Our journey is about being more deeply involved in every dimension of life with love and yet less attached to it.
– Ādi
Schedule
Saturday September 10th
Time
9 AM – 10:30 AM Pacific Time
11 AM – 12:30 AM Central Time
12 PM – 1:30 PM Eastern Time
How can one be more engaged with life and yet less attached to it? Isn’t it a contradiction?
To truly understand this is to understand the Middle Way, to understand Zen. Non-attachment is not the same as to reject or abandon the world or to stay away from people and relationships. There are two extremes: One is to become a reclusive monk and leave the world. The other extreme is to become a materialist and/or a hedonist.
Neither is being “deeply involved in life.”
The practice of the Way is to be involved in the world as deeply as possible in a non-attached manner with love. Real renunciation is to accept that all things change. There is no permanence. Realizing this, we neither cling nor grasp.
Renunciation is not giving up the things of this world, but accepting that they go away. Similarly, true silence is not about escaping to a world where there is no sound or noise. Rather, it is to be at peace with the world of sounds and embrace what is.
we make ourselves vulnerable whenever we get deeply involved in life.
Due to the law of impermanence, there is a time for meeting and there is a time for parting. But living life does not have to be ego-driven. It can be a generous giving of oneself and it can be play, a service to others. It can be a co-celebration of life.
In this gathering we will explore the dimensions of the mind and how it clings to the phenomenal world.The discourse will be followed by a short Mahayana meditation.
“Don’t hate the arising of thoughts or stop the thoughts that do arise. Simply realize that our original mind, right from the start, is beyond thought, so that no matter what, you never get involved with thoughts. Illuminate original mind, and no other understanding is necessary.”
– Zen Master Bankei Yotaku
“The self divides into ten billion distinct illuminating spirits. Distinguish these without falling into names and classifications.”
– Hongzhi
