Jan 7 - 13

Winter, week 3

"The experience attained through Zen practice is neither thought nor philosophy nor religion. It is merely a fact. And, strange as it may seem, the experience of that fact has the power to free us from the agonies and pains of the world." --Koun Yamada

Saturday Zen: Sat Jan 12, 10:00 - 11:45am
room 24
Community UU
468 Rosedale Ave
White Plains, NY
Practice to be led by Meredith Garmon

Morning Zen. Tue, Wed, & Thu, 6:00 - 7:15am
Basement Zendo. See HERE.

Chants
For Mon Jan 7 - Sun Jan 13:

• Observing the One Who is Dim and Dull, p. 19
• Realizing the Zen Way, p. 19
• Heart Sutra, p. 14

Opening and Closing for Mon Dec 31 - Sun Jan 27:

• Opening: The Fruit of the Bodhisattva Way, p. 21
• Closing: Who Owns the Weather, p. 73

See: Boundless Way Zen Sutra Book, 4th ed.   ☙   Supplement   ☙   BoWZ Westchester Chant Schedule

Reading for Sat Jan 12:

• Primary Reading: Koun Yamada, Zen: The Authentic Gate, Ch. 2, "The Zen View," pp. 11-17.
• Optional Secondary Reading: Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds, Ch. 27, "All Dharmas Are on Fire," p. 174.

For subsequent weeks (through May 18): See Schedule for Reading.

Questions

1. How would you explain what Yamada means by the distinction between "faith-based spirituality" and "experience-based spirituality"?
2. Yamada says, "awakening is the realization that the content of both subject and object is empty and one, and that this empty-oneness is none other than the constantly changing phenomenal world of form." What does this mean?
3. Yamada says, "The principal aim of Buddhism is to solve the problem of life and death." He then says "The answer is that the content of life and death is totally empty; their true form is no form." How does that solve the problem?

This Week's Raven Tale: #86, The Essence -- HERE

See Youtube video of Sanbo Zen teachers talking about Zen (4:56): HERE.

KOAN INDEX
RAVEN INDEX