2013
April 8 through May 20: Mindfulness of Body & Mind Class Series
Heart Circle Sangha451 Hillcrest Road
Ridgewood, NJ
Mondays
7pm - 8:30pm
Each class is followed by an optional 30 minutes of meditation.
Science has now proven the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. Join these classes and give yourself the opportunity to experience these benefits in your own life:
Reduced stress
Reduces depression and anxiety
Improved anger management
Enhanced positive relationships
Enhanced creativity
Reduced addictive patterns
Improved concentration
April 21: "Hear Your Voice" Retreat
Heart Circle Sangha451 Hillcrest Road
Ridgewood, NJ
9am - 4pm
April 28: Guest Speaker Roshi Kurt Spellmeyer
Heart Circle Sangha451 Hillcrest Road
Ridgewood, NJ
11am - Noon
Kankan Kurt Spellmeyer is a Zen teacher in the Rinzai Zen and Obaku Zen traditions who has trained with Genki Takabayashi Roshi and Kangan Glenn Webb (founders of the former Seattle Zen Center, known today as Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen Ji). Spellmeyer, a professor of English at Rutgers University, has served as the practice leader of Cold Mountain Sangha at Rutgers since 1994. In 1991 he was authorized to teach by Kangan Glenn Webb, a Dharma heir of Miyauchi Kanko roshi of Japan. Kankan Roshi has been a practitioner of Zen meditation for more than thirty-three years.
Kurt has also authored the popular book Buddha at the Apocalypse, available through Amazon and through the Heart Circle Sangha lending library.
Amazon describes the book as follows:
"Timely and audacious, Buddha at the Apocalypse challenges us to look directly at the devastating assumptions underlying the very mechanisms of the modern world. We believe with certainty in the inevitable forward march of progress, in the natural rightness of humankind's control of the environment, and, most pervasively, in the idea of an epic struggle that requires righteousness to utterly destroy evil. These images of apocalypse and dominance pervade our language, our politics, and, with coming of 2012, even our escapist entertainment. In Buddha at the Apocalypse, Kurt Spellmeyer offers us an alternative view that comes like breath of cool, fresh air in these times. Drawing on the Buddha, Spellmeyer makes an impassioned clarion call to awaken from the culture of destruction - or perish within it."
May 19: Family Day/Vesak Day Celebration
Heart Circle Sangha451 Hillcrest Road
Ridgewood, NJ
1pm - 4pm
This May we will again celebrate the Buddhist holiday of Vesak Day, commemorating the birth of the Buddha. We have a short ceremony of bathing the baby Buddha with tea.
We also play Mindfulness Ball, and some members of the sangha bring their instruments and provide music too. Bring your instrument and join in!
Food is coordinated by Linda Hoju Strauss. Bring a dish to share and check with Hoju first to make sure we don't have too much of a good thing. (One year we had only desserts!) There will be a sign up sheet for food in the zendo on Sundays.
May 31 - June 7: Spring Residential Retreat
The Grail Center116 Duncan Avenue
Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, NY
Heart Circle Sangha offers an opportunity to deepen your practice with our spring sesshin. Sesshin is a retreat that provides an intensive meditation experience in the company and support of experienced Zen practitioners. If this is your first retreat, we will guide and support you through it.
Spring at the Grail is a beautiful time of year. We have kinhin (walking meditation) outside as the weather allows, and breathe in the energizing spring air while we walk along roads in glorious spring splendor. If warm enough we sit outside on the deck enjoying the flowers, new leaves and the birdsongs.
We prepare and share delicious vegetarian meals together, oroyoki style. Afternoons we experience the Practice of Immediacy with art practice or meditation. There are many opportunities for personal interviews with Sensei and daily dharma talks to offer words of encouragement. Because the sesshin offers the opportunity to go deep, koan practice can be very rewarding in this environment. We also have Council practice during which we share our retreat experience.
If you are curious about the Practice of Immediacy check out the web page of Jikyo Roshi who created this practice: www.practiceofimmediacy.com. This practice helps one go beyond self imposed limitations. Following the flow of the present moment it fosters openness and exploration. It's fun! Please join us for all or part of this sesshin.
Since meals at the retreat will be oriyoki style, please bring your bowls. We have bowls available for rental ($20) or purchase ($40). Click here for information on oryoki.
