Soto Zen Practice in Vancouver, BC
Recent talks can be found below.
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You can browse all past talks by speaker, date, category, and program in our archive found HERE
Shinmon Michael Newton suggests that an unanswered question is alive with everything, active and illuminated as thunder. Not knowing is the wisdom of not forcing reality into an answer.
In our world flooded by digital noise, in what way is silence still a disruptive revolutionary power?
Myoshin Kate McCandless explores the wheel of karma and our human concern about the suffering of those who have died. How are they and what are the karmic consequences of their choices in life? At this time of year, how do communities enact care for those no longer with us? Can you notice when a disparaging thought arises?
Unmon Jacob offers the second talk in his capacity as shuso. He asks: can we dynamically work between knowing and not knowing in order to support our ethics?
Myoshin Kate McCandless discusses Zen's ambivalence towards the wild fox.
"Do not ignore cause and effect".
Shinmon Michael Newton suggests that unknowing or not knowing have always been part of the human condition. Practicing with "I don't know" can strengthen attention, deepen humility and cultivate compassion.
Anchoring in the Koans of Knowing and Not Knowing, Myoshin Kate McCandless asks that we open to curiosity and not cling to our fixed views of each other. All we know is always partial, subject to change, and provisional.
Unmon Jacob Butula, shuso for the Practice Period, offers a Way-Seeking Mind Talk - a traditional talk in Zen Buddhism where a practitioner reflects on their personal life story and the causes and conditions that brought them to Zen practice.
“We don’t know what we don’t know. It is important to create the capacity for the changes that inevitably come.”
Shinmon Michael Newton introduces the theme for Practice Period: Koans of Knowing and Not Knowing - Practicing with Uncertainty.
Even though we often act as though the ground beneath us is firm, we all live with the uncertainty of what the future holds. Each person is encouraged to take responsibility for their own practice and to commit to meeting their own life.
MRZC's Soto Zen practice emphasizes being fully awake to our own moment-to-moment experience, from our meditation cushion to every aspect of our everyday life. Join us!
Mountain Rain Zen Community's Wall street Zendo and Bright Stream Temple (Koryuji) are situated on the unceded, traditional and ancestral territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Mountain Rain Zen Community
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Banner: Blue Mountains Walking by Bruce Shotoku Nielsen (2013)
