Zen Peacemaker Circle, 5th April 2008
7 people attended this month's Peacemaker Circle, which was largely organised by John and Stacie. Zang facilitated on the day. After a check-in circle, Kaite told us about possible business ideas she'd been having, and we discussed the next circle to be held in her house. Then we practiced simple Qi Gong movements for 15-20 mins.
We had a Lotus Sutra theme to the day- we read a chapter from "The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment", a commentary on the sutra by Sangharakshita, founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, which is Howard's main community. The chapter we read contained a parable from the Lotus Sutra on the Dharma as like rain that falls equally on all beings, and discusses the spiritual life in terms of growth and vegetation. We then held a full Council Circle on this topic.
At the start of lunch, Stacie shared with us a Jewish prayer for breaking the bread, and told us a little about the customs connected with the Passover, which is next Saturday. She told us about a point in the ceremony where the door is opened for an Angel to come in and drink some wine from the table... and how strangers and the homeless are welcomed. During lunch we also read together a chapter from Bernie Glassman's "Bearing Witness", talking about how the early Zen Peacemaker community cleared out the grounds of a disused school as a place to practice...
Enrique read a poem to us during lunch by Drukpa Kunley, the infamous wandering vagabond from Tibetan/Bhutanese legend...
We chanted the Nicheren Buddhist chant in homage to the Lotus Sutra, led again by Stacie who practices it regularly. She explained the meaning of Namyoho Renge Kyo simply, and we placed the Lotus Sutra in the centre of the circle. John brought some music by the band Faithless, who's lead singer is a strong practicioner of Nicheren Buddhism- it was a song about remembering the homeless.
After a session of Zazen, Kaite led an excellent poetry writing session. She brought a poetry book along by a mediaeval Indian Muslim poet, and she asked each of us to choose a number between 1 and 216. Then she read to us the poem corresponding to the number we chose and asked us to use that as a starting point for our own poem. Before we began to write, she also led us on a guided visualisation entering a giant crystal chandelier! we then wrote short poems and read them aloud to one another. They will be used in a further art project in the future...
John reminded us that Tuesday is the date of the Buddha's birthday in the Japanese calender, so in honour of this he brought along the film 'The Little Buddha', and we watched the scene at the start that shows Queen Maya giving birth and the Buddha taking his first steps...
We finished with a checking-out round, and thanked Howard once again for his hospitality in hosting us. The next Circle will probably be in Kaite's house in May.
We had a Lotus Sutra theme to the day- we read a chapter from "The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment", a commentary on the sutra by Sangharakshita, founder of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, which is Howard's main community. The chapter we read contained a parable from the Lotus Sutra on the Dharma as like rain that falls equally on all beings, and discusses the spiritual life in terms of growth and vegetation. We then held a full Council Circle on this topic.
At the start of lunch, Stacie shared with us a Jewish prayer for breaking the bread, and told us a little about the customs connected with the Passover, which is next Saturday. She told us about a point in the ceremony where the door is opened for an Angel to come in and drink some wine from the table... and how strangers and the homeless are welcomed. During lunch we also read together a chapter from Bernie Glassman's "Bearing Witness", talking about how the early Zen Peacemaker community cleared out the grounds of a disused school as a place to practice...
Enrique read a poem to us during lunch by Drukpa Kunley, the infamous wandering vagabond from Tibetan/Bhutanese legend...
We chanted the Nicheren Buddhist chant in homage to the Lotus Sutra, led again by Stacie who practices it regularly. She explained the meaning of Namyoho Renge Kyo simply, and we placed the Lotus Sutra in the centre of the circle. John brought some music by the band Faithless, who's lead singer is a strong practicioner of Nicheren Buddhism- it was a song about remembering the homeless.
After a session of Zazen, Kaite led an excellent poetry writing session. She brought a poetry book along by a mediaeval Indian Muslim poet, and she asked each of us to choose a number between 1 and 216. Then she read to us the poem corresponding to the number we chose and asked us to use that as a starting point for our own poem. Before we began to write, she also led us on a guided visualisation entering a giant crystal chandelier! we then wrote short poems and read them aloud to one another. They will be used in a further art project in the future...
John reminded us that Tuesday is the date of the Buddha's birthday in the Japanese calender, so in honour of this he brought along the film 'The Little Buddha', and we watched the scene at the start that shows Queen Maya giving birth and the Buddha taking his first steps...
We finished with a checking-out round, and thanked Howard once again for his hospitality in hosting us. The next Circle will probably be in Kaite's house in May.
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