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Cultivating the Seeds of Zen: 90 Day Online Commit-to-sit Practice Period
June 1, 2022 @ 7:30 pm - August 29, 2022 @ 7:30 pm
“Enlightened eyes and minds should recognize that each moment has a form different from that of any other moment.”
—Shundo Aoyama
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As we approach the start of our next Commit to Sit 90-Day Practice Period beginning Wednesday, June 1st, 2022, we wanted to share why we are honoring Shundo Aoyama Rōshi’s (b.1933) life and work by using her book Zen Seeds: Reflections of a Female Priest, as our study text for this time together.
Aoyama Rōshi is one of the foremost contemporary Japanese Zen teachers and the highest-ranking nun in Sōtō Zen history. Her incisively clear and simple contemplations offered through the short passages in the book explore and illuminate a variety of aspects of daily experience, whether as a monastic or lay practitioner.
It is an auspicious time for us to be investigating this book as just this year, Aoyama Rōshi has been appointed to the position of Seido (retired chief priest) at the temple of Sojiji in Japan. She is the first woman to hold this position since the temple’s founding 850 years ago!
Please join us in celebration of her many contributions to the world—click below for more information and to register.
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Jan Chozen Bays, Chodo Robert Campbell, Ben Connelly, Dai En Friedman, Issho Fujita, Konjin Godwin, Gesshin Claire Greenwood, Ryushin Paul Haller, Diane Musho Hamilton, Genyu Kojima, Shinzan Palma, Ilia Shinko Perez, Diane Eshin Rizzetto, Ryoki Sato, and Yuko Wakayama Yamada.
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This unique practice period includes:
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- Weekly dharma talks and Q+A, live-streamed Sunday (and some Thursday) evenings at 7:30 pm ET
- Access to recordings will be made available for replay
- Daily email reflections selected from the study text to support our learning
- Daily opportunities to sit zazen in our online Zendo with participants from around the world, with two additional dharma talks each week
- Access to an online forum for discussion and reflection with other Commit to Sit practitioners
- Additional resources to support you in deepening your practice
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Feedback from Prior Commit to Sit Practice Periods
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“Commit to Sit has helped to deepen my understanding and appreciation for the dharma and lineage.”
“The overall structure is most meaningful: the daily texts, weekly talks, and the online platform, that ‘hold’ the idea of a shared practice period, however (physically) faraway fellow practitioners seem to be at times. Beyond the various time zones.”
“There are not enough words to express my deepest gratitude for the NY Zen Center folks…for the ability to be in the ZOOMDO…to be with SANGHA…to be with the wonderful teachers who guide us in the way. Nothing in my life is more important than my practice, which has been enriched because of the NY Zen Center and the Commit to Sit.”
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Each Commit to Sit registration supports the direct care, Zen practice, and educational work of the New York Zen Center.
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| New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care | 119 West 23rd Street, No. 401, New York, NY 10011 |
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