Wholehearted Play Webinar 1

Here’s the first webinar in our current online practice period – Wholehearted Play: 90 Days of Cooking this Great Life. Click here (then select Video from the pull down menu).

We’re exploring several ways of practice that are based on the tradition – sitting, study, working with each other – but are adapted to the emerging global culture and use the technologies that are now available.

One reason for this is that many of the people interested in wholehearted practice are leading normal lives with work, relationships, and family who don’t have access to a local center.

In addition, in the upcoming post peak-oil world, we’re going to need to find ways to practice together that don’t require massive consumption of fossil fuels. Online practice is very much in line with the tradition as very little energy is expended to attend sitting with others, a dharma talk, and interact with other practitioners.

Another similarity with in-the-flesh practice has to do with attention to detail that is required. I remember the first sesshin I attended and the overwhelm I felt when someone gave me oryoki instructions (the “bowls that hold just enough” used for eating meals in a prescribed and much more formal manner than I thought possible).

Technology is our oryoki, the satellite dish that holds just enough (to stretch the metaphor!). We’re using Webex, Skype, Google Wave, Google Documents….

Technology facilitates our mutual polishing, emphasizing the interconnections between practitioners. We will have a discussion forum through Wave, practice partner meetings for tea through Skype, and the aspect that I’m most curious about – sharing details about practice with practice partners.

This last one involves practice partners texting each other after their morning zazen and then in practice moments (or missed moments) through the day, reporting what they did. “Sat 30 minutes. Sometimes clear.” Or “Cooked a meal after talking with my partner about what to make.” Or “Chopped parsnips and kept wide view on what needed to be done.” Or “Slept in. Too crabby.”

In this way we intend to address one of the biggest issues in home-based practice – invisibility. By sharing with a fellow practitioner our actual practice moments (and lack thereof), we move toward making our practice more transparent, actualizing Dogen’s saying, “Nothing is hidden.”

I’m very interested in how this experiment will unfold and will report back to you. I’m very grateful to those who are willing to jump into this together!