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Archive for the ‘Zen Buddhism’ Category

Humans, Nature and Philosophy – Video

Posted: November 7, 2014 at 1:53 pm


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Humans, Nature and Philosophy
Although suspicious at first discovering the writings of Alan Watts, perceiving Zen Buddhism to be a religion rather than a philosophy, I have been so impres...

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Humans, Nature and Philosophy - Video

Written by simmons

November 7th, 2014 at 1:53 pm

Posted in Zen Buddhism

Experience Buddhist practice in Johnson City

Posted: November 3, 2014 at 12:46 am


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A local meditation center offers opportunities to practice Buddhism (freeimages.com)

If you have ever been curious about Buddhism or have been looking for a place around Johnson City to study Buddhism, fret not.

There is a place where one can learn about Buddhism and actively practice Buddhism right here in Johnson City.

It is the Appalachia Dharma and Meditation Center.

There are a few groups that meet weekly that might be of interest to you.

The first is Zen Buddhism.

Zen Buddhism encourages the study of scripture and ritual, but it also focuses on self-realization and freedom.

They also practice a method of sitting meditation called zazen.

This group meets every Sunday from 5-6:30 p.m. if interested.

There is also a Western Buddhist practice that is offered frequently at the meditation center.

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Experience Buddhist practice in Johnson City

Written by simmons

November 3rd, 2014 at 12:46 am

Posted in Zen Buddhism

Zen Buddhism on Meditation Movi – Video

Posted: October 31, 2014 at 3:48 pm


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Zen Buddhism on Meditation Movi
Visit us at http://www.SpiritualA, poet and Buddhist author practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. He is a Dharma heir of Sojun Mel Weitsman, from whom...

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Zen Buddhism on Meditation Movi - Video

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October 31st, 2014 at 3:48 pm

Posted in Zen Buddhism

Japanese Zen Buddhism and the Impossible Painting – Video

Posted: October 30, 2014 at 3:52 pm


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Japanese Zen Buddhism and the Impossible Painting
Lecture by Professor Yukio Lippit September 23, 2014, The Getty Center Created by the Zen monk-painter Josetsu for the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimochi, The Gourd ...

By: Getty Research Institute

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Japanese Zen Buddhism and the Impossible Painting - Video

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October 30th, 2014 at 3:52 pm

Posted in Zen Buddhism

Jerry Brown in the 21st Century

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It is ironic that while supporters of Hillary Clinton worry that her relatively advanced age will become an issue in the 2016 presidential election, the one Democrat with a legitimate chance of beating her in a primary campaign will most probably not run because he is too old. Imagine if Ms. Clintons possible opponents were not either relative unknowns seeking to plant a flag for the future like Maryland Governor Martin OMalley, or minor candidates unable to mount a serious campaign like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, but a governor coming off a landslide reelection victory in 2014, who already enjoys national name recognition and a reputation as a progressive and an innovator, has experience balancing budgets and navigating national disasters, and is chief executive of a state thats size and diversity outstrips that of most countries. Imagine also that governor had served two terms as mayor of one of the countrys poorest and most crime-ridden cities, where he was viewed as one of the best chief executives in that citys rocky history, before being elected attorney general and then governor of his state.

Jerry Brown is likely going to eschew a fourth campaign for the presidency because he would be 78 by Election Day 2016. That decision would mean that Mr. Brown is one of the most successful politicians in American history never to have been president. Assuming he is reelected in November polls show him leading by more than 20 points Mr. Brown will have won statewide election seven times, including four terms as governor. In October of 2013, hebecame the longest serving governor in the history of the most populous state in the U.S. Including his two terms as mayor of Oakland, Mr. Brown has run for office in California nine times and won every time but one, losing a senate race to Pete Wilson in 1982.

Mr. Browns personal history is even more intriguing and at times has overshadowed his political career. As a young man, he attended a Jesuit seminary before deciding he was more suited to the family business than to the cloth. Mr. Browns father, Pat Brown, was a popular governor of California who served two terms from 1959-1966. In the 1950s, many thought the senior Brown, not John F. Kennedy, would be the first Catholic president of the U.S. The first Governor Brown was the man who beat Richard Nixon in the 1962 governors race in the Golden State, leading to the famous post-election press conference in which the future president promised the American people they wont have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore. Four years later Pat Brown was thrown out of office by the voters in favor of another extraordinarily gifted California politician, Ronald Reagan. Politics runs deep in the Brown family. Jerrys sister, Kathleen Brown, was the California treasurer in the early 1990s and the Democratic nominee for governor in 1994.

Mr.Brown, however, was never viewed as an ordinary politician. Outside of California, the younger Governor Brown was seen by many as the hippie governor from the left coast full of unusual ideas. Inside California, Mr. Brown just kept winning electionswith acareer and reputation thattranscended 1970s politics. He became almost a stand-in for how the eastern establishment viewed California at that time. Mr. Brown was also immortalized by the seminal San Francisco punk rock band the Dead Kennedys. In their punk anthem California Uber Alles, a song that eerily foreshadows some of the culture wars of the early 21st century, the Dead Kennedys warned of a dsytopic hippie California led by FhrerJerry Brown whose aura smiles and never frowns, the suede denim secret police, and zen fascists who would come for your uncool niece, and make sure that your kids will meditate in school.

The central dialectic of Mr. Browns life has been that his spiritual quests, openness to new ideas and intellectual curiosity have coexisted with extraordinary political skills and instincts. Chuck McFadden, author of Trailblazer, a 2013 biography of Mr. Brown, sums up this duality well: Jerry Brown is a guy who can go to a Zen retreat in Big Sur and in the car on the way home, plot the brutal political downfall of a rival. He is at the same time an idealist and an immensely pragmatic and knowledgeable politician.He has an uncanny ability, Mr.McFadden continues, to understand the psyche of voters. He is really attuned more than any other politician Ive ever met. He has an above and beyond ability to unlock voters minds. Charles Fracchia, a well known San Francisco historian and author, who first met Brown when they were attending different Bay Area Catholic High Schools in 1951, and later studied at Jesuit seminary with Brown beginning in 1956, describes the same phenomenon. Jerry is kind of detached and removed. Platos idea of the philosopher king fits closely to JerryHe also know where the bodies are buried and what to do and what not to do.

A related paradox of Mr. Brown is that while his reputation outside of California is informed heavily by his exploration of Zen Buddhism and dalliance with new age philosophies, those who know Mr. Brown best understand his deepest intellectual and spiritual roots are in Jesuit teachings. Mr. Fracchia, who still remembers the day he picked up Mr. Brown at seminary when the latter decided to leave the Jesuits, stresses the tremendous imprint the Jesuits gave us, and described a recent phone call from the governor who wanted to discuss books he was reading on the third century Christian saints Felicity and Perpetua and asks How many governors, or even academics, read about early Christian subjects like that?

Mr.Brown, who is now 76 years old, has had such an extraordinary career, that if you divided his career in half, from 1966-1992 and from 1998-2014, you would have two very formidable politicians. The early Jerry Brown was Californias Secretary of State for one term before serving two terms as governor, winning election in 1974 and getting reelected in 1978. During this time he also launched unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 1976, 1980 and 1992. Over the course of his three bids for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Brown ran against almost every major Democratic candidate after Lyndon Johnson and before Barack Obama. His primary opponents included George Wallace, Jimmy Carter, Hubert Humphrey andBillClinton. Mr. Brown never won the Democratic nomination, but did well in the late primaries in 1976 and came somewhat close to upsetting the heavily favored Mr. Clinton in an often bitter 1992 campaign, finishing second in overall proportion of the primary vote both years. After the 1992 primary, most assumed Mr. Brown would continue to follow his own unique path but never be a relevant political figure again. The story did not turn out quite that way.

As Californias governor in the 70s, Mr. Brown, a native of San Francisco, then considered a bastion of radicalism, was known for crazy ideas like treating gay people decently and conserving natural resources. He cultivated this image by doing wacky things like eschewing formality, refusing to live in the governors mansion, being driven around in an ordinary Plymouth sedan, dating Linda Rondstadt, a popular singer of the era, discussing things like energy conservation, and legalizing alternative medicine. Mr. Brown earned the nickname Governor Moonbeam during those years. The name was first given to him by the Chicago columnist Mike Royko largely because Mr.Brown had the bizarre idea that people should use satellite technology to communicate with each other. To his credit, Mr. Royko later apologized for ridiculingMr. Brown, noting that, ultimately, Governor Moonbeam proved to beright.

Although Governor Brown became a national figure during this period, his first eight years in the officewere not entirely successful. A powerful legislature often blocked hismore ambitious proposals, making many of his best ideas difficult to translate into policy. Even then, however, Governor Brown was a social progressive, who appointed diverse supporters including Latinos, Asians and LGBT Californians to influential positions while also remaining a fiscal conservative. Ted Lempert, a lecturer in California politics at UC Berkeley and a member of the California assembly between Governor Browns terms, described his first term as, Back then the positive view was ahead of his time. More realistic view (was) not organized, bad relationships with the legislature. Overall, voters were sufficiently unimpressed with those eight years that they did not elect Governor Brown to the Senate in 1982, a year that nationally was otherwise a good one for the Democratic Party.

After losing that Senate race, Mr. Browns political life seemed to be if not over, than at least in crisis. Rather than immediately get back into politics, Mr.Brown spent several years of spiritual exploration including time in Japan studying Zen Buddhism and a stint in Calcutta helping Mother Teresa serve the poor. Those years only confirmed the views of many, particularly outside of Mr. Browns northern California base, that the man was slightly nutty. His return to politics in time to run for the Democratic nomination for president in 1992 dissuaded few of this notion.

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Jerry Brown in the 21st Century

Written by simmons

October 30th, 2014 at 3:52 pm

Posted in Zen Buddhism

Frequently Asked Questions from alt.zen – ibiblio

Posted: October 27, 2014 at 11:55 pm


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What's in this FAQ? Zen is short for Zen Buddhism. It is sometimes called a religion and sometimes called a philosophy. Choose whichever term you prefer; it simply doesn't matter.

Historically, Zen Buddhism originates in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Around 500 B.C. he was a prince in what is now India. At the age of 29, deeply troubled by the suffering he saw around him, he renounced his privileged life to seek understanding. After 6 years of struggling as an ascetic he finally achieved Enlightenment at age 35. After this he was known as the Buddha (meaning roughly "one who is awake"). In a nutshell, he realized that everything is subject to change and that suffering and discontentment are the result of attachment to circumstances and things which, by their nature, are impermanent. By ridding oneself of these attachments, including attachment to the false notion of self or "I", one can be free of suffering.

The teachings of the Buddha have, to this day, been passed down from teacher to student. Around 475 A.D. one of these teachers, Bodhidharma, traveled from India to China and introduced the teachings of the Buddha there. In China Buddhism mingled with Taoism. The result of this mingling was the Ch'an School of Buddhism. Around 1200 A.D. Ch'an Buddhism spread from China to Japan where it is called (at least in translation) Zen Buddhism.

Shashu is performed by placing the thumbtip of the left hand as close to the left palm as comfortable and making a fist around it. Place the fist in the center of the chest and cover it with the right hand. Keep the elbows away from the body with the forearms parallel to the floor.

Isshu is the same as shashu but with the left fist turned thumb side toward the chest. Left fist and thumb are parallel to the floor and not vertical as in shashu.

Hokkaijoin (Cosmic Mudra) is performed in the following manner. Place your right hand palm upward in your lap against the lower abdomen. Place the left hand palm upward on top of the right. The second joints of the middle fingers should be touching, and your fingers parallel. Raise the thumbs up opposite the fingers and touch the thumb tips lightly together; forming an oval between the thumbs and fingers. The thumb tips should join at the approximate level of the navel. In some Tibetan teaching lines the right hand is placed on top of the left.

Place a thick mat (zaniku or zabuton) in front of the wall and place a small round cushion (zafu) on it. Sit on it facing the wall. There are several positions for the legs. If not too cold sit with bare feet. Leave your wristwatch off.

The cross legged positions provide greatest stability. To sit in full lotus, place the right foot on the left thigh and then the left foot on the right thigh. To sit in half lotus place your left foot on your right thigh. Try to cross the legs firmly so that a stable tripod of support is provided by the knees and the base of the spine. The order of the crossing of the legs may be reversed. It is also possible to simply sit on the floor with one foreleg in front of the other or kneeling using a bench or a cushion. To sit in a chair, place the feet flat on the floor and use a cushion to elevate the seat so that the upper thighs fall away from the body and follow the rest of the applicable instructions.

Rest the knees firmly on the zaniku, straighten the lower back, push the buttocks outward and the hips forward, and straighten your spine. Pull in your chin and extend the neck as though to support the ceiling. The ears and shoulders should be in the same plane with the nose directly above the navel. Straighten the back and relax shoulders, back, and abdomen without changing posture.

Keep the mouth closed placing the tongue with the tip just behind the front teeth and the rest of the tongue as close to the roof of the mouth as comfortable. Keep the eyes at least slightly open cast downward at a 45 degree angle without focusing on anything. If closed you may slip into drowsiness or daydreaming.

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Frequently Asked Questions from alt.zen - ibiblio

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October 27th, 2014 at 11:55 pm

Posted in Zen Buddhism

ZEN BUDDHISM | What is Zen Buddhism? What is Zen meditation?

Posted: October 21, 2014 at 2:51 pm


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Trying to explain or define Zen Buddhism, by reducing it to a book, to a few definitions, or to a website is illusion. Instead, it freezes Zen in time and space, thereby weakening its meaning.

Defining Zen is like trying to describe the taste of honey to someone who has never tasted it before. You can try to explain the texture and scent of honey, or you can try to compare and correlate it with similar foods. However, honey is honey! As long as you have not tasted it, you are in the illusion of what honey is.

The same goes with Zen, because Zen Buddhism is a practice that needs to be experienced, not a concept that you can intellectualize or understand with your brain. The information that we'll give here won't cover all of what of Zen is, but is a starting point to the Zen experience.

Zen Buddhism is, first and foremost, a practice that was uninterruptedly transmitted from master to disciple, and that goes back to the spiritual awakening (Satori in Japanese) of a man named Siddharta Gautama (Shakyamuni Gotama in Japanese) - The Buddha- 2500 years ago in India.

Zen is Zazen or Zen meditation (za meaning sitting, and Zen meaning meditation in Japanese), or seated meditation. That is, it is a way of vigilance and self-discovery which is practiced while sitting on a cushion. It is the experience of living from moment to moment, in the here and now.

Zazen is an attitude of spiritual awakening, which when practiced, can become the source from which all the actions of daily life flow- eating, sleeping, breathing, walking, working, talking, thinking, and so on.

Zen Buddhism is not a theory, an idea, or a piece of knowledge. It is not a belief, a dogma, or a religion; but rather, it is a practical experience. We cannot intellectually grasp Zen, because human intelligence and wisdom is too limited- the dojo (the hall where Zazen is practiced) is different from the university.

Zen is not a moral teaching, and as it is without dogma, it does not require one to believe in anything. A true spiritual path does not tell people what to believe in, rather it shows them how to think; or, in the case of Zen- what not to think.

Zen Buddhism also rejects metaphysical theories and rituals, and focuses entirely on the practice of Zazen. Zen is very simple. It is so simple, in fact, that it's very difficult to grasp.

In the silence of the dojo, simply sit down, stop moving, and let go your thoughts. Focus just on your Zazen posture and your breathing. Keep your back straight. Let your ego and your unconscious mind melt away, merge with the universe. This is Zen.

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ZEN BUDDHISM | What is Zen Buddhism? What is Zen meditation?

Written by simmons

October 21st, 2014 at 2:51 pm

Posted in Zen Buddhism

Zen Garland A Community and Order for Zen Practice …

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ZEN GARLAND A COMMUNITY FOR ZEN A welcoming community hosting daily Zen mediation, classes, workshops, retreats, and spiritual guidance, different locations in the US and Germany

ZEN GARLAND ZEN EDUCATION offering paths in spiritual development, spiritual activism for social justice, teaching Zen, and ordination tracks

ZEN GARLAND SOCIAL ACTION PROJECTS assisting individuals and communities develop the skills and resources they need to help themselves

ZEN GARLANDS SANCTUARY working together on purpose, values, practices, liturgy, standards and certifications for training and empowerments,residential programs

Zen Garland is created to help fulfill our vows to awaken all creation, and on Roshi Genki's vows to educate and empower Dharma Successors who embody enlightenment and Zen Garland's mission.

Zen Garland is committed to developing social service projects and nurturing the spiritual transformation of individuals, families and communities. Zen Garland offers holistic spiritual development under the guidance of our Dharma Successors through a strong curriculum of residential and public practice delivered in daily meditation sessions, retreats, classes and workshops. The Zen Garland Way is based on six core practices: Zen meditation, study with Zen Garland Teachers, embodiment practices, Focusing for Emotional Intelligence, Ethics, and Service. In addition to our General Path for spiritual development, we offer four specialized Paths: Zen Buddhism, Christian Zen. Red Path (Native American) Zen and Aikido Zen.

Our training place is the world and daily life, not a refuge from it. Our approach is to practice with all aspects of our lives, including the complex dimensions of our emotions, sexuality, relationships and work.

Zen Garland has a General Path that serves as a foundation for spiritual development uniting us all. This Path offers a holistic, phased approach to spiritual development in the following areas: Zen Meditation, Spiritual Guidance with Zen Garland Teachers, Ethics, and Social Service, Embodiment, Character Development, and study of Zen Buddhist and other spiritual sources and commentaries.

In addition we offer four advanced Practice Paths Zen Buddhism, Christian Zen, Native American Zen and Aikido Zen. Each of these Paths offer unique Expressions for Spiritual Development, Teaching and Ordination.

Zen Garland maintains intensive study and practice throughout the year, seven days a week, with multiple daily Zen meditation periods, daily liturgy, and classes. Residential Trainees and Members have private, personal study with all our lineage-holding teachers and an intensive training schedule, which includes the elements of our holistic model of spiritual development.

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Zen Garland A Community and Order for Zen Practice ...

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October 21st, 2014 at 2:51 pm

Posted in Zen Buddhism

Quotes About Zen Buddhism (28 quotes) – Goodreads

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When you break something, is your first impulse to throw it away? Or do you repair it but feel a sadness because it is no longer "perfect"? Whatever the case, you might want to consider the way the Japanese treated the items used in their tea ceremony. Even though they were made from the simplest materials... these teacups and bowls were revered for their plain lines and spiritual qualities. There were treated with the utmost care, integrity and respect.

For this reason, a cup from the tea ceremony was almost never broken. When an accident did occur and a cup was broken, there were certain instances in which the cup was repaired with gold.

Rather than trying to restore it in a what they would cover the gace that it ahad been broken, the cracks were celebrated in a bold and spirited way. The thin paths of shining gold completely encircled the ceramic cup, announcing to the world that the cup was broken and repaired and vulnerable to change.

And in this way, its value was even further enhanced. Gary Thorp, Sweeping Changes: Discovering the Joy of Zen in Everyday Tasks

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Quotes About Zen Buddhism (28 quotes) - Goodreads

Written by simmons

October 21st, 2014 at 2:51 pm

Posted in Zen Buddhism

Cuban poet Omar Perez to share his work Tuesday in Tuscaloosa

Posted: October 20, 2014 at 12:47 pm


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Cuban Omar Perez is a renowned poet, musician, artist and translator.

Though he speaks only passable Spanish, Hank Lazer found, on one of his four trips to Cuba, a spiritual-artistic brother in Omar Perez.

Lazer, recently retired from the University of Alabama, sought out the renowned poet, musician, artist and translator in part because of their shared study of Zen Buddhism, but also because both experiment with forms in their writing.

Like mine, his poetry changes all the time, from book to book. A restless poet, always kind of interrogating medium, not one to stick with a form, Lazer said. Hes now much more interested in what he refers to as improvisation, the intersection of theater, dance, music and poetry.

Those crossroads center in Tuscaloosa this week, as Perez comes to UA for a weeklong residency, highlighted by a poetry reading and musical performance at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion, 1305 Greensboro Ave., in downtown Tuscaloosa. Its free and open to the public.

This trip to Alabama wouldnt be possible without my participation in Iowas IWP (International Writing Program, where hes in residence this semester), Perez wrote in an email correspondence.

On the other hand, Hank and Andrew Raffo Dewar (also a boundary-pushing musician, assistant director of UAs Creative Campus and assistant professor of interdisciplinary arts in New College and the School of Music) and Steve Miller (UA professor and coordinator of the master of fine arts book arts program) were visiting Havana relatively recently and we have had the chance to collaborate in my hometown.

Now its time to do it the other way around, and Im very pleased to do so.

The Tuesday event will emphasize what he calls ... the performative side of poetry.

The performance consists of a series of poems and songs accompanied by the cajn drum (a six-sided, boxlike percussion instrument) as well as a few poems to be read in English, which is how they were originally written, Perez wrote.

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Cuban poet Omar Perez to share his work Tuesday in Tuscaloosa

Written by simmons

October 20th, 2014 at 12:47 pm

Posted in Zen Buddhism


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