Joining the 7-day Sesshin (January 8 – 15)
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 dokusan) in our usual Zoom room. If you do join us, please log on before a block begins or during a kinhin to minimize distraction. Likewise, if you cannot stay for an entire block, exit Zoom during one of the kinhins whenever possible. Here is the schedule so you know what times to enter and join (the rounds are 35 minutes long with a 7-minute kinhin in between). Note: We will also stream the entire sesshin including Sensei’s teishos on Mixlr (where the sound is a bit better). The regular schedule of Zoom sittings will resume Monday morning, January 17.
Uprooting Racism Book Discussion: The Way of Tenderness
All are invited to join Uprooting Racism for their forthcoming discussion of Zenju Earthlyn Manuel’s deeply personal, insightful book, The Way of Tenderness: Awakening through Race, Sexuality, and Gender. This free discussion will take place on Zoom Wednesday, January 19, 2022, from 7:00 to 8:30 pm EST. We ask that for this event, participants read the entire book ahead of time and come prepared to discuss the work as a whole. Register for a free “ticket” here to receive the Zoom meeting information in your email inbox.
Need assistance or have questions? Please contact Luka.
Term Intensive Begins January 20
Our next Term Intensive will begin on Thursday, January 20, at 8 pm EST (on Zoom just after the evening sitting) and runs through February 17. The Term Intensive offers us a supportive structure in which to extend our practice efforts for a set period of time; this one will be four weeks. For this TI, we’ll retain certain changes from our old format:
- We won’t attempt formal opening or closing ceremonies. Our first session will be an opportunity to share our commitments, and the last will be for our final reports.
- Because living out of town is no longer a barrier to attending the meetings, out-of-towners will not be asked to email their reports as in the past.
- TI participants are expected to attend every meeting, but may not get a chance to report at every meeting. Since we do want to maintain accountability, if at any particular meeting you don’t get a turn to report live on Zoom, please send a report to Trueman, and we’ll send out minutes as we’ve done in the past.
- If you’d like to participate, please complete your online TI form by 4:00 pm EST on Thursday, January 20.
As always, the core commitment of any TI is to step up your zazen, since “upholding the precepts, repentance, and giving, the countless good deeds, and the way of right living all come from zazen,” as Zen master Hakuin reminded us. Within that context of sitting more, you may, as always, choose any number of secondary commitments as outlined in the guidance on the website.
Uprooting Racism Speaker Series: Conor Dwyer Reynolds of the Police Accountability Board
Please join Uprooting Racism for a free Zoom discussion with Conor Dwyer Reynolds, Executive Director of the Rochester Police Accountability Board (PAB). The event will take place from 7:00 to 8:30 pm EST on Sunday, January 30.
All are welcome, Zen Center members and non-members, Buddhist and non-Buddhist, local and non-local to Rochester, friends, family, and the curious alike.
Conor Dwyer Reynolds is a Rochester native and graduate of the University of Rochester and Yale Law School. Conor worked for President Obama at the White House and on the Obama-Biden campaign. In his legal career, Conor has sued banks to protect homeowners from foreclosure, served as a law clerk to Federal District Judge Carlton W. Reeves, and co-led Yale Law School’s Environmental Protection Clinic. During his time at the Clinic, Conor led a project to address the racist legacy of racially-restrictive covenants in Monroe County.
For much more information and to register for a free “ticket,” please click here. Questions or problems? Please contact Luka.