone!
In this passing moment karma ripens
and all things come to be.
I vow to choose what is:
If there is cost, I choose to pay.
If there is need, I choose to give.

Harada Roshi

If there is pain, I choose to feel.
If there is sorrow, I choose to grieve.
When burning — I choose heat.
When calm — I choose peace.
When starving — I choose hunger.
When happy — I choose joy.
Whom I encounter, I choose to meet.
What I shoulder, I choose to bear.
When it is my death, I choose to die.
Where this takes me, I choose to go.
Being with what is — I respond to what is.

This life is as real as a dream;
the one who knows it can not be found;
and, truth is not a thing — Therefore I vow
to choose THIS dharma entrance gate!
May all Buddhas and Wise Ones
help me live this vow.

who cares for the caregivers?

In order to care for others we must also take care of ourselves. This weekend retreat is designed to renew the body and spirit for those working in the medical or mental health professions. It will include times for meditation, walks, mindful eating, story telling and group dialogue.

Zen meditation is a contemplative practice that can help the healer return to their natural state of equanimity, clarity of mind, compassion and a wider perspective on life and death.

The retreat will be guided by Jan Chozen Bays MD, a long-time Zen teacher and co-abott of the monastery. Held at Great Vow Zen Monastery in a lovely rural setting north of Portland, OR. Includes dormitory accommodation and delicious vegetarian meals.

Dates: Friday March 9, 5 pm to Sunday March 11, 1 pm.

Fee: $150 ($120 members, $75 reduced rate) + Dana; the reduced rate is available to anyone in need. Contact registrar@greatvow.org for details or speak to Peter at the zendo.

thoughts as clouds and sky

Ezra Bayda is one of my favourite Zen teachers. He writes:

“As we begin to relate to the clouds of thought and emotion as just clouds, we no longer feel the need to stop them. They don’t go away, but there’s a vast difference between identifying with the cloud and identifying with the vast sky within which the clouds appear.

“Identifying with I-as-Awareness, rather than I-as-Me, is like identifying with the sky, and from that awareness the clouds are never as substantial as they appear when we are lost inside them.”

Bayda, E. (2009). Zen heart: simple advice for living with mindfulness and compassion. Boston: Shambhala, p. 105.

occasionally, the ego shrinks

Yellow Mountain

The birds have vanished from the sky
Now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.

Li Po (701-762) in Hamill & Seaton. (2007). The poetry of Zen. Boston: Shambhala, p. 42.

bored with meditation?

Seth Segall, a retired professor of psychology, has been a student of Buddhism for 15 years. “How’s your meditation practice coming along?” he asked on his blog.

“If the answer is ‘not so good,’ what’s getting in the way? Often the number one thing getting in the way of meditation practice is our idea about how our meditation practice should be going. We have beliefs about how our mind ought to be during meditation instead of simply observing it as it is. Or we have an idea about the kind of progress we ought to be making, comparing our meditation today with how it was during certain moments idealized in memory.”

He briefly elaborates on what are called the five hindrances during meditation: sense desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness, and doubt. But instead of seeing them as hindrances, Segall suggests we see them as opportunities, as grist for the mill. Take boredom (“sloth and torpor”), for instance:

“If boredom presents itself, what happens if we investigate boredom? What are its qualities? What is its intensity? How does it vary from moment to moment? Is it just a quality of mind, or can it be experienced in the body as well? What happens if we don’t wish boredom away, but allow it to stay for as long as it wishes to be around?”

photo credit

retreat at the monastery

Two people are planning to travel to Great Vow Zen Monastery in Oregon for a week-long silent retreat (called a ‘sesshin’) from June 18 to 24 (please note change of dates). There’s room for others to come along and share ferry and gas expenses. Please talk to Peter.

living a zen-inspired life

Robert Althouse, who leads the Zen Life & Meditation Center in Chicago, has posted a list of 10 reasons to try a Zen-inspired life. Here’s an excerpt; click for the full text.

More Accurate Sense of Self:  Zen-inspired living helps you clarify the nature of your true self by giving you a more expansive way to approach your experience. By learning to be less fearful and more open, you are able to balance many aspects of yourself that were previously hidden, repressed or not appreciated.

Clarify Your Purpose in Life: Zen-inspired living helps you learn to trust what is important. By clarifying your own core values you orient your life around unchanging principles. This sense of purpose anchors you in a way that increases your sense of bravery and self-worth.

Health Benefits: Zen-inspired living is a healthy lifestyle, both mentally and physically. There is much scientific evidence suggesting that mindfulness meditation promotes many health benefits that translate into peace of mind, sustained happiness and personal satisfaction.  They include stress relief, reduced anxiety, lower blood pressure, stronger immune system and impulse control.