The Corpse of Wisdom
⚡️ ACZC Happenings, 7/27 - 8/11 ⚡️
“If we want to be true to the tradition of Zen, what were the ancients doing? They were throwing away tradition and recreating it for their time and place. And it worked gangbusters.” - Dave Cuomo
Hello Sangha!
So we talk a lot about the upsides and downsides (and nonsides) of meditation around here, and one of the upsides I know is the odd bursts of creativity I can get. It’s kind of uncanny the ideas one can think up when busy not thinking about them. But a downside might be feeling all loosened up to go run with whatever those ideas were after standing up... Like, say, the image above. When I was off in the monastery it was clearly hilarious, and maybe even hard hitting, and really wanted to be our next t-shirt design this fall. But now I’m back here at the desk in sunny grounded(?) LA like, hmm, what was that about exactly again? (Also not sure if the eyes are wild enough to really sell it) But, it still wanted to be drawn, so it was, but if you would want that as a t-shirt, feel free to let us know before we (literally) head back to the drawing board.
But speaking of just being, the big news over here is that we will be closed for the next two weeks for a brief summer break! It’s the dog days of summer, and everyone’s been busting serious butt this year, so we’re going on a brief holiday. BUT! We will still be open for the weekday morning meditation thanks to dedicated volunteers Robert and Julian, so feel free join them by tuning in or dropping by Tuesday through Friday mornings 7am - 8am for the next two weeks. And otherwise we will miss you all dearly and look forward to seeing you again when we reopen Monday August 12th with our full schedule. (Also yes, we are still open tomorrow (Saturday 7/26, 10am) for Sit & Discussion as usual.)
But speaking of taking time to reflect on the next step before stumbling over it, this week on the podcast we are very excited to bring you The Corpse of Wisdom (Monastery Report pt 1) w/ Dave Cuomo. Dave returns home from his final round of monastery training with a few thoughts on this whole Zen thing (and a two parter of a talk). This week! The historical context of monks and how and why we train them (next week - personal stories…). Is what we call classical Zen practice actually just obedience training for unruly adolescents? Have we misunderstood Buddhism entirely? How did monasticism go from being a loose group of sincere seekers to a position of institutional prestige? And did the policies meant to cynically destroy Zen ironically save it, or did they work and now we’re just sitting in the corpse of wisdom? Find out here!
Up now at http://aczc.org/aczcpodcast or on all your favorite podcast platforms.
And stay tuned for part 2 up next week!
These Weeks 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 - 7/27, 10am - 12:30pm
Sit & Discussion w/ Emily Eslami - Two half hour rounds of zazen, one walking meditation in the middle, and then Emily returns to the hot seat for another deep dive into Shunryu Suzuki’s classic Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. What masterful hot takes on the unmasterable will she have for us this month? Let’s find out! See y’all there.
Friday - 8/2 & 8/9, 8am
Morning Chanting Service - Poetry for the ages! Come on out and lend us your voice.
Tuesday - Friday (7/30 - 8/9), 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