Well, our Empty Moon project, the Anaheim Zen Sangha is off and running! We’re still experiencing hiccups along the way. But, me, I’m feeling excited as the broad contours of our community are becoming apparent. Our core and foundation is the opportunity for Zen meditation and koan introspection. We’re offering this every Tuesday evening and Saturday morning.
We’re also introducing liturgy, on Saturday mornings in the traditional Soto manner, and on Tuesday evenings more informally as adapted in the Diamond Sangha & Boundless Way traditions.
I’m also so pleased at the roster of speakers and programs we’re offering on Saturdays. In July we’ll offer our first all day sitting in Anaheim, and in September we will resume a sesshin schedule with a three-day retreat up at the Pine Mountain Zen Buddhist monastery.
If you live in or near Orange County and you’re interested in establishing or deepening a Zen practice, you should consider us. Our Empty Moon project is committed to bringing the deep way of Zen in its Soto style to North America. We see this principally concerned with Zen as a lay practice. Although we are also developing a program for those called into priestly practice. Perhaps not full service, but we are striving to meet the needs of our community.
Here is our schedule for May & June…
Tuesdays Evenings
7:00pm Zazen. The evening begins with a brief liturgy following the patterns of the Diamond Sangha Zen tradition, and two twenty-five minute Zen meditation periods. Dokusan, private spiritual direction interviews are offered most Tuesdays, usually either by Senior Dharma Teacher Jan Seymour-Ford or James Myoun Ford, Osho.
We begin the program promptly at 7pm. If you need a brief orientation to Zen meditation please arrive fifteen minutes early.
Saturday Programs
11 May
9:00am zazen & liturgy
Refreshments
10:30am Dharma Book Club with Jan Seymour-Ford
We will launch our monthly book club reading What is Zen? Plain Talk for a Beginner’s Mind by Norman Fischer & Susan Moon. An accessible and enjoyable introduction to Zen Buddhist practice—in a reader-friendly question-and-answer format—by two highly regarded teacher-writers. We do not plan on having copies on sale, so please purchase a copy in advance of the first meeting. It is available from the publisher (by clicking on the title), through Amazon and other online book dealers.
Facilitator Jan Seymour-Ford is a retired librarian and long-time Zen student. She was named a senior dharma teacher by Melissa Myozen Blacker, and is a central leader of the Empty Moon Zen Network.
18 May
9:00am zazen & liturgy
Refreshments
10:30am Zen and the Art of Recovery Dr Chris Hoff
Chris will examine how Zen practice can support and sustain those in recovery from addictions of any kind. Topics that will be covered include the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, Zen Meditation practice, and how a consistent spiritual practice can support us in the uncertainties of recovery.
Dr Chris Hoff is a senior dharma teacher with the Empty Moon Zen Network. He is also assistant professor of counseling at California State University in San Bernadino and Executive/Clinical Director at the California Family Institute.
25 May
9:00am zazen & liturgy
There will be no additional programming today
2 June
9:00am zazen & liturgy
Refreshments
10:30am First Saturday Dharma Talk James Myoun Ford
Abbot Beyond Measure Meets a Fox Spirit
Myoun Roshi will explore the famous story of Master Baizhang and his encounter with a Fox spirit. Maybe he’ll find ways that story could be relevant for us.
The Reverend James Myoun Ford is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest and a Unitarian Universalist minister. He has written five books on Zen, the most recent Introduction to Zen Koans: Learning the Language of Dragons, available from Wisdom Publications. He serves as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Anaheim and as resident priest & teacher at the Anaheim Zen Sangha.
8 June
9:00am zazen & liturgy
Refreshments
10:30am Dharma talk by Gyokei Yokoyama
Zen in Japan & America
Zen has been going strong in North America for more than a century. Gyokei Sensei will discuss what the convert community brings to Japanese Soto Zen, what Japanese Soto has to say to American Soto, and what the future might hold for our spiritual tradition.
The Reverend Gyokei Yokoyama is a seventh generation Soto Zen Buddhist priest. He currently serves as minister of the Long Beach Buddhist Church, where he also guides a program in priest formation. He is also secretary to the North American Soto Zen Buddhist office.
15 June
WE WILL NOT MEET TODAY DUE TO AN ALL CHURCH EVENT
22 June
9:00am Zazen & liturgy
Refreshments
10:30am Dharma Book Club with Jan Seymour-Ford
We continue our monthly book club reading What is Zen? Plain Talk for a Beginner’s Mind by Norman Fischer & Susan Moon. The book is available from the publisher (by clicking on the title), through Amazon and other online book dealers.
30 June
9:00am Zazen & liturgy
There will be no additional programming today
The Anaheim Zen Sangha meets at the
Unitarian Universalist Church in Anaheim
511 S Harbor Blve, Anaheim, CA 92805
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