The Moon Reflected In The Water: 100 Day Practice Announcement

What?

100 days of sitting and dharma study.

When?
Thursday, September 10 (or Saturday, September 12 for online participants) through Thursday, December 17 (or Saturday, December 19 for online participants). Register by September 3.

Background
100-days of zazen and dharma study will help stabilize and deepen your practice – if you turn the dharma wheel, the wheel will turn back. It is inspired by the 90 or 100-day practice periods during the rainy season that monks and nuns have done since the Buddha’s days. Katagiri Roshi might have been the first to start non-residential practice periods. The idea is the same:

make a commitment
work your edge
and follow through (forgiving yourself when you don’t and beginning again).

There are two ways to participate. One way is to attend the Thursday night sessions and sesshin as much as possible. The second way is to participate via the web for virtual training. The practice focus for both modes is daily zazen, giving life to the twenty-four hours, and Dogen’s Genjokoan. The virtual and nonvirtual practitioners will come together and create community through interactions on the Wild Fox Blog (see below for specifics).

Attending in the flesh
Those who are in the non-virtual practice period will have a study session on Thursday nights from 6:30-8:30 (except the Thursday night before the monthly sesshin, September 17, October 29, December 10). Following each session, I’ll write a blog post about our conversation as we work through Genjokoan bit by bit. Also, participants are expected to attend sesshin as much as possible: September 11-13, October 30 – November 1, December 11-13.

Cyber (virtual) participation
To support your practice and build community, an online seminar via Webex will occur at
1pm (CST/CDT) Saturdays, September 12, 26; October 3, 10, 17, 24; November 7, 14, 21; and December 5 and 19

Participants must have the computer capacity for Webex (

click here) and headphones (microphone preferred). I use the Plantronics Headset (~$35 from Newegg – although you might get it for cheaper with discounts).

Summary of requirements for everybody

Sit zazen and chant the Heart Sutra at least five of seven days each week (if you’ve been practicing for less than one year, I recommend a sitting commitment of at least 30 minutes; if you’ve been practicing for more than one year, I recommend a commitment of at least 60 minutes)
Study selections from Genjokoan and provided commentaries
Comment on the Genjokoan blog posts, responding to issues raised, raising other issues, and interacting with other’s too, of course. Students will be encouraged to speak from the first person (“I”) and to talk directly from their actual experience, rather than preaching, positioning, theorizing, etc.
Meet with me for dokusan at Yugeji or via Skype for virtual practice meetings once each month
Email me a capping phrase and a short summary of what’s been up in your practice each week (take no more than 15 minutes for writing) or share your capping phrase and report in at the beginning of the Thursday night sessions

Suggested minimum donation (tax deductible): $150.

If have participated previously in the virtual version click here to register at Facebook. If you have participated at Yugeji and would like to participate this fall, please click here. If you have not particated previously, please contact me at [email protected] before September 3rd.

The Moon Reflected In the Water: 100 Day Practice Announcement