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All Beings will continue with our reading group!  This has been a fun way for folks to get together and talk about the practice in an informal environment, and with tea and cookies!

For Sunday, May 29th, we’re reading How the Swans Came to the Lake, by Rick Fields.  It’s an overview of how Buddhism has mingled with ‘western’ cultures and specifically the US.  Pretty engaging read, I can assure you, and it should provide ample material for discussion.  For the 29th, we’ll focus on the first half of the book, roughly.

We’ll meet at the All Beings Zendo space at 8 am.  Contact Inryu for more info if you need it.

Here are some helpful links.  Libraries and local bookstores are encouraged, but there’s always used copies on Amazon too.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/24955175

Hope to see you there!  These are both pleasantly serious and engaging and very non-stuffy.

Sam

John Flanagan
April 4 at 1:17pm

In Zen, we say “When we eat in peace, we create the conditions for peace.” All of this starts in the kitchen, under the direction of the Tenzo. On Sunday, I had the great opportunity to watch the chefs of All Beings Zen, under the direction of Inryu Bobbi Ponce-Barger, create oryoki lunch for the Sanga during a one-day workshop at Woodburn Hill Farm. Watching Buddhists prepare food is an experience unlike any other (and eating the food is, too!)

Hi Everyone – Dairyu Michael Wenger would love to have us do this book for book club.  He’s been studying it lately and will be giving a talk on it when he comes back to DC in April.

It seems the best way to procure a copy is via Amazon.

Thanks everyone!  This should be a fun one!

Sam

Sutra copying is considered a merit in Buddhism. Other meritorious practices included the memorization and recitation of sutras. The effort of sutra copying is considered an expression of piety, and recognized as a devotional practice, since it comprises worship, literature, and calligraphy. Since early in history, it was also not uncommon for people to sponsor monks and nuns to recite or copy sutras, thus indirectly cultivating merit in one’s ancestors, family, and self by transference.

The practice of sutra copying originated in China. Sutra copying was imported to Korea in the third century.[During the Nara period (710-794) in Japan, the practice of sutra copying became very popular in society. —from Wikipedia

Sangha member Gilligan has generously donated Heart Sutra tracing papers from Korea for us.

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Wonderful Gathering of the All Beings Zen Sangha for our first Meditation Retreat of 2016 at Woodburn Hill Farm.

Rev. Inryu was the visiting teacher for the Empty Hand Zen Center in New Rochelle NY from Jan 10-12th, 2016, while their guiding teacher Rev. Konin Cardenas was in San Francisco for her transmission ceremony.

Taking the All Beings Zen Practice into the Mountains of Virginia last Wednesday. A group of us spent 4 1/2 hours on the BlueRidge Mountain and Appalachian Mountain trails: sitting two periods of zazen, sharing a quiet period of hiking and enjoying discussions about Dharma and practice throughout the remaining hike and on the drive to and from our homes.