As nights lengthen and grow frosty, as the sap returns to the roots, many people feel a greater inward pull. A fine time to sit more, and to connect with and strengthen – through ceremonies and sangha gatherings – deep energies that benefit not only ourselves but also the world as a whole. Please join us for some or all of these special autumn events: Famine Relief Ceremony, Jukai (Receiving of the Precepts), our annual Ceremony of Gratitude, and the festive Panther Branch Thanksgiving Potluck & Party. You’ll find more information on each of these events below.
- Famine Relief Ceremony
Next Tuesday evening, November 15, we'll hold our annual Famine Relief Ceremony in conjunction with Oxfam International's 'Fast for a World Harvest'. We usually hold this beautiful and meaningful ceremony on the Thursday before Thanksgiving, but since fewer people generally attend Thursday sittings, this year we’ve decided to hold it on Tuesday, instead of the usual sitting with dokusan. The ceremony, preceded by zazen, will begin at 7:00 as usual. While fasting is certainly not required for taking part in this ceremony, Windhorse residents will join many thousands of people across the globe in choosing to go without food on this one day, the week before our Thanksgiving feasts. We do this as an expression of solidarity with all those afflicted by hunger; and to connect in a small and concrete way with the experience of hunger that is a daily reality for more and more people. If going without food for the entire day seems too much for you, another option is to give up dinner only, offering the money you would have spent on that one meal to the fund for Oxfam.
During the sitting a brief talk will be given on hunger and malnutrition in the world; then, as part of the ceremony, we'll make offerings of the money we save on food (if fasting), plus whatever else people wish to give. These donations will be sent to Oxfam, an outstanding organization with decades of dedication to alleviating hunger worldwide. Whether fasting or not, we invite you to join us for this event and to make your own offerings—of money (even a small amount helps), zazen and chanting.
Hundreds of millions of people on the planet now suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition, and their numbers are growing. Every day, tens of thousands of children under the age of 5 die of malnutrition and preventable diseases. This Fast for a World Harvest, falling on the week before Thanksgiving, gives us a chance to raise our awareness, open our hearts, and respond to such monumental suffering in a positive and concrete way.
- Jukai
On Saturday, November 17, we’ll hold our fall Jukai. Jukai is the ceremony during which people receive the Buddhist precepts. The precepts are not commandments, but the ethical and moral guidelines that express the spontaneous functioning of a fully awakened person. Each time we receive the precepts we recommit ourselves to living with greater integrity, wisdom and compassion—in other words, to living ever more fully in harmony with our intrinsic nobility. All practitioners are welcome to participate in this ceremony, but if this is your first Jukai, and if you have not attended any of the talks and discussions on the precepts, then please contact either Sunya-sensei or Lawson-sensei beforehand, to go over basic points.
The zendo will be open for informal zazen at 4:00 in the afternoon, and the ceremony, which lasts less than an hour, will begin at 5:00. If you can come early in the day or during the week to help out with preparations, please do so! Call 645-8001 or speak in person with a WZC resident, and let us know what works for your schedule.
- Ceremony of Gratitude
On Sunday, November 22, from 9:30-11:30, we'll have our yearly Ceremony of Gratitude. After the usual sitting, there will be a talk on gratitude, followed by chanting, a circumambulation with incense offerings, and a Sangha Circle. During this circle, people are free to express their thanks for whatever they feel especially grateful for this year. We'll close with a reading of the 'Gatha of Gratitude,' and the Four Bodhisattvic Vows.
Immediately following this event we'll gather for a potluck lunch. Please bring a dish to share to add to this festive gathering. If anyone can come in before Jukai and the Ceremony of Gratitude, to help with decorating the Center to make it more festive, your presence would be much appreciated! Call 645-8001 or speak in person with a WZC resident, and let us know what works for your schedule.
- Thanksgiving at Panther Branch!
If you're interested in taking part in a potluck vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner at the Center, please let the center know that by Sunday, Nov. 20 (Ceremony of Gratitude). We’ll also have a sign-up sheet at the Center. Dinner will take place at 3:00, and everyone participating is asked to help with clean up—and set up, too, if possible. Bring musical instruments and/or favorite CD’s. It’s not just a meal -- it’s a party! Family and friends welcome.
- Staff Break
The staff will have a short break, and the Center will be closed, from Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 23rd, through Saturday, the 26th. We will hold our Sunday morning program on the 27th, however, with the usual zazen-chanting-teisho schedule, 9:30-11:30, followed by an informal vegetarian potluck lunch.
- Sunday Programs and December Holiday Break
Again, we’ll have our usual Sunday morning program on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27. There will be no regular Sunday program for two weeks in a row: on the first Sunday of sesshin (Dec. 4), and on the Sunday following sesshin, Dec. 11. After sesshin, the next regular Sunday program of sitting, chanting & teisho will be on Dec. 18, with a special holiday potluck brunch afterward. That day, following lunch clean up, the Center will close for its Holiday Break, with work resuming on Wednesday, Dec. 28. Once back at work, we’ll gear up for the wonderful New Year’s Eve Ceremonies & Celebrations at Panther Branch (but more on that later).
"...it's not just a meal-it's a party!..."
ReplyDeleteHow true.