September 7-day Sesshin Deadline
Yesterday was the application deadline for the September 23-30 sesshin led by Dhara-sensei. You may still apply by clicking here.
No Formal Sitting at Arnold Park Friday Evening, September 8
The 2-day sesshin at Chapin Mill begins tonight.
Joining Sittings During the Upcoming 2-day sesshin (September 8-10)
While sesshin is underway at Chapin Mill, you can still join the in-person sittings at Arnold Park (except for Friday evening as noted above). Refer to the weekly schedule of formal sittings here.
The regular schedule for morning and evening Zoom sittings is suspended during sesshin. However, even if you’re not signed up for sesshin, you’re welcome to join any block of sitting (though without Private Instruction) in our usual Zoom room. If you do join us, please log on before a block begins or during kinhin to minimize distraction. Likewise, if you cannot stay for an entire block, leave during one of the kinhins whenever possible. The sesshin schedule is posted here.
DepreshZen, Saturday, September 9, 3 pm
A peer support group, DepreshZen, is a safe space to talk openly about living with depression and anxiety disorders from the perspective of Zen practitioners. We meet on Zoom approximately every two weeks. If you’re interested in participating or have any questions, please contact Iriz Robles or Tom Kowal.
Free Gokhale Workshop, Thursday, September 14, 7 pm
Esther Gokhale, author of 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back, will be in Rochester September 14 and 15 to lead clinics on posture and body mechanics. She has offered to lead a free session for the Sangha, related specifically to kinhin posture, on Thursday, September 14, at 7:00 pm in the Arnold Park zendo. Please RSVP Keith Carpenter if you’re interested in taking advantage of this opportunity to work on fine-tuning your kinhin posture.
As a result of this one-hour workshop, the regular 7:00-9:00 pm sitting with dokusan at Arnold Park is cancelled that evening.
Reminder: Sunday, September 17, 11 am: Sangha Conversation on Social Justice Engagement
As a follow-up to a discussion at our annual meeting of members on June 25, this Zoom meeting will be an opportunity to share and learn about differing needs related to the Center’s engagement with anti-racism and social justice issues in general. Over the years, this has been an ongoing topic of discussion at the Center, and it is a question that recently arose again in response to the Board of Trustees’ decision not to display a Black Lives Matter flag at Arnold Park, as was proposed by our Uprooting Racism Sangha group.
We’re delighted to have Kit Miller join us as the meeting facilitator. Kit is a longtime Sangha member and Director Emeritus of Rochester’s M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence.
The meeting will take place in our usual Zoom room. If you need sign-in information, please contact Jissai Prince-Cherry.