WEDNESDAY, COMMUNITY NIGHT May 23rd, 7-9pm, Music Selected Coincidentally By the Universe with David Weinstein One hair goes through many holes. This koan came along to keep me company as I was lying on a gurney beneath a linear accelerator receiving the last of 12 radiation treatments for the two new spots of lymphoma on my forearm. I don't know what music had been playing in the treatment room prior to my hearing the sound of the electron beam being emitted from the accelerator, a high pitched sound that weirdly matched the tone of my tinnitus, but, I do know that the song that started when the electron beam started was the Beatles singing "Here comes the Sun". As part of each of my treatments, both during treatment for my relapse and the initial onset, I imagined a healing light coming into my body via the electron beam and being filled with that light. So, hearing that song was quite a nice experience of feeling acknowledged by the universe. Ten minutes later, as I heard the beam start again for the treatment of the second spot on my arm, the song that started with the electron beam was Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and that felt like very much more than a coincidence. Then this koan about the one hair going through many holes came along to keep me company. I knew that was no coincidence and that is what Koan practice is like. David WHAT IS RMC COMMUNITY NIGHT? Community Night is a chance to practice meditation in action, in the midst of our lives. Eating and drinking and conversing together is a unique opportunity to notice the way the practice of paying attention is present, or not, where the 'rubber' of our practice meets the 'road' of our life. Becoming intimate with the workings of our heart/mind while sitting quietly is helpful, but, if it isn't present in our day to day lives, what's the point? Community Night is a chance to do that in a safe environment. It is also a time to discover and strengthen connections between each other and the community that is the container of our practice. Each time we gather to practice together is a time that we can do that, not just once a month on Community Night. We purposely place a break between quietly sitting together and the group conversation about the koan, as a way to provide that opportunity during each of our gatherings, whether on Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings. On Community Night we save that for after the meditation and group discussion and are able to luxuriate in each other's company for a bit longer than usual. 
SATURDAY, May 26th, 8am - 10:30am
Individual Conversations with David Weinstein, Roshi on your meditation practice. No experience necessary. People will be invited in for a conversation in the order in which they arrive. For those who can't make it on Saturdays, it is possible to schedule appointments with David at other times of the week. Contact David Dana gratefully accepted. 
SUNDAY, May 27th, 9:30-12pm - Fingers Pointing at the Moon with David Weinstein
Koan: Officially a needle cannot pass through, unofficially you can drive a truck through. The word "officially" jumps out at me from this koan. I can feel a visceral reaction to anything "official". It resonates with the mind state I associate with being a three-year-old saying "I won't", as a way of establishing and exploring who I am - that I am. My mind wants to explore that reaction to "officially" as a restriction of my freedom. My heart tells me that even that is a restriction of my freedom. Then I remembered that this koan is part of a conversation between two meditators, delving into the limitations of language and thought. They are exploring how, though "officially" words are like fingers pointing at the moon, we and everything are also "unofficially" the fingers pointing and the moon. David 
All PZI RETREATS, RETREATS
SAVE THESE RETREAT DATES FALL SESSHIN 2018 - Oct. 14-19 @ Mt Madonna WINTER SESSIN 2019 - Jan.14-20th @ Santa Sabina OPEN MIND Retreats 2018 @ Commonweal Center, Bolinas, CA • Summer – August 16-19 • Winter – November 29–December 2 |
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The Heart of Wisdom:
PZI's Summer, Long Retreat with John Tarrant & Friends June 11-17, 2018 St. Clare's Retreat Center Soquel, CA The Queen of Heaven, Avalokiteshvara, hears our cries, and with great tenderness leans down into our world, and says, Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness is exactly form. And out of these words Zen begins. They are the Big Bang of our spiritual tradition. Under their power, the distance between our intimate lives, and the vastness of the universe that holds us, disappears. Our koans, awakenings, stories, teachings, wisdom paths, and consolations are all born from her mysterious words. MORE INFO OR REGISTER NOW! _____________________________________________________ Creating a Culture at PZI - Articles, Talks, Blogs & Notes from Our Larger Community
To Tower by Leon Preamble My journey to Italy was inspired by my desire to paint. Underneath that desire there is something else that is not so easy to put into words. Prior to leaving, I asked John Tarrant for his The Story of the Buddha to take with me. I wanted to read it out loud. There is something about hearing the words of the story in my own voice that is also hard to explain. It’s a little bit like hearing my footsteps climbing the mountain road up to the Tower. The Tower is part of and attached to the castle of Civitela Ranieri. I painted all afternoon, later than I intended, and the Wolf Full Moon rose up, waiting for me. It was time to go..MORE __________________________________ 
New PZI Zendo Share the Moon Meditation Community Regular sessions will resume May 13th! 640 Hillcrest Dr, Felton, Ca. Please RSVP Illana Berger. More here 2nd & 4th Sundays every month, 10:30am -12pm Contact Illana Berger for more information on the group. SUNDAY May 27th 10:30am-12pm, Did You Lose Something? with Illana Berger Koan: A student asked the teacher, “What am I supposed to do?” “Why are you asking me?” the teacher responded. “Where else can I find what I’m looking for?” asked the student. “Are you sure you lost it?” This teacher’s response might seem sarcastic, even dismissive but the teacher might be asking; Why do you need to ask me, and what’s it like when you do? What are you longing for, and what if you already have it? MORE 
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Pacific Zen Institute presents an exclusive DVD offer Standing at the Blue Cliff - Now discounted @ $25! 
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