Where'd the Glow Go??

ACZC Happenings, 11/4 - 11/10

“You see the problems with the system, problems with teachers, and problems with yourself and realize, none of us can quite live up to what we're teaching here. But if I want do something actually good in the world, I can't think of anything more beneficial than providing a quiet empty room where everyone can do whatever they need to do to find some peace.“ - Dave Cuomo

Hello Sangha!

Y’all, we’ve got a lore question for any of you Buddhist mythology geeks out there we’d love to try to crowdsource some answers on. A member of our graphics team (who pitched this week’s cartoon) sold us on a lovely little story where Buddha, many many lifetimes ago, was born into hell (for unspecified reasons…) and one day saw someone struggling to push their cart of lava rocks (or whatever they haul in hell) and decided to give that poor tired person a hand. Supposedly this was his first good deed that got him moving up the karmic ladder to eventual Buddha-hood. By some accounts, this would be the first good deed of our age, and it meant that we could all then follow in Buddha’s foot steps and start moving up the ladder instead of just ever downward. It’s a nice story, but after much searching, we could find absolutely no source for it. Did our intern make it up just to have an excuse to draw some hellfire?? Or does anyone out there know where it might come from?? Feel free to write in if you’ve got any hot leads…

In other hot news, it’s a big week here at ACZC as it’s the First Saturday of the Month (tomorrow 11/4) where you are cordially invited to join us for Half Day Sit at 10am featuring some sweet, sweet zazen, a short and sweet Well Being Ceremony for all of our friends who could use some well wishes, a little talk and kava java, a quick brunch with some homemade GIANT English Muffin, and then we’re back for two more rounds of zazen. As always feel free to join for as much or as little of the day as you’re able.

If anyone (who you know personally) is sick or otherwise in need of good health well wishes, you can add their names here (form at the bottom of the page) and we will be happy to include them in this month’s Well Being Dedication.

And then this Friday we will be heading up the mountain for our Fall Retreat (!!) and we are so very excited to see y’all up there for a little quality quiet time together. We will still be hosting morning zazen this Friday morning here at the center as per usual, but there will be no ceremony and breakfast that day as we pack up and head out. But the good news is that this coming Saturday (11/11) there will still be a 10am sit at the center as usual thanks to Emily Eslami who has graciously offered to host here so we can all still sit together.

Also! Registration for the Zoom Retreat Option is still available if you’d like to join us from the comfort of home.

But speaking of glowing screens of goodness, this week on the podcast we are very pleased to bring you Where’d the Glow Go? (Morality) w/ Dave Cuomo. Dave looks at morality in part two of his series on the paramitas, and tries to figure out what makes a good person and if that’s actually something worth aspiring to, while indulging in a little salacious storytelling of monks behaving badly along the way. How can we be good if there’s no such thing as good and evil? Is Zen amoral? Can a hypocritical, highly flawed, and all too human tradition somehow still be a font of perfect virtue? Find out here!

Up now at http://aczc.org/aczcpodcast or on all your favorite podcast platforms.

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And hey, here’s a koan for the week:

Case in point:
The Diamond Sutra says, “If someone is mean to you, that’s just their bad karma born from beginningless time causing them to fall into a world of hate. By enduring their nastiness, the bad karma is exhausted and perfect enlightenment is realized.”

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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 - 11/3 at 10am
Half Day Sit w/ Dave Cuomo - Our biggest day of the month! Two half hour rounds of zazen, a short Well Being Service to wish well to all who could use it, and then Dave takes the hot seat to talk about the third paramita, patience. It’s the talk we’ve all been waiting for (ever so patiently). After the talk we’ll break for lunch (giant english muffins with persimmons we hear??), and then we’re back for two more rounds of that sweet sweet zazen. As always feel free to come for as much or as little of the day as you like. We’ll see y’all there.

Monday - 11/5 at 7:30pm
Sit & Talk w/ Mota Mynttinen - One half hour of zazen and then our good friend Mota takes the hot seat to talk about desires and attachment. They say it’s the root of all suffering. They also say it’s unavoidable. Can Mota help us find a way out of the ties that bind us?? Let’s find out.

Wednesday - 11/7 at 7:30pm (Zoom Only)
Sit & Koan Discussion - This week! People are mean. And having someone or something to blame ALWAYS makes us feel better. Right? Right…??? Let’s discuss

Thursday - 11/8 at 7pm (Zoom Only)
Yoga & Zazen w/ Nina Snow - And Nina is back for one hour of Slow Flow Zen Yoga perfectly designed to open up our hips and hearts to help make our zazen that much sweeter (and quite likely, a whole lot easier). Join us!

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. (No Friday morning ceremony and breakfast this week (though there will still be the usual zazen) while we pack up and head up the mountain. See y’all on the slopes!)

See y’all soon!

Love,
ACZC