Pueblo Sky 2, by John Harder
Ongoing
5:15 Dharma Downstairs: before Monday night meditation, Shove Chapel
Every Monday evening, in the Sacred Grounds downstairs room from 5:15 to 6:00, some of us meet for informal Dharma conversation, led by Sarah Bender or other sangha members.
Anyone is welcome to join in. Currently, we are exploring elements of our liturgy and of our Bodhisattva Vows and precepts. You are welcome to join in on any Monday, and no registration, previous study or experience with our community is required. Our discussions bring each topic to meet exactly what is going on for us in our lives, in our world.
Place: Shove Chapel downstairs from the north entrance.
contact: Kelly McFarland S.Kelly.HLS@gmail.com
SEPTEMBER
September 29 Precepts Practice with Sarah Bender
Creek Bend Zendo
A continuation of the ongoing series of inquiries into and sharing of the Zen precepts.
NOTE: The Sept. 29 session will be from 3 to 5 PM, not in the morning.
contact: sembender@gmail.com
Sunday September 30 Fall Koan Series
and October 7 and 14, November 4 and 18
Sundays
3:00 to 5:00 PM
Creek Bend Zendo with Sarah Bender
contact: sembender@gmail.com
Koans and koan practice are central to Open Source Zen practice, and the powerful experience of meeting koans together, in community, is one of the particular gifts of our Way. This series of five sessions will give you a chance to immerse yourself in this practice, meeting words from our ancestors with your whole being, verbal and nonverbal, and riding the resonances of our shared enlightenment.
There are many definitions of koans, and each of them touches some part of them.
Here are some words from our founding teacher, Joan Sutherland:
To discover the language we share with
grasshoppers and interstellar space: one
name for that is Zen, and the notes on
our conversations are koans.
All the words lead home.
OCTOBER
October 1 Community discussion after the sutra service, looking towards our November All Sangha meeting.
This conversation is a good time to briefly bring in your dreams and concerns, excitements and frustrations, plans and non-plans for our sangha. Let us know what you’d like to talk about on November 11, when we gather to look towards the new year.
October 6, 13 Precepts Practice
These will be the concluding sessions of our series of conversations about our Zen precepts, our Bodhisattva Vows. However, Monday night monthly conversations will continue! For more info about the Zen precepts and how we practice with them, please feel free to contact Sarah Bender at sembender@gmail.com
October 7, 14 Fall Koan Series with Sarah Bender continues
October 8 Meditation Cancelled– Shove Chapel Conflict
YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND ROBERT THURMAN’S TALK at CORNERSTONE ART 6:00 PM (see link for more information)
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/bbc7215f79587650dd5f75ed6/files/1e24e8ff-9a24-49f6-a646-731b9492cc71/Tour_Schedul1.pdf
October 22-28 Meditation Retreat and Refuge Ceremony
at the Abbey, Canon City, CO
with Roshi Sarah Bender
contact: Brandy Lancaster BDL0824@gmail.com
Once each year, our community offers an opportunity for a longer, silent meditation retreat. We step away from the pressures and engagement of our daily lives and allow ourselves to do what we so rarely do—stop, and share a radically simple schedule of meditation, walking, movement meditation and meals in silence. A Dharma talk is offered by the teacher once a day, and each person also has the opportunity to meet with the teacher once a day. This retreat practice has been developed over millennia, because it supports our ability to drop deeply into presence and open our minds to their natural state of inquiry and intimate connection with our real, actual life, our being right now. There is nothing you have to be or prove here. Stopping and getting so quiet is challenging, but when things—the little things, twigs, doorknobs, apple chunks and yes, even your companions begin to shine with an inexplicable inner light, then you know why we do this.
If you have questions and would like to speak with the teacher about retreat practice, please feel free to contact Sarah Bender at sembender@gmail.com
October 22 Meditation cancelled! (this is a Shove Chapel scheduling issue)
October 29: Simple Sit with an invitation to bring in reflections from the previous week’s practice (retreat or not)
LOOKING AHEAD
NOVEMBER
November 3 Zen Threads talk, Meredith Pate-Willig
November 4, 18 Fall Koan Series continues
Nov 11 All-sanhga meeting, 4:00 to 7:00 PM
Creek Bend Zendo
Please save the date! We gather to share a meal, give thanks for a year of Dharma community, make some music together! and look towards this coming year. We conduct the brief but essential business of maintaining ourselves as a nonprofit, and envision turning our dreams for the Dharma into real happenings in our lives and wider community.
DECEMBER
Dec 8-9 Bodhi Day retreat with Sarah Bender
Each year, at or near the traditional Japanese commemoration of Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment, we gather in retreat. We’ll spend Dec. 8 together in silent meditation, (with a Dharma talk and silent shared meals) and those who are so inclined will sit through the night, to greet the dawn in meditation and share a celebratory breakfast.
for more information or to register: elizabeth.cramer51@gmail.com
Dec 10 Monday Sister Dhammadira is visiting speaker
Notes on the Sumi-e Event Held in September, 2018
This September, 11 people attended a 2 day workshop with internationally renowned artist Tei Kobayashi, Sensei. Tei came into town to take down her exhibition from the FAC. Ten of us were able to attend this fabulous opportunity. Tei, a Soto Zen practitioner, considers Sumi-e to be both art and practice. Each brush stroke is done with presence and attention as we put into each stroke what was in our heart/minds.
At the all sangha meeting this November, please bring in ideas and desires for the coming year. Some ideas posed are Ikebana instruction and Tai Chi.
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