Bodhidharma Day Ceremony

 

Join us for this yearly autumn event that includes zazen, chanting, and a talk on – and to -- Bodhidharma, 28th Indian Dharma Ancestor and the first Ancestor in China. We’ll have a small exhibition in the Kannon Room of various renderings of Bodhidharma by famous painters (including one by Hakuin). As always, tea will be available afterward, along with whatever vegetarian lunch offerings people may bring to share.

Sunrise at Black Balsam

Tomorrow morning we’ll move our formal sitting outdoors, to take in the sunrise at Black Balsam, about an hour’s drive from the Center. With winter around the bend we want to, as Thoreau put it, 'suck the marrow' from these golden days of autumn. Word has it this is the best place around to catch the sunrise. Please join us if you can!

Sunday with Zazen - one day sitting

This coming Sunday at Windhorse we’ll be having a One-Day Zen Retreat (zazenkai), with a sesshin-like schedule, teisho and dokusan (Sunya only; Lawson will be out of town). 

People can participate for the whole of it, or just for part. Some people will be staying overnight on Saturday, to make it easier to do the early-morning section. 

Let us know if you'd like to do that, and if you'll be here for breakfast or lunch, so that we can plan accordingly.

If anyone can help out before or after this event, great! The more people who lend a hand, the easier it is to have these sorts of sittings on a regular basis.

You will find the schedule below.            

Wilderness Retreat 2011

We’re back at Panther Branch after 3 wonderful days in the Smokies, with fresh energy, stronger Sangha connections, and some great memories! We also have photos to share. So if you’re interested, read on . . .

Find us in the wild

A number of people have expressed interest in visiting our Wilderness Retreat zendo and participating in parts of this retreat that begins on Thursday, September 15th. For those of you who'd like to do that, here are some maps of the Big Creek region.

Biodynamic Yoga at Panther Branch

Photo by Mike C. Peck

Eric Scheider has offered to lead a series of yoga classes at Panther Branch from 5:30-6:30 on Tuesday evenings, before the regular evening sitting. Those will be general yoga classes (suitable for all levels of fitness and experiencing), cultivating awareness, alignment, and balanced action, supporting each other to bring forward the Dharma with maximum vitality into our meditation practices and into our lives. The first class will take place on Tuesday, September 13th. Classes are open to all. 

Eric has been involved in both Zen and yoga practice for many years now, and is certified to teach yoga. He is generously offering to do this for us on a dana-only basis, with any offerings people make to go to Windhorse.

Read on for an introduction to some of the principles of yoga practice as Eric sees them. 

Starting afresh

Two weeks of the summer break are over and we are back to our usual schedule. It was heartening to start the fall with so many people in the zendo during that early morning sitting – we have a much stronger team now: Keith Carpenter, who many of you know, moved to live with us, and a new resident from Florida, Teresa Sellers, arrived yesterday evening after an “easy”, as she puts it, 11-hour drive. Theresa brought with her a surprise guest: a bronze Buddha (more details to come). Now, doesn’t he look just like someone you saw in our zendo???