Appamada

2024-04-23 I Inquiry I The Genuine I Flint Sparks by Appamada

Depth in Practices continues reading and discussing Noble Truth, Noble Paths. Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.

Depth in Practice continues reading and discussing Noble Truths, Noble Path. Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.

Depth in Practice spends a second week discussing Case 20: Dizang asked Fayan, "Where are you going?" // Fayan said, "Around on pilgrimage." // Dizang said, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?" // Fayan said, "I don't know." //Dizang said, "Not knowing is most intimate.” Depth in Practice meets virtually at Appamada every week. Anyone is welcome to join the group! If you are interested in joining, please go to the calendar at appamada.org to find the link for the group. If you would like to donate to Appamada, please go to appamada.org and click on the contribute button at the bottom of the page.

00:00:27 - Readings and Teachings from 'Not Always So' by Shunryu Suzuki 00:11:02 - Joel Invites participants to Pracitce with the Breath whilst Sitting Zazen 00:11:44 - Participants sit for 5 Minutes 00:12:06 - Stephanie Says a few words about her Practice 00:23:13 - Poem - Dirge in Woods by George Meredith (See Below) 00:24:20 - Poem - A Parting Guest (See Below) 00:25:14 - Poem - Nature - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (see Below) 00:26:04 - Stephanie Opens the Floor up for Questions 00:23:13 - Dirge in Woods BY GEORGE MEREDITH A wind sways the pines, And below Not a breath of wild air; Still as the mosses that glow On the flooring and over the lines Of the roots here and there. The pine-tree drops its dead; They are quiet, as under the sea. Overhead, overhead Rushes life in a race, As the clouds the clouds chase; And we go, And we drop like the fruits of the tree, Even we, Even so. 00:24:20 - A Parting Guest What delightful hosts are they -- Life and Love!Lingeringly I turn away, This late hour, yet glad enough They have not withheld from me Their high hospitality. So, with face lit with delight And all gratitude, I stay Yet to press their hands and say, "Thanks. -- So fine a time! Good night." By James Whitcomb Riley 00:25:14 - Nature Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807 –1882 As a fond mother, when the day is o'er, Leads by the hand her little child to bed, Half willing, half reluctant to be led, And leave his broken playthings on the floor, Still gazing at them through the open door, Nor wholly reassured and comforted By promises of others in their stead, Which, though more splendid, may not please him more; So Nature deals with us, and takes away Our playthings one by one, and by the hand Leads us to rest so gently, that we goScarce knowing if we wish to go or stay, Being too full of sleep to understand How far the unknown transcends the what we know. Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen Paperback –Jun. 2003 by Shunryu Suzuki (Author)

2024-04-16 I Inquiry I Direct Pointing Out Instructions I Suzanne Kilkus by Appamada

00:02:00 - A short reading from ‘Not Always So: Practicing the True Spirit of Zen by Shunryu Suzuki 00:03:50 - Reading from: Seeds for a Boundless Life: Zen Teachings from the Heart by Zenkei Blanche Hartman 00:05:33 - The Niagara River By Kay Ryan (see below) 00:08:50 - The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac by Mary Oliver 00:15:47 - Peonies by Mary Oliver 00:21:37 - Ann Invites Questions The Niagara River By Kay Ryan 1945 – As thoughthe river werea floor, we positionour table and chairsupon it, eat, andhave conversation.As it moves along,we notice—ascalmly as thoughdining room paintingswere being replaced—the changing scenesalong the shore. Wedo know, we doknow this is theNiagara River, butit is hard to rememberwhat that means. The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac by Mary Oliver

2024- 04-09 I Inquiry I The Hum of the Refrigerator I Josh Gifford by Appamada

2024-04-08 | Depth in Practice | Noble Truths, Noble Path | Bhikkhu Bodhi by Appamada

00:00:43 - Recap of the Book so Far 00:07:23 - Peg Begins Reading ‘Not Two’ - Part 3 - Chapter 10 - Becoming who you are

00:00:33 - Flint and Peg Begin 00:06:12 - 'What if You Knew' - By Ellen Bass 00:10:22 - Peg describes an Activity 'Walk and Talk' 00:11:46 - Participants Walk In Pairs for 30 Minutes 00:11:55 - Reflections/Comments What if You Knew What if you knew you'd be the last to touch someone? If you were taking tickets, for example,at the theater, tearing them,giving back the ragged stubs, you might take care to touch that palm, brush your fingertipsalong the life line's crease. When a man pulls his wheeled suit case too slowly through the airport, when the car in front of me doesn't signal, when the clerk at the pharmacy won't say Thank you, I don't remember they're going to die. A friend told me she'd been with her aunt. They'd just had lunch and the waiter, a young gay man with plum black eyes, joked as he served the coffee, kissed her aunt's powdered cheek when they left. Then they walked half a block and her aunt dropped dead on the sidewalk. How close does the dragon's spume have to come? How wide does the crackin heaven have to split? What would people look like if we could see them as they are, soaked in honey, stung and swollen, reckless, pinned against time? By Ellen Bass

00:46:03 - Joy Chose You - By Donna Ashworth JOY CHOSE YOU Joy does not arrive with a fanfare on a red carpet strewn with the flowers of a perfect life joy sneaks in as you pour a cup of coffee watching the sun hit your favourite tree just right and you usher joy away because you are not ready for her your house is not as it should be for such a distinguished guest but joy, you see cares nothing for your messy home or your bank balance or your waistline joy is supposed to slither through the cracks of your imperfect life that's how joy works you cannot truly invite her you can only be ready when she appears and hug her with meaning because in this very moment joy chose you.

00:21:22 - Peg Invites Questions/Reflections 00:32:10 - Taco Time

00:00:27 - Flint and Peg Describe the Activity for small Groups of 3 00:03:00 - The Sangha Brings forth Questions for Flint and Peg

00:00:27 - Dharma Talk 00:20:46 - Poem - Another theory of Time 00:28:30 - Reflections Another Theory of Time - Marie Howe So, I tell my daughter we are eating dinner, reading through the book of stories I'm worried about Jason. If I seem distracted, that's what's on my mind. And she says, Take it out of your mind, then dips and eats a dumpling, and says, But don't take out Jason. And this morning at the deli I say, I'm grumpy because it's the first day of school, and I'm thinking of so many things. and she says, Take them out, and I say, How do I do that? and she says, Think about Now. I bite into my egg and cheese on a sesame bagel, and it is good. It is. Although it does bother me how she always wants to sit at the tiny deli counter so near the garbage bins eating meatballs for breakfast. Then she ways, I can't remember the future or the past. The local high school girls order iced coffee and whole wheat bagels with nothing on them. My girl eats her meatballs, and I stare past the cutouts of ham and turkey taped to the window and think about the moment I want so much to leave how small it is sometimes, this Now how constricting, me with my bad teeth and ageing elbows. as person after person tosses their trash inches behind my back before walking out the open door.

2024-04-03 | Day 4 | Forms and Roles as Practice | Head Student Sandra Medina Bocangel by Appamada

00:00:33 - Peg Reads a Poem ‘Enlightenment’ by Vijay Seshardi 00:05:54 - Offering Comprehensive Instruction on Posture/Sitting Zazen 00:32:51 - Questions/Reflections 00:35:00 - Peg Offers Instruction on a Practice (Groups of 3) - 'Narrating on Present Moment Experience Whilst Sitting in the Zazen Posture' 00:37:48 - Participants Join Groups of 3 for 10 Minutes 00:37:57 - Reflections/Comments Vijay Seshadri 1954 – “It’s all empty, empty,” he said to himself. “The sex and drugs. The violence, especially.” So he went down into the world to exercise his virtue, thinking maybe that would help. He taught a little kid to build a kite. He found a cure, and then he found a cure for his cure. He gave a woman at the mercy of the weather his umbrella, even though icy rain fell and he had pneumonia. He settled a revolution in Spain. Nothing worked. The world happens, the world changes, the world, it is written here, in the next line, is only its own membrane— and, oh yes, your compassionate nature, your compassion for our kind.

00:00:59 - Peg Reads Huineng Poem 00:02:18 - Peg reads a section of the Fukanzazengi (Eihei Do- gen ) regarding Zazen Huineng Poem Deluded, a Buddha is a sentient being;
Awakened, a sentient being is a Buddha. Ignorant, a Buddha is a sentient being;
With wisdom, a sentient being is a Buddha. If the mind is warped, a Buddha is a sentient being;
If the mind is impartial, a sentient being is a Buddha. When once a warped mind is produced,
Buddha is concealed within the sentient being. If for one instant of thought we become impartial,
Then sentient beings are themselves Buddha. In our mind itself a Buddha exists,
Our own Buddha is the true Buddha. If we do not have in ourselves the Buddha mind,
Then where are we to seek the Buddha? By: Huineng

00:19:39 - Questions/Reflections 00:22:52 - Flint Prepares for, and Offers an Exercise 00:33:33 - Instruction for connection Groups of 3 People (20 Minutes)

2024-04-01 Day 2/Part 1 | Integrated Intensive | Forms and Roles as Practice | Flint Sparks by Appamada