Open Secrets
⚡️ACZC Happenings, 2/8 - 2/14⚡️
“Eventually you find the part of yourself that wants to be uncomfortable, and is labeling your thoughts and brain as distasteful, and then all you can do is make peace with yourself. And that's why zazen is wonderful. If you're going to do it every day, eventually you're going to have to make some peace with yourself.” - Dave Cuomo
Hello Sangha!
And a happy belated Groundhog Day to all! This week’s joke is credited to our good friend Samm who mentioned it off handedly many moons ago, and goes out to all you Jung fans out there and to anyone who’s not afraid to work in the darkness, which we assume is you on some level if you’re reading this. Our sources tell us various groundhogs made differing prognostications this year, so it sounds like the real prognostication is to choose your own future, or dwell in the liberation of not knowing the future, which might just be the same thing….
But speaking of unpredictable rigidities, one mild correction the schedule, we are NOT holding the Full Moon Ceremony this Sunday due to our band leader being out of town this weekend, but join us again next month when we bring it all back around!
But! There is much to look forward to this month, such as the triumphant return of our Zen Writing Workshop after a two year hiatus, back to due to popular demand. Join us Saturday 2/15 at 1pm (after the usual morning session), for a fun no pressure, judgement free, creativity workshop with friends. The workshop will include zazen (naturally), free writes, reflections and sharing, and on the spot found poetry of unknown providence. It’s a self contained event, no prior written work needed, and is open to writers of all experience levels (including none at all). And we’d be delighted to see you there.
And just to double down on expanding the boundless limits of the free wheeling fertility of emptiness, on Saturday March 1st at 7pm, join us for our first “Same Difference” Rent Party, in which we host a variety show of music, comedy, stories, poetry and other entertainments here in the ACZC zendo. Yes, we’re going to pass the basket and try to help fill a hole in the budget (all are welcome, pay what you can including nothing at all as always, of course), but also we’re going to gather and have the chance to socialize and cut loose a little, which the little Buddha on our shoulder is telling us is only ever a good idea. Sources tell us there may even be homemade ginger beer and popcorn. And we look very forward to seeing y’all there.
But speaking of expanding the envelopes of emptiness, this week on the podcast we are very pleased to bring you Open Secrets (How to teach Zen) w/ Dave Cuomo. Dave looks into Zen’s famous wariness towards teachers and teaching, while delving into his own hang ups around the role as he prepares to formally play it. Are we all doomed to unwittingly adopt our teachers’ hang ups and issues? Is obedience just a matter of finding someone to tell you what you already wanted to do? Is liberation just telling ourselves that what we’re already doing is exactly what we want?? Find out here!
Up now at http://aczc.org/aczcpodcast or on all your favorite podcast platforms.
And hey, here’s some ZenLit(™) to dig into this week:
Whenever Baizhang gave a dharma talk, there was an old man who would always come to listen. Usually he left with the rest of the crowd, but one day he stayed after.
Baizhang asked him, “Who are you?”
The old man said, “I’m not a human. I was the abbot here way back in the time of Kasyapa Buddha. One day a student asked me, ‘Is an enlightened person subject to the law of cause and effect?’ I said ‘They are not.’ And because of that I fell into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lifetimes. Please Venerable, say something that can free me from this wild fox body! Is an enlightened person subject to the law of cause and effect?”
Baizhang said, “You can’t ignore cause and effect.”
The old man suddenly completely understood. He bowed and said, “I’m free! You will find my fox body on the other side of the mountain. Please give it a monk’s burial.”
Baizhang had the administrator notify the sangha they were going to have a monk’s funeral after lunch. All the monks said, “But everyone is healthy, what’s going on?”
After lunch, Baizhang took the sangha out to a rock behind the mountain where he poked the body of a dead fox with his stick and told them the story of the old man. The fox was then cremated with all the proper honors.
This Week in Zen! All times posted in Pacific time zone, all sessions hosted in person and on Zoom unless otherwise marked (email us for quick and easy Zoom access info):
Saturday - 2/8, 10am - 12:30pm
Sit & Discussion w/ Sara Campbell - Our biggest day of the week! two half hour rounds of zazen, one walking meditation in the middle, and then our dear friend Sara Campbell returns to the hot seat to lead us in some delightfully dharmific discussion. See y’all there!
Monday - 2/10, 7:30pm - 9pm
Sit & Discussion w/ Gyokei Yokoyama - One half hour of sweet sweet zazen and then our favorite supporting teacher makes his own triumphant return to the hot seat to talk about embodied practice and the mindful musicality waiting patiently in your bones, hearts, and minds, for just the right time to let loose and sink you into the symphony of any situation. Join us!
Wednesday - 2/12, 7:30pm - 9pm
Sit & ZenLit Night - A mysterious stranger, a wily fox, and an ancient question we can’t ignore: can we ever free ourselves of the pasts that haunt us? Are we always and only bound to the laws of circumstance going round and round, or is there a way off this crazy cycle that doesn’t involve turning our backs on everyone else? Let’s discuss!
Thursday - 2/13, 7:30pm - 8:40pm
Evening Zazen - Join us for two rounds of no frills evening zazen to wind down your day and your week. Good sit with good friends! See y’all there.
Friday - 2/14, 8am
Morning Chanting Service - This week! We chant the Heart Sutra in English and then Shitou’s classic song to the Lebowski like Zen waiting with a white russian inside us all, aka The Straw Hut Song. Poetry for the ages! Come on out and lend us your voice.
Tuesday - Friday, 7am - 8am
Morning Sit - One simple hour of what we do best - just sitting. Optional five minute stretch break offered in the middle.
See y’all soon!
Love,
ACZC