Body, Breath, and Mind: An Introduction to Zen

1st Sunday of the Month
9:30am - 11:00am

Howard Thoresen, the Village Zendo’s Executive Director, will introduce Zen meditation and the other aspects of Village Zendo practice.

Instruction begins promptly at 9:30 am.

Recommendations for a comfortable, stable sitting posture are given, as well as guidance on how to begin a meditation practice and do walking meditation.

There will be an emphasis on finding ease in practice, and on the significance of practicing with a community and with teachers. The instruction is punctuated with short periods of silent meditation.

There will be ample opportunity for Q & A.

When we practice zazen our mind always follows our breathing. When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is limitless.

We say “inner world” or “outer world,” but actually there is just one whole world. In this limitless world, our throat is like a swinging door. The air comes in and goes out, like someone passing through a swinging door.

If you think, “I breathe,” the “I” is extra…what we call “I” is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves, that is all.  When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no “I,”  no world, no mind nor body; just a swinging door.

 

From Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind,  by Shunryu Suzuki

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