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Morning Practice for November 5, 2021 6:30

Here is the link to join us via Zoom at 6:30am for morning practice. Lucy Turner will offer a Way Seeking Mind talk following a short period of zazen.

Lucy

If you are asked for a password use this 471305

Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.

Click below to see the order of service and chants.

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Dharma Tea at Two on Nov 2, 2021 2-2:45pm

Tuesday, November 2: Dharma tea at 2pm led by Alex Langlinais.  Use this link to join.  If asked for a password use 897614 

Alex and his cat
Alex and Sierra

For our tea discussion today, I thought it would be fun to talk about the music that inspires us to practice or that captures something about the dharma.  Although Buddhism has a rich musical tradition (see below), we don’t always talk expressly about music as a vehicle for awakening.  So I’m curious to hear what tracks occupy that space for you.  In advance of the tea, please think of one or two songs that you associate with practice or turn to for inspiration.  You should feel welcome to share during discussion or just drop your faves into the chat box.  Afterwards, I’ll assemble a playlist for the sangha with our picks!     Music gets incorporated into the tradition in so many ways.  Just to name a few:

  • Of course, there is our Soto Zen chanting.  Check out Deshimaru Roshi’s iconic rendition of the Heart Sutra to get your blood pumping or Rev. Taihaku Priest’s touching instructions on the Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo.
  • From the Pure Land tradition, there’s the venerable and deeply peaceful practice of nembutsu chanting (most commonly in the form of “namo amituofo” or “namu amida butsu”).  Two great versions can be found here and here.
  • From the Nichiren tradition, there’s the powerful Daimoku, reverent chanting of the name of the Lotus Sutra (“nam myoho renge kyo”).  You might have seen that the incomparable Tina Turner has many Daimoku tracks.
  • On the instrumental side, there’s the introspective and (to me) heartbreaking practice of Honkyoku using the Shakuhaci flute.  Here’s a wonderful concerto by Alejandro Vazquez, a good friend of Shoryu’s who passed away last year.  
  • There’s also the high energy and communal practice of Taiko drumming.  Here’s a recording of a group connected to the Ekoji Temple in Fairfax Station, VA.

And then there’s the ocean of pop music.  I’ll offer up Elvis Costello’s “Peace, Love, and Understanding” as an example, which reminds me that bodhicitta/way-seeking mind is a kind of throwing down the gauntlet on the side of, well, peace, love, and understanding!  From the video, you can also see just how far music videos have come since the early days.     Take a listen if you have a chance today.  I’ll play some of these to get us started, but more looking forward to hearing about the role music plays in your practice!     🙏 Alex

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Morning Practice for Nov 1, 2021 6:30 am Eastern

Here is the link to join us via Zoom at 6:30am for morning zazen practice.

If you are asked for a password use this 813097

Please put your zoom in gallery mode, and keep your video link on while muting your mic until the end of the service – Feel welcome to face away from your device camera while keeping your presence visible in the frame for others in attendance to see and know you are there. Please refrain from moving your device around while others are sitting zazen with you.

Click below to see the order of service and chants.

Continue reading “Morning Practice for Nov 1, 2021 6:30 am Eastern”
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Thursday Evening Practice for October 28, 2021 7pm Eastern

Please use this link to join.  If asked use this password 118879 .

Thursday, October 28: Dharma talk “Ask the Stone Lantern” about how Dharma pervades all things by Rev. Konin Cardenas, Sensei,  in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.    Konin Sensei is also known as Ayya Dhammadīpā, as she became a fully ordained bhikkhuni in the Theravada tradition in recent years.      She writes that “Her shift to the Theravada tradition is a natural extension of her longtime metta practice and study of the Pali suttas”.  . In addition to English, Ayya teaches in Spanish, an expression of her Latin heritage. She is a trained interfaith chaplain, and has provided spiritual care in both hospital and hospice settings. Ayya Dhammadīpā is mother to a lovely adult daughter, and enjoys watercolor painting and sewing.

The Thursday practice will begin with 30 minutes of zazen, followed by Rev. Konin’s Dharma Talk.  We will conclude with chanting the refuges in Pali and have a brief check in for those schedules allow them to remain after the service

Please use this link to join.  If asked use this password 118879 .

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Dharma Study – Grieving: A reflection of grief, loss and living

Saturday, October 23, 2021  : “Grieving Here: A reflection on grief, loss and living with the wholeness of life” Talk and discussion led by JiShin Susan Salek 2pm.  Use this link to join 

Jishin (Compassion Heart) Susan Salek has been a longtime and engaged member of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC (IMCW)’s LGBTQIA+ sangha, and she currently serves on the IMCW Board of Directors. She is committed to holding space and creating opportunities for the queer and trans community on this Buddhist path. Jishin is a graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher program taught by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. Her lived experience and bearing witness to this wild, difficult and beautiful life as a human being has motivated her to teach mindfulness meditation in particular as a support to women and the queer and transgender communities.

She is a student of grief from her own experience of companioning friends, family and other beings thru illness, dying and death as well as a volunteer with Capital Caring Hospice. She recently taught a half-day workshop on Grief and Gratitude for the LGBTQIA+ community through IMCW. She expects to graduate from the Buddhist Chaplaincy program at Upaya Zen Center in March 2022. Jishin currently works as a Business Director for 3M and shares a home with her two cats in Maryland.