Upcoming

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Sat, Aug 9th – Full Moon Ceremony!

We’ll have the monthly Full-Moon Ceremony renewal of our Bodhisattva vows this Saturday morning after the Saturday Morning Dharma talk.

The ceremony takes about a half-hour and involves some thirty full prostrations, but simple standing bows are also all right if prostrations are too strenuous. All are welcome to join in this ceremony/celebration. This month according to the Farmer’s Almanac is the Full Red, Green Corn, Sturgeon or Grain Moon. Th ceremony will begin around 11am roughly after the Dharma talk.

Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation), morning service, a brief drop-in meditation instruction at 8:30am. And again zazen at 9:25 am. We wrap up with a dharma talk at 10:15am followed by ceremony when applicable and then right to social time, tea and cookies.

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Study Hour, Thursdays @7:30pm

We bid farewell (for now) to the Book of Serenity at case 100 last night at just under three years of study hour’s study. We will take a break next week, Aug 7th and reconvene on Aug 14th with the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, also called Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra,  a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra. It dates from no later than the 3rd century ce, based on its earliest Chinese translations, and most likely from the 1st or 2nd centuries ce.

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We will use the Robert Thurman as the basic text but reading the other translations and comparing differences is also acceptable.  We also just found out about a fourth by our same Book of Serenity Translator, Thomas Cleary you can look into by clicking here appears to only be in e-book version.

UntitledcPlease read the introduction and first chapter to prepare for our first study hour on this text August 14th.

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Study hour is moving on to a new text!

We are scheduled to conclude on July 31, 2014 The book of serenity

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The next book scheduled is the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, also called Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra,  a Mahāyāna Buddhist sūtra. It dates from no later than the 3rd century ce, based on its earliest Chinese translations, and most likely from the 1st or 2nd centuries ce.

In the sūtra the layman and householder Vimalakīrti, who is also, significantly, a model bodhisattva, instructs deities, learned Buddhist arahants, and lay people in all matters concerning the nature of enlightenment and Buddhist truth.

There are multiple translations, we may focus a bit on the Dr Robert Thurman version, but welcome any version to compare the translations.

We can share books for anyone who wants to join in, or feel free to purchase a copy and join us (many are very low cost online). Check our twitter page for any changes in schedule.