Born to Run
⚡️ACZC Happenings, 5/15 - 5/22⚡️
“Let me drop a word of advice. To enjoy life’s immensity, you do not need many things.” - Ryokan
Hello Sangha!
We don’t know about y’all, but sometimes it kinda sounds like Buddha truly pitied us, and honestly, we’re not entirely sure how we feel about that. But hey, it is nice to know he cared in his way, and honestly maybe his concern wasn’t always unwarranted…
But first! The sad news. Zen Writing Workshop is cancelled this Saturday. But! It will be back next month on the third Saturday as always (6/20 - 1pm), and we look very forward to seeing you there.
As you may have noticed there is a buzz of business around here lately, but it’s all coming to its culmination right about now, as this week is the last week of ango schedule! If you’ve been loving your porridge and demon/demigod taming chants in the morning as much as we have, come on in and help us put a nice cap on these ango mornings and put this thing to bed for another year.
But if you want to keep the party going just a little bit longer, don’t forget to register and join us for our Spring Camping Zazen Retreat! Join us for misty morning and luminous afternoons under beautiful bluffs as we sit some zazen accompanied by the soothing sounds of the great ocean itself. As always, it’s three sweet days of finding yourself in the rhythm and sounds of friends and nature, in ways best understood without speaking, aka a perfect rest and reset for the year before summer kicks us into a whole new gear.
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Also! Our mid year merch drop is ongoing, and we are close but not quite all the way to our goals. So check out the sweet new limited edition t shirts, zines, books, and other goodies we cooked up for you this Spring if you haven’t already. Honestly we’re pretty excited about this round of offerings, and we think you might be too.
We’re leaving for Japan next Sunday, so let’s say any fundraiser donations received by Thursday will have rewards sent out before we leave.
Or better yet! Come pick them up in person at our album release, book launch, and sangha send off party on Saturday, May 23rd at 7pm, the night before we leave for Japan, right here at ACZC. Details/RSVP here.
But speaking of rag tag scrappy rambling along the great way, this week on the podcast we are pleased to present 🎙️Born to Run (Ryokan) w/ Dave Cuomo🎙️.
Dave regales us with stories and poetry from everyone’s favorite Soto renegade poet monk, Ryokan, while trying to figure out if he’s the scrappy unpretentious rebel we all want him to be, or is he the patron saint of strict fundamentalist austerity and tradition as others seem to think. Can he maybe be both and can Dave make peace with that? Can we judge people for their pretensions and worldly ambitions, or is that an appropriate response to the world as it is? How can we trust ourselves when no one agrees, and what makes a renegade respect worthy?? Find out here!
Up now at https://aczc.org/aczcpodcast or on all your favorite podcast platforms.
📖 This Week in ZenLit(™): 📖
The Buddha said, “You are still using the conditional mind to hear the dharma, so even the dharma becomes just another conditional thing, and you don’t realize the true nature of the dharma.
It’s like using a finger to point to the moon. Someone should use the finger to see the moon. But if instead they look at the finger and take it to be the moon, they’ve not only lost the moon, but they’ve also lost the meaning of the finger. Why? Because they’ve mistaken the finger for the light of the moon. Not only have they lost the finger, they no longer even understand the difference between light and darkness.
⚡️This Week in Zen! ⚡️
All times Pacific. All sessions are in-person + on Zoom unless otherwise noted (email us for Zoom info).
Saturday - 5/16, 10am - 12:05pm
Sit & Talk with Dave Cuomo - Our biggest day of the week! We’ll do two half-hour rounds of zazen, and then Dave takes the hotseat with a little mythology for your morning, telling us the story of the always reliable but not nearly so well celebrated Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, that great rider of white elephants that embodies all our actions and practice. Let’s see what kind of magic we can dig up!
Monday - 5/18, 7:30pm - 9pm
Sit & Talk w/ - One half hour of zazen and then Heather is back to regale us with a talk on the only thing we can count on for certain… uncertainty! Can we embrace it? Would it help to try to deny it?? Let’s find out.
Wednesday - 5/20, 7:30pm - 9pm
Sit & ZenLit(™) Night - This week! Buddha makes Ananda cry as we dig up the roots of the oft cited metaphor of the finger and the moon. Will our heroes make us swoon?Can our existential confusions see the truth of themselves despite their obvious confusion? Can we see the light burning bright in our midnight skies, or just our own little hearts and minds? Have we been using the analogy right this whole time? Let’s discuss.
Friday - 5/22, 8am - 8:40am
Morning Chanting Service - This week we’ll chant the Ryogonshu followed by the Heart Sutra and that classic chant rap battle mashup of nostalgia and fish - the Zazenshin. Poetry for the ages! Come on out and lend us your voice.
Tues - Sat - Ango Schedule (final week!!) | 3/17 - 5/23
As always, feel free to join for as much or as little of the schedule as you’re able.
6:30 - 7:00am……………..Coffee
7:00 - 8:00am………………Zazen
8:05 - 8:40am………………Morning Chanting Service (the epic Ryogonshu!)
8:40 - 9:10am…………..…Zen Breakfast (aka oryoki)
9:10 - 9:50am………………Work Practice
11:30 - 11:45am………….(Zoom only) Midday Nitchu Chanting Service
4:30 - 5pm…………………..(Zoom only) Evening Banka Chanting Service
See y’all soon!
Love,
ACZC