All events at 4 Montague Road, Leverett, unless otherwise noted. Dixon House behind Leverett Congregational Church
FEE-BASED EVENTS (Registration required: dantikapm@gmail.com or 413-588-8053)
SPRING RETREAT
Thursday, April 18-Saturday, April 20
Led by Roshi Eve and
Sensei Sally Sonen Kealy
4 Montague Road, Leverett
Please register for our Spring Sesshin, which will begin on Thursday morning and will end after a Denkai ceremony for Tom Daijo Redden on Saturday. The retreat will include talks by the teachers and face-to-face opportunities to study. This will be an open retreat, meaning you may come for any number of days, 8:30 am to 6:00 pm Thursday and Friday and 8:30 am to 3pm on Saturday when Daijo’s Denkai Ceremony begins. We will send out a full schedule closer to the retreat. There will be snacks available all day. Please plan to eat breakfast and dinner at home. Bring a bag lunch.Fee for the 3-Day Retreat: $100 members/$125 non-members
Fee for single days: $35 members/$45 non-members
Dana will be asked on behalf of the teachers. Scholarships are available so please let the registrar know if you want financial assistance.
Even if you can’t attend the retreat, all are still welcome to attend Tom Daijo’s ceremony starting at 3 pm on Saturday, April 20, with celebration and refreshments to follow.
For registration, questions, and scholarship requests, please contact Dantika: dantikapm@gmail.com, 413-588-8053.
PRECEPTS STUDY
April 4 - November 14
Thursdays, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
led by Suzanne Shunryo Webber
location TBA
Join us in study of the Zen Peacemakers Precepts including the Three Tenets and the Five Committments. Our study will include the practice of Council to explore the precepts as living vows which help our lives develop fully and ethically. It is possible to follow this study with a Precepts Vows ceremony, or Jukai. Jukai will take place during our December sesshin, and preparation includes the process of hand-sewing your rakusu.
Fee for Precepts Study: $120
Fee for Jukai: $108: Includes instructions and materials.
Register with Suzanne: suzanne@brooksbendfarm.com.
April 11 - Intro to Precepts
April 25 - Precept 1, Non-killing
May 2 - Precept 2, Non-stealing
May 16 - Precept 3, Chaste Conduct
June 6 - Precept 4, Non-Lying
June 20 - Precept 5, Not Being Deluded by the Use of Intoxicants
July 11 - Precept 6, Not Talking About Other's Errors and Faults
September 5 - Precept 7, Not Elevating Myself and Blaming Others
September 19 - Precept 8, Not Being Stingy
October 3 - Precept 9, Not Being Angry
October 17 - Precept 10, Not Thinking Ill of the Three Treasures
November 14 - The 5 Commitments and Taking of Vows
ONE-DAY RETREATS
January 26, February 23, and March 30
9:00am - 3:00pm
Led by Roshi Eve
Meditation, talk, and face-to-face. Coffee, tea and snacks available.
Fee: Members: $35, non-members: $45. Donations will be requested on behalf of the teacher.
Contact Dantika to register: dantikapm@gmail.com or 413-588-8053
_________________________________________________________________________
FREE EVENTS, NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED (donation appreciated):
WINTER INTENSIVE: CEREMONY: A DAILY PRACTICE
with entering ceremony on Tuesday, January 22, 8:00 pm
“Unquestionably, liturgy requires a degree of faith. This whole practice requires faith … because, initially, nothing that we’re doing has been verified by our own experience.” John Daido Loori
This winter intensive will be dedicated to the services we do as part of our Zen training. Some people dislike participating in ceremony or service because it reminds them of their religious upbringing and participating in mindless rituals. But if ritual is about making the invisible visible, making the sacred a matter of everydayness, then there’s nothing mindless about it; in fact, it’s the most mindful activity we can do.
As we chant the Heart Sutra or Identity of Relative and Absolute, we are describing reality from the enlightened point of view. At times it may feel contrived because we’re not completely sure that it is reality. We’d like to be surer about that, have an experience that clearly indicates that Form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form. That is why Daido Roshi hits the mark so well above when he invokes faith in his book Brining the Sacred to Life.
I invite all of us this winter to open up our minds and inquire: What is ceremony? What is ritual? Examine topics such as chanting in a group, bowing, making dedications, giving away merit, and invoking lineage. Examine the possibility of ceremony in our everyday life as well, including committing to doing a home service and dedicating its merits to our family and the people in our life.
By all means, let’s use the winter intensive to re-dedicate ourselves to meditation practice. But let’s also use it to enact practice-realization, to show that everything we do can be ceremonial expression of the teachings. We don’t have to wait for our understanding to catch up, we can enact these teachings in ritual.
108 DAYS OF MEDITATION
January 22 - May 10
Entering ceremony Tuesday, January 22 and ending ceremony on Tuesday, May 7
led by Nancy Inzan Eichenlaub
Once again we have the opportunity to support each other by making the commitment to meditate every day, from January 22 to May 10. All are welcome to join us. We will have an opening ceremony Tuesday evening, January 22, at our weekly zen group at the Dixon house, Leverett. If you wish to join but are unable to attend please let me, Inzan, know and I will add you to our jar of shells representing those who make the commitment. Since I am not on social media, our group may be smaller this year; but if you know anyone who might be interested, please have them contact me or put in a shell for them yourself at the opening ceremony.
The goal is primarily to strengthen our meditation practice by agreeing to meditate every day for 108 days. The traditional practice is one hour per day but if you cannot do this, then commit to an amount of time that you can do. The key is consistency and to build one’s practice. You can break daily meditation into two or more periods; walking meditation can be included. One or two missed days are acceptable, although it is preferable to squeeze in at least some minutes of meditation practice on those days.
If you are unable to fully keep your commitment, I encourage you to continue to try to do your best for the entire 108 days. Personally I find this commitment to be very helpful. My practice tends to slacken a little during the busy holiday season, and my commitment helps me to get my practice back on track. When I was traveling for six weeks last year, I was motivated to sit every day, and when that was not possible, to squeeze in at least 5 to 10 minutes.
We will have a closing ceremony on Tuesday, May 7, to honor those who have undertaken this commitment, although technically the last day of the 108 days is May 10.
Inzan’s email: naeichen@comcast.net. Inzan’s phone: 413-588-6456
TALK BY ROSHI GROVER GENRO GAUNTT
Saturday, January 12, 9:00 am-10:00 am, after meditation
Roshi Genro Gauntt will give a dharma talk with special focus on working with indigenous peoples and his latest trip into the Amazon to meet with an indigenous tribe.
Roshi Grover Genro Gauntt, is a Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order and a dharma successor of Roshi Bernie Glassman. He started studying with Maezumi Roshi at the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 1971 and served as Board Chairman there from 1987 to 1997. After receiving an MBA in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he formed Western Property Research, a real estate consulting firm that operated from 1984 to 1997. He was baptized as a Congregationalist and raised as a Presbyterian. His Native American interests include a long relationship with the Oglala Lakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He continues to practice and study in the Ramakrishna Order of Hinduism and loves to participate in Sufi Dhikr. He leads street retreats wherever invited and co-leads a variety of bearing witness retreats internationally. His home practice place is the Hudson River Peacemaker Center in Yonkers, New York.
TALK BY TOM REDDEN
HOW POLITICAL WAS THE BUDDHA?
Tuesday, January 15, 8:00-9:00 pm
Can a 2,500 year old philosophy, such as Buddhism, shed any light on our present political situation in 2018?
Political scientist and Zen Buddhist priest, Tom Redden, PhD, answers this question with a resounding, "yes." In, fact, the Buddha was very political during his many years of teaching. Naked power politics and treachery were as much a part of politics in the Buddha's day as it is today. Professor Redden will discuss some of the political challenges that the Buddha faced as leader of an important religious community in his day, and how they may help us think about our own politics today.
Tom Redden holds a doctorate in political science, as well as graduate degrees in Development Studies and in in Education. He is a Professor of History and Politics at Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vermont. He has been affiliated with Zen Peacemaker lineage (including the Zen Community of New York and Green River Zen Center) since 1980 and was ordained a Zen Peacemaker priest in 2000.
GATE OF SWEET NECTAR
Green River Zen Center usually chants the Gate of Sweet Nectar, the Zen Peacemakers’ liturgy feeding all the hungry ghosts, each month on Saturdays at 9:30 am following meditation. This winter the Gate will only be chanted once, on January 19.
COUNCIL PRACTICE
Green River Zen Center does a monthly council practice on the last Tuesday of every month. It will take place this winter on Tuesdays, January 29, February 26, March 26 and April 30. Council is a circle practice of listening and speaking from the heart. Its foundation is consonant with the Three Tenets of the Zen Peacemakers: Not-knowing, bearing witness, and loving action.
RENEWAL OF VOWS CEREMONY
A ceremony renewing our vows to the Precepts will take place on or close to the full moon on Tuesdays, February 19, and March 19. All are invited to participate.
FEE-BASED EVENTS (Registration required: dantikapm@gmail.com or 413-588-8053)
SPRING RETREAT
Thursday, April 18-Saturday, April 20
Led by Roshi Eve and
Sensei Sally Sonen Kealy
4 Montague Road, Leverett
Please register for our Spring Sesshin, which will begin on Thursday morning and will end after a Denkai ceremony for Tom Daijo Redden on Saturday. The retreat will include talks by the teachers and face-to-face opportunities to study. This will be an open retreat, meaning you may come for any number of days, 8:30 am to 6:00 pm Thursday and Friday and 8:30 am to 3pm on Saturday when Daijo’s Denkai Ceremony begins. We will send out a full schedule closer to the retreat. There will be snacks available all day. Please plan to eat breakfast and dinner at home. Bring a bag lunch.Fee for the 3-Day Retreat: $100 members/$125 non-members
Fee for single days: $35 members/$45 non-members
Dana will be asked on behalf of the teachers. Scholarships are available so please let the registrar know if you want financial assistance.
Even if you can’t attend the retreat, all are still welcome to attend Tom Daijo’s ceremony starting at 3 pm on Saturday, April 20, with celebration and refreshments to follow.
For registration, questions, and scholarship requests, please contact Dantika: dantikapm@gmail.com, 413-588-8053.
PRECEPTS STUDY
April 4 - November 14
Thursdays, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
led by Suzanne Shunryo Webber
location TBA
Join us in study of the Zen Peacemakers Precepts including the Three Tenets and the Five Committments. Our study will include the practice of Council to explore the precepts as living vows which help our lives develop fully and ethically. It is possible to follow this study with a Precepts Vows ceremony, or Jukai. Jukai will take place during our December sesshin, and preparation includes the process of hand-sewing your rakusu.
Fee for Precepts Study: $120
Fee for Jukai: $108: Includes instructions and materials.
Register with Suzanne: suzanne@brooksbendfarm.com.
April 11 - Intro to Precepts
April 25 - Precept 1, Non-killing
May 2 - Precept 2, Non-stealing
May 16 - Precept 3, Chaste Conduct
June 6 - Precept 4, Non-Lying
June 20 - Precept 5, Not Being Deluded by the Use of Intoxicants
July 11 - Precept 6, Not Talking About Other's Errors and Faults
September 5 - Precept 7, Not Elevating Myself and Blaming Others
September 19 - Precept 8, Not Being Stingy
October 3 - Precept 9, Not Being Angry
October 17 - Precept 10, Not Thinking Ill of the Three Treasures
November 14 - The 5 Commitments and Taking of Vows
ONE-DAY RETREATS
January 26, February 23, and March 30
9:00am - 3:00pm
Led by Roshi Eve
Meditation, talk, and face-to-face. Coffee, tea and snacks available.
Fee: Members: $35, non-members: $45. Donations will be requested on behalf of the teacher.
Contact Dantika to register: dantikapm@gmail.com or 413-588-8053
_________________________________________________________________________
FREE EVENTS, NO REGISTRATION REQUIRED (donation appreciated):
WINTER INTENSIVE: CEREMONY: A DAILY PRACTICE
with entering ceremony on Tuesday, January 22, 8:00 pm
“Unquestionably, liturgy requires a degree of faith. This whole practice requires faith … because, initially, nothing that we’re doing has been verified by our own experience.” John Daido Loori
This winter intensive will be dedicated to the services we do as part of our Zen training. Some people dislike participating in ceremony or service because it reminds them of their religious upbringing and participating in mindless rituals. But if ritual is about making the invisible visible, making the sacred a matter of everydayness, then there’s nothing mindless about it; in fact, it’s the most mindful activity we can do.
As we chant the Heart Sutra or Identity of Relative and Absolute, we are describing reality from the enlightened point of view. At times it may feel contrived because we’re not completely sure that it is reality. We’d like to be surer about that, have an experience that clearly indicates that Form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form. That is why Daido Roshi hits the mark so well above when he invokes faith in his book Brining the Sacred to Life.
I invite all of us this winter to open up our minds and inquire: What is ceremony? What is ritual? Examine topics such as chanting in a group, bowing, making dedications, giving away merit, and invoking lineage. Examine the possibility of ceremony in our everyday life as well, including committing to doing a home service and dedicating its merits to our family and the people in our life.
By all means, let’s use the winter intensive to re-dedicate ourselves to meditation practice. But let’s also use it to enact practice-realization, to show that everything we do can be ceremonial expression of the teachings. We don’t have to wait for our understanding to catch up, we can enact these teachings in ritual.
108 DAYS OF MEDITATION
January 22 - May 10
Entering ceremony Tuesday, January 22 and ending ceremony on Tuesday, May 7
led by Nancy Inzan Eichenlaub
Once again we have the opportunity to support each other by making the commitment to meditate every day, from January 22 to May 10. All are welcome to join us. We will have an opening ceremony Tuesday evening, January 22, at our weekly zen group at the Dixon house, Leverett. If you wish to join but are unable to attend please let me, Inzan, know and I will add you to our jar of shells representing those who make the commitment. Since I am not on social media, our group may be smaller this year; but if you know anyone who might be interested, please have them contact me or put in a shell for them yourself at the opening ceremony.
The goal is primarily to strengthen our meditation practice by agreeing to meditate every day for 108 days. The traditional practice is one hour per day but if you cannot do this, then commit to an amount of time that you can do. The key is consistency and to build one’s practice. You can break daily meditation into two or more periods; walking meditation can be included. One or two missed days are acceptable, although it is preferable to squeeze in at least some minutes of meditation practice on those days.
If you are unable to fully keep your commitment, I encourage you to continue to try to do your best for the entire 108 days. Personally I find this commitment to be very helpful. My practice tends to slacken a little during the busy holiday season, and my commitment helps me to get my practice back on track. When I was traveling for six weeks last year, I was motivated to sit every day, and when that was not possible, to squeeze in at least 5 to 10 minutes.
We will have a closing ceremony on Tuesday, May 7, to honor those who have undertaken this commitment, although technically the last day of the 108 days is May 10.
Inzan’s email: naeichen@comcast.net. Inzan’s phone: 413-588-6456
TALK BY ROSHI GROVER GENRO GAUNTT
Saturday, January 12, 9:00 am-10:00 am, after meditation
Roshi Genro Gauntt will give a dharma talk with special focus on working with indigenous peoples and his latest trip into the Amazon to meet with an indigenous tribe.
Roshi Grover Genro Gauntt, is a Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order and a dharma successor of Roshi Bernie Glassman. He started studying with Maezumi Roshi at the Zen Center of Los Angeles in 1971 and served as Board Chairman there from 1987 to 1997. After receiving an MBA in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he formed Western Property Research, a real estate consulting firm that operated from 1984 to 1997. He was baptized as a Congregationalist and raised as a Presbyterian. His Native American interests include a long relationship with the Oglala Lakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He continues to practice and study in the Ramakrishna Order of Hinduism and loves to participate in Sufi Dhikr. He leads street retreats wherever invited and co-leads a variety of bearing witness retreats internationally. His home practice place is the Hudson River Peacemaker Center in Yonkers, New York.
TALK BY TOM REDDEN
HOW POLITICAL WAS THE BUDDHA?
Tuesday, January 15, 8:00-9:00 pm
Can a 2,500 year old philosophy, such as Buddhism, shed any light on our present political situation in 2018?
Political scientist and Zen Buddhist priest, Tom Redden, PhD, answers this question with a resounding, "yes." In, fact, the Buddha was very political during his many years of teaching. Naked power politics and treachery were as much a part of politics in the Buddha's day as it is today. Professor Redden will discuss some of the political challenges that the Buddha faced as leader of an important religious community in his day, and how they may help us think about our own politics today.
Tom Redden holds a doctorate in political science, as well as graduate degrees in Development Studies and in in Education. He is a Professor of History and Politics at Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vermont. He has been affiliated with Zen Peacemaker lineage (including the Zen Community of New York and Green River Zen Center) since 1980 and was ordained a Zen Peacemaker priest in 2000.
GATE OF SWEET NECTAR
Green River Zen Center usually chants the Gate of Sweet Nectar, the Zen Peacemakers’ liturgy feeding all the hungry ghosts, each month on Saturdays at 9:30 am following meditation. This winter the Gate will only be chanted once, on January 19.
COUNCIL PRACTICE
Green River Zen Center does a monthly council practice on the last Tuesday of every month. It will take place this winter on Tuesdays, January 29, February 26, March 26 and April 30. Council is a circle practice of listening and speaking from the heart. Its foundation is consonant with the Three Tenets of the Zen Peacemakers: Not-knowing, bearing witness, and loving action.
RENEWAL OF VOWS CEREMONY
A ceremony renewing our vows to the Precepts will take place on or close to the full moon on Tuesdays, February 19, and March 19. All are invited to participate.
MEMBERSHIP IN GREEN RIVER ZEN CENTER
Do you consider yourself part of the sangha? If so, please consider becoming a member and making monthly financial commitments to help support basic operations at the Zendo. You can also do service in lieu of some of the membership fee.
As a member, you will receive reductions in retreat prices. Most important, you will be supporting the flowering of the sangha’s practice.
For more information, please see Membership Program, or contact: Dantika Petriana Monize at dantikapm@gmail.com
Do you consider yourself part of the sangha? If so, please consider becoming a member and making monthly financial commitments to help support basic operations at the Zendo. You can also do service in lieu of some of the membership fee.
As a member, you will receive reductions in retreat prices. Most important, you will be supporting the flowering of the sangha’s practice.
For more information, please see Membership Program, or contact: Dantika Petriana Monize at dantikapm@gmail.com