Author: samuelreggio

For those who may have missed it, Shinren Mark Stone’s talk about zen practice and technology was recently profiled by NPR.  It’s an excellent write up.

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/07/625332469/many-look-to-buddhism-for-sanctuary-from-an-over-connected-world

Just wanted to let everyone know that the events for our sangha for 2018 have been posted.  Of course, it’ll be updated regularly.  Find it here.

Be well, and stay warm,

Sam

The book we’ll be reading this fall is Robert A.F. Thurman’s translation of the Vimalakirti Sutra.  The discussions  will be at All Beings on October 14th and November 4th.

There a few different ways to get this text.

It exists at a few university libraries in the area, so if you happen to have borrowing privileges at AU, GW, GM, or UMD, by all means pick up a copy there.

It’s on Amazon for $24.

But then also, it’s free as a PDF.

Join us October 14th, 2017 8-9:30am to begin our dialogue around this text.  Feel welcome to bring other translations as well.   All are welcome.

The choice is yours!  Hope that helps.  Feel free to e-mail me, Sam Reggio if you’re having trouble finding a copy.  Thanks, and happy reading.

“In other words, we are captive to our own self-created illusion of permanence”. (Grassroots Zen –Manfred B. Steger and Perle Besserman)

Join us for a day of possibilities and silence at Woodburn Hill Farm on November 5^th. As we have done before, let’s come together as a shanga (community) to celebrate our constant companion, “Change”. Let’s support each other through sitting, walking, eating, drinking tea and practice discussion. Please consider giving this gift to yourself and all of us by attending! For information and to RSVP, please email Mario.  Suggested donation for this one will be $15.

See you on the mat. – Mario

All Beings will continue with our reading group!  This has been a fun way for folks to get together and talk about the practice in an informal environment, and with tea and cookies!

For Sunday, May 29th, we’re reading How the Swans Came to the Lake, by Rick Fields.  It’s an overview of how Buddhism has mingled with ‘western’ cultures and specifically the US.  Pretty engaging read, I can assure you, and it should provide ample material for discussion.  For the 29th, we’ll focus on the first half of the book, roughly.

We’ll meet at the All Beings Zendo space at 8 am.  Contact Inryu for more info if you need it.

Here are some helpful links.  Libraries and local bookstores are encouraged, but there’s always used copies on Amazon too.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/24955175

http://www.amazon.com/Swans-Came-Lake-Rick-Fields/dp/0877736316/ref=la_B001H6US8A_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461949695&sr=1-1

Hope to see you there!  These are both pleasantly serious and engaging and very non-stuffy.

Sam

 Monday May 18th, 2015 7pm Guest Teacher

Sensei Steve Weintraub will explore this quote by Suzuki Roshi for his Dharma Talk on Monday May 18th, 2015 7pm.  Sensei was ordained as a Soto Zen priest in 1973, has been teaching Buddhism at San Francisco Zen Center for over 30 years, and received Dharma transmission in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi in 1993, from Sojun Mel Weitsman. Steve has a psychotherapy practice in San Francisco and Mill Valley, and works as a therapist in the context of contemporary analytic depth psychology.

 

 

Sunday May 24th, 2015 8am – Guest Teacher

Jisan Tova Green is a Soto Zen priest in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki-roshi.She will be exploring the topic of “Tenderness and Compassion.   “Tender” means both “raw or painful when touched” and “showing affection or love for someone or something.” We can transform the pain we feel when we judge ourselves or internalize negative messages we receive from others to feeling tender in the sense of caring for ourselves and one another.

Jisan serves as the Development Director at the  San Francisco Zen Center and was ordained a priest in 2003. After many years of Vipassana practice, Tova Green began sitting at Green Gulch Farm in 1990 and became a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center in 1999. She is the former President of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) and was also a coordinator with the Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE), the first Buddhist volunteer corps of its kind. She currently resides at the San Francisco Zen Center.

All Beings Sangha members – 

Hope everyone is staying warm out there – man, it is cold (even for this seasoned New Englander).

Just a quick update on some late February and March happenings with All Beings, aside from the Monday, Thursday, and Friday sits and services, which I’d heartily recommend you join if you can bear to leave your house.

This coming Sunday, at All Beings Zendo / Zen Center in Adams Morgan, there will be a meet up for those who are taking or are interested in taking the precepts.  There’ll be a short sit, then a discussion, and then some work on rakusu (rakusus? rakusii?).  We’ll begin at 8 am.

On Sunday the 1st of March, we’ll continue with our discussion of the Diamond Sutra.  We’ll begin at 8 am, and there’ll be tea and cookies at this one.  It’s a real pleasant way to spend a Sunday morning, talking with other members about what they’ve read, even if we sometimes leave just as perplexed as when we arrived.  So it goes.  It’s nice, though.  Bring a copy of the Diamond Sutra in any translation.

Then on Sunday the 15nd of March, we’ll have a full-day sit.  So mark your calendars accordingly.

Thanks folks!  Stay warm.

Sam

Hi everyone –

Book Club update.  We didn’t get too far last time we met to discuss the Diamond Sutra, be we’ll press ahead on Sunday February 1st at 8 am. We will most likely be discussing the first 1/3 to 1/2 of the 32 short ‘chapters’, so go ahead and plan accordingly.

Hope to see you at All Beings in Adams Morgan!

Sam

Howdy everyone.

Just a quick update for those who like to read books and talk about them on Sunday mornings with tea.

The next of these will be Sunday, January 4th, 2015.  We’ll be reading the Diamond Sutra.  Further, we’re all going to read and bring whatever translation we’d like, figuring that the differences in the translations will enhance the discussion and, hopefully, what people can take away.

I’ll be reading the Red Pine version, myself.  Here’s a free one online:

Diamond Sutra – A New Translation

We’ll see you there!

Sam

Just wanted to let everyone know that the events page has been updated for November and December.  There’ll be a sit on 11/16, Rohatsu festivities, and another all-day sit on 12/21.  Please do come sit with us!  All are welcome.

Further: we’ll be continuing our book club in December, this time with the Diamond Sutra.  Details about that will be forthcoming, but two editions to consider are this one and this one.

Thanks folks.  If your fall is harried and hectic, that’s the best time to make time to sit.  I’m off to do just that.

Sam