Spring into Summer

Updates on the coming months

“The mind alone is beyond one or two; it is beyond the triple world and beyond leaving the triple world; it is free of error; it has thinking, sensing, mindfulness, and realization and it is free of thinking, sensing, mindfulness, and realization; it is fences, walls, tiles, and pebbles and it is mountains, rivers, and earth. The mind itself is skin, flesh, bones, and marrow; the mind itself is the picking up of a flower and a face breaking into a smile.” —Dogen, Sangai-Yuishin (“The Triple World is Only the Mind”), tr. Nishijima and Cross

Reading the Lotus Sutra

Beginning Monday evening June 9, following 7:30 zazen, Brent will be leading a weekly study and discussion of the Lotus Sutra. Brent writes:

Join us for the summer when we’ll be doing a collective reading of the Lotus Sutra. Focusing on a few chapters each week, we’ll be discussing each section with the goal of understanding the narrative elements of the sutra, the poetic and visual devices used, and the Buddhist teachings that are woven throughout.

“Good sons, all the sutras preached by the Tathagata are for the purpose of saving all the living. Sometimes I speak of myself, sometimes of others; sometimes I appear as myself, sometimes as someone else; sometimes I appear in my own actions, sometimes in the actions of others; but all that I say is true and not empty. Why is this? The Tathagata has insight into the character of the world as it really is. For him there is no birth or death, neither retreat from nor emergence into the world. Nor is there any existing in the world and entering extinction following that. Nothing is simply real, nothing simply empty, nothing as it seems, nothing the opposite. The threefold world is not as we experience it.” — The Lotus Sutra (tr. Gene Reeves)

“The Triple World is Only the Mind”

The Dogen Study Group is on the verge of completing study of Genjokoan, and on Tuesday June 17 after 6 pm zazen, we will start reading Sangai-Yuishin (“The Triple World is Only the Mind”). Translations of the text will be posted as usual. New readers of Dogen are welcome to join us. Details and resources to follow.

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Bodhisattva Full Moon Ceremony Tuesday June 10

All are invited to join us for the monthly Full Moon Ceremony on Tuesday evening June 10 at 7:15, following 6 pm zazen.

The Full Moon Ceremony, Ryaku Fusatsu, is the traditional Soto Zen ceremony for renewing practice of the bodhisattva precepts. A formal ceremony with extended chanting and full bows, it is an occasion when all practitioners can express our deep intention to practice together with all beings, whether or not we have formally received bodhisattva precepts or offered bodhisattva vows.

At Neighborhood Zen, our Full Moon Ceremony is held in person each month on the morning or evening closest to the hour of the full moon. The 2025 dates can be found on our public calendar here. Please let Brent or Catherine know if you have questions.

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Sunday Sittings

All are welcome to join us for sitting on Sunday mornings from 8 am through 9:30. Once a month the Sunday sitting continues until 4 pm, with chanting services and shared breakfast and lunch. The next all-day sittings will be on June 15 and July 27. Sign-up sheets can be found under “Sunday Practice” in the sign-up sheet folder. Please let Brent or Catherine know if you have questions.

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Save the Dates for the Summer Retreat August 8 through 10

Our summer retreat will be Friday August 8 through Sunday August 10. In order to create and sustain the container, this retreat will require full-time attendance from Friday evening through the end of the retreat on Sunday afternoon. Those who can are encouraged to attend from the beginning, starting at 7 am, Friday morning.

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Summer Interim

Interim will begin on Saturday August 16 and continue through September 3. The schedule will resume with Thursday evening sitting on September 4.

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