Category: Zazenkai

Dear Oxbow Zen friends,

Exciting News!  This coming Sunday, May 3, we will be having a half-day Zazenkai.  

You are warmly invited to participate in all, or as much of, the day as is possible for you.  The regular Sunday morning sit from 8-9:35 AM is folded into the schedule (bonus: with talk!).   The timing after the Dharma talk may shift a little depending on circumstances.  Feel free to join whenever you can.  Just mute your mic and settle in.

Please mute yourself during Zazen and during the chants.   You’ll hear the Ino and Doan.  Chant along in your own home.

Right now, interviews are planned during Zazen after the talk and before Open Sozan.  If you’d like to request interview during the day, please let Soshin Hoshi know.  

Questions?  Don’t hesitate to be in touch.
Looking forward to practicing with you!

Schedule:

7:45  Connect your tech, connect with folks, settle into your seat

8:00  Zazen (Jikido)
8:30 Verse of the Kesa (Doan)
8:35 Stretching/Break
8:40 Zazen
9:10 Stretching/Break

9:15 Dharma Talk 
9:35 Stretching/Break

9:40     Zazen (Interview opportunity)
10:10 Stretching/Break
10:15 Zazen (Interview opportunity)
10:45  Stretching/Break

10:50 Seated Heart Sutra (Ino, Doan)

11:00 Open Sozan
11:30 Good Byes

Dear Oxbow Zen Sangha,
We hope this note finds you and your family well.  In these uncertain times, with social distancing, our practice and community connection is ever more important.

We are excited that the Zazenkai originally planned for this coming Saturday, March 21, will actually be taking place online, in a half-day format (8:45-Noon).  We are especially excited to do so in close collaboration with our friends from the New Paltz Zendo, another affiliate group of the Village Zendo, under the leadership of Jo An Hoshi.  Its wonderful to all join together for practice!

Dana:  We are acutely aware that the Village Zendo relies on people’s financial contributions for its existence.  Maintaining space in New York City is very costly and the rent is high.  And yet the Village Zendo has touched so many lives and the ripples keep spreading far and wide.  Given that social distancing means that the Village Zendo is not receiving donations from people for its programming, we ask that your Donations for this Zazenkai be made to the Village Zendo (https://villagezendo.org/support-us/).   Listen to your heart’s generosity in making your offering.

Schedule: We invite you to join everybody on Zoom by 8:45 AM to set up and test your tech, and to settle into your space, so that we can start Zazen promptly at 9 AM.  Notice that a “ping” is heard whenever somebody joins or leaves the Zoom meeting, so please join or leave during a Stretching/Break period only.
Here is the schedule for the Zazenkai, so you can plan your day.

8:30 AM The Zoom meeting room will open.

8:45  Be done signing on, so you can test your tech, connect with folks, and settle into your space.    As we settle into Zazen, please mute your microphone.

9-9:30 Zazen (Jikido)
9:30-9:35 Verse of the Kesa 
Stretching/break
9:40 – 10:10 Zazen
Stretching/Break 
10:15-10:35 Dharma Talk 
Stretching/Break 
10:35-11:05 Zazen
Stretching/Break 
11:10 Seated Heart Sutra Service (Ino & Doan) 
11:30 Open Sozan
12:00 Shared sit ends.  
(Interviews may continue until about 1:30 PM.)

For the chants, please keep your microphone muted.  You will hear the Ino/Chant Leader so you can chant along.  

Interview will be offered by Jo An Hoshi and Soshin Hoshi.  The teachers will call you using WhatsApp video.  Interviews will be taking place after the talk and will continue into the early afternoon (even past Open Sozan, as needed). Please make sure you have WhatsApp installed on your phone before the Zazenkai.  The teachers will contact you on WhatsApp when it’s your turn.  

Action Item:  If you would like to meet with a teacher, please sign up by sending email to Kenko (volker.ecke@gmail.com) with the following information:

• Which teacher would you wish to see?  (Jo An Hoshi, Soshin Hoshi, either one)
• What is your phone number?  (Which we will use using WhatsApp.)
• Do you have particular needs to see a teacher *before* Open Sozan?  Do you have a preference to see a teacher *after* Open Sozan?

We will share a preliminary list of interviewees for each teacher, so you have a rough sense whether your interview will take place before or after Open Sozan.  

Robes:  Given that the external forms of a Zendo do not hold us during as firmly this online Zazenkai, we think that robes might be a helpful container supporting our practice.  So, if you have robes we would encourage you to wear them.  

Looking forward to practicing with you this coming Saturday (and maybe more frequently as a balance to social distancing),
Kenko.

Many thanks to all the many hands that made this past Saturday’s Zazenkai with Ryotan Sensei such a deep shared experience!   It was a brilliant, sunny, and colorful fall day!  Delicious food!  Deep practice!  
Special thanks to Ryotan Sensei: for making the trip once again; for an inspiring Dharma talk; and for his teachings in private interview and in just being Ryo.  And for reminding us that, with Soshin Hoshi, we now have a teacher right here!
And heartfelt gratitude to Shokai and Mark for transforming their beautiful home into a Zen temple!
Three bows to all!
Kenko.

[Online registration is now closed and the button has been removed from this post.]

If you haven’t had a chance to sign up for the Oct 26 Zazenkai with Ryotan Sensei, you can do so now at the “SIGN UP!” button below. You will be connected to an online form at signupgenius.com where you can indicate what food you plan to bring, and which service positions–if any–you’re interested in taking on (in the comment section).