Online Only

Forms of Emptiness: Rituals Workshops

March 18, April 29, May 20, June 17
3-4:30pm

Gassho and Bowing

with Tokuyu Sensei
Saturday March 18, Online: 3 pm – 4:30 pm

Why do we gassho, and why do we bow?

Dogen Zenji said, “As long as there is true bowing the Buddha Way will not deteriorate.”

Bowing is something that may trigger things in some people based on past experiences. I was recently in Thailand and their cultural way of saying hello and goodbye involves gassho and a bow. As a zen practitioner I loved this, and was so happy to engage whenever it came up. But I noticed most other westerners felt awkward to greet them in the same way and would instead wave or nod their heads uncomfortably.

How does bowing make you feel? How did it make you feel when you first started practice?

In this workshop we will look at some writings about what gassho and bowing means to us as Buddhist practitioners and how they are utilized in different areas of our practice. And we will explore what comes up for you, and what feelings we have around the ideas of gassho and bowing, and our actual experience of them.

Chanting

with Shinryu Roshi and Fugan Sensei
Saturday April 29, Online: 3 pm – 4:30 pm

Chanting connects us as we voice the Dharma together, in community. In this workshop, we explore the practice of chanting at Village Zendo. What are our chants? How do they resonate in our lives and in the world? And how can we engage more fully in chanting when we are at home and/or online?

Posture

with Bokushu Sensei
Saturday May 20, Online: 3 pm – 4:30 pm

At the Village Zendo, we emphasize the importance of zazen, or “seated meditation.” With zazen as the foundation of our practice, the question quickly arises, “what is the correct meditation posture?” And since Zen practice consists of more than just sitting, the relationship between our meditation posture and our manner of standing, walking and lying down might also engage our attention and curiosity.

In this workshop, we will explore some postural principles that apply to all of our basic activities, including zazen. We will also examine our own ideas about what constitutes “good” and “bad” posture. Lastly, we will explore the relationship between posture and ritual.

What Is Your Understanding?

with Bokushu Sensei
Saturday June 17, Online: 3 pm – 4:30 pm

We have been exploring ritual together in a series of six workshops since October 2022. What is our understanding of ritual right now, and how has that evolved during the past nine months? What is the relationship between ritual and understanding? What is the role of understanding and of meaning in Zen practice itself?

Suggested Donation $25/per workshop. Go to Support Us; note “Ritual Workshop”.

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