Berkeley Zen Center December 2012 Newsletter
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Berkeley Zen Center December 2012 Newsletter Winter Break December 15 – January 1 BZC Schedule Our winter break will commence on Saturday December 15, and there will be no Saturday program on that day. December During winter break all formal practice activities are suspended except for our New Year’s Eve celebration, Rohatsu Sesshin Sunday, 12/2 - Saturday, 12/8 which begins on December 31 at 8:00 pm. Otherwise, we will offer informal zazen in the morning and evening Suzuki Roshi Annual Memorial for those who wish to attend through New Year's day. A Monday, 12/3, 8:20 pm sign-up sheet will be posted for volunteers willing to Bodhisattva Ceremony open and close the zendo. For further information, please Wednesday, 12/5, 8:20 pm contact the zendo manager (Tamar). Buddha’s Enlightenment Ceremony Saturday, 12/8, 11:10 am Winter Break Saturday, 12/15 - Monday, 12/31 New Year’s Eve Sitting and Party New Year’s Eve Sitting and Celebration Join us on Monday evening, December 31 for the Monday, 12/31, 8:00 pm chance to ring in the new year with the quiet and reflection of zazen, punctuated by 108 soundings of the January bell to mark the last 108 minutes of 2012 and a bonfire after midnight. Founder’s Ceremony Thursday, 1/3, 6:20 pm Friday, 1/4, 6:40 am Everyone is welcome to attend any portion of the program, entering the zendo during kinhin or the Kidzendo beginning of a period of zazen. Saturday, 1/12, 9:30 am Saturday, 1/26, 9:30 am The schedule is: One-Day Sitting 8:00 pm Zazen 10:13 108 bells begin Sunday, 1/20, 5:00 am – 5:30 pm \ 8:35 Kinhin 10:35 Kinhin Bodhisattva Ceremony 8:45 Zazen 10:45 Zazen Saturday, 1/26, 9:40 am 9:20 Kinhin 11:20 Kinhin 9:30 Zazen 11:40 Zazen 10:05 Tea 12:10 Slow chanting of Heart Sutra and sitting Affirmation of Welcome Walking the path of liberation, we A celebration and potluck will follow in the community express our intimate connection with all room. Watch the bulletin board for details and the sign- beings. Welcoming diversity, here at up sheets for providing food and help with clean up. Berkeley Zen Center the practice of zazen is available to people of every race, nationality, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical ability. May all beings realize their true nature. Berkeley Zen Center 1931 Russell Street, Berkeley, CA 94703 www.berkeleyzencenter.org 510.845.2403 Sojun Roshi’s 2013 Study Group Sojun’s winter/spring study group will run from January through April. This time we’d like to try a twice per month schedule rather than the once a month schedule of the past. Our hope is that this provides more Family Activities at BZC continuity and focus from class to class. Saturday Morning Childcare Childcare is offered free of A majority of students from 2012 have indicated they charge on many Saturday mornings (see schedule below), for would like to try this. We’ll meet on the first and third 9:40am zazen through lecture. Currently childcare is being Fridays of the month from 7:15 to 8:45 pm in the done by Berkeley High student Lihong Chan. We need to community room when possible. The first meeting will know by dinner time Friday if you are planning to avail be on January 18. The last will be on April 19. The cost yourselves of childcare on the following day (so she can sleep for the seven-session series is $70. As always, in if not!). Phone or e-mail Laurie Senauke, 510.845.2215, or significant discounts are an option for those in need. [email protected]. Childcare for 8:45 am zazen instruction Sojun’s text is yet to be determined. and beginner orientation is offered by special arrangement; contact Laurie for more info. A sign-up sheet will be posted on January 2, or you may e-mail class coordinator Ron Nestor at Toolbox/Mindfulness Kidzendo Expands. Beginning in [email protected] any time. If you decide to attend, January 2013, our new Toolbox and Mindfulness for Families please give serious consideration as to whether this program will expand to two days per month, typically meeting schedule will work for you. All are welcome. on the second and fourth Saturdays, from 9:30 am to 11:15 am. We hope this will support more continuity and cohesiveness. (We are always open to feedback from parents January Class with Denkei about our program.) Check the calendar online or in the Raul Denkei Moncayo will teach a four-week January newsletter for exact schedule. RSVP if you plan to attend class entitled “Introduction to Zen Teaching in the Light ([email protected]). of Practice at BZC.” Meetings will take place on Saturday afternoons from 1:00 - 2:30 pm in the Kidzendo A program for children three and up is offered on community room. The dates are January 12, 19, 26, and the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month (beginning January February 9.The cost for the series is $40. A sign-up sheet 2013). Currently we are offering a special curriculum called will be posted on the bulletin board December 1. You The Toolbox. BZC Resident Tamar has been trained in offering this set of materials. Nancy Suib, a longtime may also register by e-mailing class coordinator Ron practitioner at BZC, will be co-leading this program using The Nestor at [email protected]. Here is Raul’s class Mindful School Curriculum. During this period, the kids will description: not be attending the first ten minutes of lecture. See details on In this class we will study the history of Zen teaching our website or in the September newsletter. from Bodhidharma to Hui-Neng, from Baso to Rinzai December 8 Sesshin – no program and Joshu, from Sekito to Tozan, and from Dogen to December 15 Interim – no program Suzuki Roshi and Sojun Roshi. As we traverse the length December 22 Interim – no program of Zen teaching, we will pay particular attention to how December 29 Interim – no program the various teachings manifest in the style of our practice January 5 Childcare at BZC. We will also explore the Zen teachings of some January 12 KIDZENDO January 19 Childcare of the prominent women who figure in the Zen lineage. January 26 KIDZENDO Instructor: Raul Denkei Moncayo began Zen February 2 Childcare practice in the Paris Zendo of Taisen Deshimaru Roshi. February 9 KIDZENDO He has practiced at BZC since 1978 and received February 16 Sesshin – no program dharma transmission from Sojun Roshi. February 23 KIDZENDO March 2 Childcare New Study Group Forming March 16 Sesshin – no program March 23 KIDZENDO Andrea Thach will be starting a new dharma study group in January. It will meet about every three or four weeks. Family Practice E-mail Group To make it easier to The time is to be determined based on who is interested, publicize, announce and remind ourselves about family likely either Wednesday evenings or Sunday afternoons. practice activities at BZC, we have a Yahoo group. We only We will possibly start with the Sandokai, but this too is send, at most, ONE e-mail per week—just a short reminder of open for discussion. If you are interested, please give her upcoming events. To join, e-mail Laurie at a call or send her an email at [email protected]. [email protected] or Marie at [email protected]. Page 2 December 2012 BZC Newsletter Why Do You Practice? Thoughts from Sojun Roshi December, 2012 ometimes I am asked “Why do you practice?” There are a variety of possible responses. In the old days in China, the question was “Why did Bodhidharma come to the West?” This became a well-known koan that appears often in the koan collections, and there are a variety of seemingly puzzling responses. Sir Edmund Hillary’s response to “Why do you want to climb the mountain?” was “Because it is there.” S That is a little nugget one can keep unloading for a long time. When Dogen returned from China, he was asked what he brought back. He said that all he had learned was that his eyes were horizontal and his nose vertical. When I sat down the first time for zazen, I knew I was home. I was like the prodigal son in the Lotus Sutra who had stumbled into the doorway of his father’s house. This is not an uncommon experience for a Zen student. I had found zazen and a teacher whose practice was patience and sincerity. He said that those who have the most difficult time, and persevere, no matter what obstacles they meet in the way, in the end usually become very good teachers. Someone asked me what my teacher was like. Well... he was very gentle and kind, and at the same time very firm and strict. During zazen, he would say, “don’t move.” Once he said, “don’t chicken out.” We liked it when he used our colloquialisms. We had to come face to face with our difficulties, and through our own effort find the way through. And there was no escape. This is an example of his compassion and strictness. He knew how to push and ease off, when to hold firmly and when to let loose. He never stopped encouraging us and never gave up on anyone. He never made a judgment as to who was the best horse and who was the worst.