Responding Gate
A more or less bi-monthly letter from Spiritual Director Nomon Tim Burnett
March 2012
Past Issues available at http://www.redcedarzen.org/index.php/category/news/
Dear Sangha,
I’ve been fortunate lately to have conversations with sangha members about the unsolvable problems in their lives. Those places where we really explore the edges of what it is to be a person. A real person.
Of course there are things we can change and influence but so much of what troubles us is more or less unsolvable. These issues can’t be fixed in that way of fixing things. And yet we have all the choice in the world in how we respond. How we enter into relationship with these challenges.
And there are serious challenges. We are worried about these things. Worried and concerned. People we love are ill or unstable or not acting in their own best interests. Institutions are set up poorly and causing harm. Financial troubles are all around. And in the background the planet itself may well be racing towards large scale catastrophe as the climate shifts and changes in response to our actions. There is much to be worried about. Concerned by.
What do we do? Stay busy? Get angry? Try our best to deny these troubles are even happening? Sink into despair and despondency? Rationalize that the problem as someone else’s fault? Someone else’s responsibility? Think that it’s all our fault? So many ways to enter the gates of hell in these situations.
A sangha member came up with an term for a healthy approach that I’m really appreciating – “the practice of concern.”
The practice of concern seems to be neither turning away and not running around trying to fix.
Maybe the practice of concern manifests as showing up in the hospital room even when we don’t know what to say or do. Maybe it’s making a 10 minute phone call to an ailing relative every day as a practice, but not dropping everything to spend the next two months at their bedside. Or maybe it is dropping everything and giving ourselves fully.
How the practice of concern manifests outwardly flows out of a creative, heart-felt engagement with out own fear, with our own discomfort. A kind of “feeling into” the situation. These are things we don’t want to face. And even when we think we are getting in there and doing something – “making a difference” perhaps – it might be that unless we bring up the practice of concern we are fooling ourselves. We are there in body but the spirit is off.
The inner work of the practice of concern seems to be the pivot point here.
How to be enter this inner work? There might be symbolic actions that guide us and remind us of our concern and how to practice with it. Putting the picture of an ailing loved one on our home altar for example. But really this inner work is not problem solving or direct. It’s an opening to the space where there’s fear, it’s a deep acknowledgement – a breathing into – that sense of our own inadequacy or our own tightness and resistance.
The practice of concern is an opening-the-heart practice. To open the heart we must also open the hand of thought. Because our thinking closes in on us like a vice. To much of our thinking is so limited, so narrow. I should be such and so – a good daughter, a good grandson, an effective activist. I should try harder. What’s wrong with me? Oh forget it, there’s nothing I can do.
How fortunate we are to have the tools from the Zen tradition that help us to see that a thought is a thought. Just a thought! That conditioning is conditioning – naturally the mind generates such thoughts. And they are empty. They need not have the hold on us we used to give them.
And so the practice of concern is just that. A practice. A turning towards. A gentle return to the fullness of being. It includes our stumbles. I recently learned the Japanese proverb: “Fall down seven times, get up eight.” This seems a good description of this practice. If never got up we wouldn’t fall, true, but how much more beautiful we are as we get up again.
And yet the mind is funny. So easily confused. How do we know when we are practicing our concern instead of being bowled over by it or denying it?
One way: we feel our own suffering and pain more accurately, more sensitively. We become more and more sensitive to the pain of separation and disengagement – we can’t help it really, sooner or later we have to feel the full weight of these things. And if there’s more pain and anger and fear then we are not practicing with our concern – we’re running from it.
The great miracle of this is that we can be of more help and feel much better when we practice creatively and actively with our concern.
The Dalai Lama is quoted as saying:
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
This is the practice of concern. We can’t solve it and fix it maybe, but we can face it. We can be with it. We have this deep human capacity and it’s time to exercise it. How is it for you? What are the worries in the back of your mind and how do you practice with them?
best wishes always,
Nomon Tim Burnett
Spiritual Director, Red Cedar Zen Community
tim@redcedarzen.org 360-223-0687
April Events
Lots of little events. Be sure to check our new online events calendar to sort all of this out and here are some highlights.
Sanctuary Garden Fundrasier – April 7th & 8th
The steady conversion of an ugly back parking lot behind the Dharma Hall into a beautiful landscape is off to an amazing start. The funding for the first phase was almost entirely from the surpisingly successful massage fundraiser last year. In a few week: another round which if successful will be enough to bring the garden fully to life. A variety of different body work sessions may be purchased at really reasonable rates with proceeds to support this Sanctuary Garden (which will be an offering to the whole community – open to all). Details online here or contact Danielle at (360) 220-5280 or danielle@bodywalkmassage.com
Buddha’s Birthday Sesshin – May 5th
An opportunity to practice all day together. Breakfast and lunch will be provided (along with instruction on the formal oryoki style of eating). Day includes a dharma talk, sitting and walking meditation, breaks, and opportunities to meet with the teacher(s) privately. Registration is open. Various part time choices are available. Let us know if you’re coming so we can plan volunteer jobs and meals.
You can come to the included Zen in Bellingham morning event that morning without registering. Zazen instruction at 9:30am, zazen at 10:00am, talk follows at 10:40am and on this particular month the talk will be followed by a Buddha’s Birthday ceremony. Details to follow on the exact timing.
Samish Sesshin – registration to open April 1st
It’s time once again to consider your attendance at our annual 7-day/8-night sesshin with Zoketsu Norman Fischer at the beautiful church camp we rent on Samish Island. The full retreat is Friday afternoon June 15th until Saturday noon June 23rd but first half (Friday afternoon – Tuesday 5pm) and second half attendance (Tuesday 5pm – Saturday noon) is also available.
Do note that no other part time options are available. You can make it easier on the registrar by not making us say “no” to other part time requests – this sesshin is just too full and complex for other choices to be possible.
Hope to see you at Samish this year, but remember also that if you want to study with Norman in the Pacific Northwest he also comes twice a year to Vancouver – the next retreat coming up soon May 18-20. Details on our website, below, and also at www.mountainrainzen.org.
Zen in Bellingham / Zen Work Mornings
We are now offering two regular all-morning practice times each month. Nice for those who aren’t always up for our weekly 6am zazen meeting.
1st Sat – public talk: The 1st Saturday of each month is our public-facing “Zen in Bellingham” program. Zazen instruction offered every time at 9:30am. Zazen at 10:00am. A dharma talk with visiting and local teachers at 10:40am. Then usually we follow this with service and a tea/cookies/hang out time. (If there is a sesshin retreat in progress the program usually ends after the talk but the instruction / zazen / talk schedule is consistent).
Coming up weekend after next we have an honored guest – Eido Frances Carney the abess of Olympia Zen Center and an old friend of Edie Norton is coming to speak. Please come if you can.
And then on May 5th I will give the talk (that during the one day Buddha’s birthday sesshin, so there will be a Buddha’s Birthday ceremony included in the public program too). On June 2nd, Red Cedar Zen lay teacher Yuzan Nancy Welch speaks, and then on July 7th another visiting teacher: David Rynick of Boundless Way Zen Community in Worcester, Mass., joins us to speak about his new book This Truth Never Fails: A Zen Memoir in Four Seasons which I’ve just started and it’s quite delightful.
Mark your calendar for those 1st Saturday mornings of the month, this wonderful program seems like it will just get better and better.
3rd Sat – work period: And then on the 3rd Saturday morning of the month also 9:30am to noon we enjoy a Zen work morning. Working together is a deep and core Zen practice. We’ve had strong and delicious tastes of this practice: the work period after lunch during Samish sesshin, remodeling our burned out hulk of a building into a beautiful zendo together, but we’ve not had work as a regular part of the schedule. I’m so happy that we do now. Coming together to practice meditation in action. Important tasks get done with a spirit of fellowship (and there’s a reduction in the burn-out creating isolation of doing all sangha work separately and alone) and it’s a great way to get to know each other.
Without visiting teachers and Dharma talks and such hoopla, these 3rd Saturday of the month work mornings will probably never get as much promotion or attention, and maybe that’s just as it should be. Just come down and help out for a bit. There is often lunch included as the tenzo wants to test out soup recipes for our retreats! Don’t miss it.
Movie Night! April 13th 7pm
Another special evening event. I’ve been supporting combined Red Cedar Zen / Bellingham Insight movie nights on Fridays all Fall but never quite made it to any! I’m excited to make this one. We’ll enjoy Amongst White Clouds a highly recommend film about Chinese Buddhist hermits based on pioneering work by Red Pine in China. Bring your own popcorn.
Fire Monks reading – April 16th 7pm Village Books
Colleen Morton Busch reads from her new book Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire at the Gates of Tassajara about the wildfire that nearly destroyed the Tassajara Zen Mountain Monastery where I and most of our teachers did at least some of their Zen training. Colleen is in our lineage as well: a lay-ordained student of Sojun Mel Weitsman’s in Berkeley, CA. I invited her to visit the zendo for zazen and to meet sangha but it turns out this trip is too tight.
Lotus Sutra Study Group – April 11 through June 13
Very pleased to announce that Edie Norton is preparing to lead a 6-week study group on the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus is a seminal Mahayana text full of stories, allegories, and extravagant enthusiasm for Buddha. In much of Asian Buddhism it’s the most important Buddhist text bar none. Wednesday evenings 6pm – 6:45pm right before zazen starting on April 11th. Details online here.
The excellent monthly Zen koans study group facilitates by John Wiley continues this Spring on the 2nd Monday of the month (see full schedule list below).
Helping Mountain Rain move – this Saturday
I’m planning to leave right after Saturday morning service (8am) and drive up to the Mountain Rain Zen Community’s old zendo this Saturday March 31st to help them move into their new zendo. It’s their moving and set up day! An exciting and important step for any Zen group. Their new zendo is similar in many ways to ours: a visible and accessible place in a leased commercial building with room for weekly practice and retreats. If you’d like to join me there is room in the car. If someone wants to organize a congratulatory card we can take that up as well.
Scarce Sightings of Tim in April
I’ll be away the 1st week of April visiting my grandmother (just turned 93) and other family in San Diego. Then back the 2nd week, then gone again the rest of the month to a training in teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction with the good folks at the Center for Mindfulness in Worcester, Mass. So my zendo appearances will be just Weds the 11th, Friday the 13th, and Saturday the 14th. I’ll miss seeing everyone and regret the many excellent events I’ll be missing.
Announcing Mindfulness Northwest
I’m pleased to announce the formation of a new non-profit organization called Mindfulness Northwest devoted to offering the broader community access to a system of teaching about meditation, stress reduction, and awareness called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). This is the system devised by Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues in the last 1970′s that is now gaining wide acceptance as it’s being validated by psychological and neurological studies left and right.
The goals of Mindfulness Northwest are to offer the MBSR class as well as a variety of workshops and retreats in this secular system to the general public and also to professional helpers of all kinds (psychotherapists, nurses, massage therapists, doctors). The idea of “mindfulness” is of interest to these professionals and we want to offer them quality experiential education in what it really feels like in body and mind to practice mindfulness and share these practices from that felt sense.
And MBSR itself is proven very helpful for people under all kind of adverse conditions – chronic illness, pain, stress related psychological and physical issues.
You can read our first newsletter here. Or just go to the homepage of the Mindfulness Northwest website. There is a separate email list for Mindfulness Northwest which you can sign up for on the contact page.
If you’d like to be consistently informed about the classes and workshops that Mindfulness Northwest will offer as well as receiving notes from me and other mindfulness teachers about emerging science and practice points do sign up on this mailing list – we hope to send a message every month or so.
(This Responding Gate newsletter is oriented around Zen practice and Red Cedar Zen Community only and I will only include the occasional mention here of Mindfulness Northwest events.)
A few people have asked me if this supplants or replaces my involvement with Red Cedar Zen Community. Not at all, it’s a supplement and a compliment to the work we do in Zen. While the root feeling is much the same, the MBSR style is quite different from Zen. There is more explicit body-mind integration practice, there is a lot more instruction (a lot more), and a lot more discussion. It involves more tie ins from poetry and literature and to make it fully accessible to people of all (or no) faiths, and there is little mention of specific Buddhist teachings or terminology.
My long term hope is to reduce my day job in technology work, not to reduce my work as a Soto Zen teacher and priest. The dream here is that a combination of Zen and mindfulness work supporting me and my family. But I will take it all one step at a time. As Spiritual Director for Red Cedar Zen Community I work for the members, don’t hesitate to contact me about anything that’s on your mind.
Upcoming events with Red Cedar Zen Community
Zen in Bellingham – Eido Frances Carney
Saturday April 7, 2012 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Zen in Bellingham is our new once a month public-facing program offered on the first Saturday of every month from 9:30am – Noon. The community is warmly invited to join us for a moment of Zen with plenty of instruction and support. A little bit of each element of a Zen meditation meeting is offered with a introduction to meditation available to everyone coming early.
Sanctuary Garden Massage Fundraiser II
Saturday April 7, 2012 – Sunday April 8, 2012
Sign up for a massage to help the Sanctuary Garden behind Red Cedar Dharma Hall come to fruition. Massages are available by appointment at the Dharma Hall on Saturday April 7th from 2pm – 6pm and again on Sunday April 8th from 10am – 3pm. Email Danielle AhMaiua at Danielle@bodywalkmassage.com or call her at 360-220-5280 to schedule an appointment.
Koan Study Group
Monday April 9, 2012 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Monthly Koan Study Group with Seishu John Wiley
2nd Monday on the month, 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Lotus Sutra Study Group
Wednesday April 11, 2012 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
An 8-session study group on Wednesday evenings in April, May, and June prior to our 7 pm meditation led by Zaren Edie Norton on The Lotus Sutra, a seminal work establishing the Bodhisattva Way in early Buddhism.
Movie Night: Amongst White Clouds
Friday April 13, 2012 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Enjoy a very special film along with our friends in BIMS on Chinese Zen hermits. The film inspired by the work and book by Red Pine (Bill Porter), our Zen neighbor in Port Townsend. No charge, donations to the Hall always welcome.
Lotus Sutra Study Group
Wednesday April 18, 2012 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
An 8-session study group on Wednesday evenings in April, May, and June prior to our 7 pm meditation led by Zaren Edie Norton on The Lotus Sutra, a seminal work establishing the Bodhisattva Way in early Buddhism.
Introduction to Zen
Sunday April 22, 2012 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Our quarterly introductory class and retreat with lay teachers from Red Cedar Zen. The basics on sitting and walking meditation and other ritual forms. On the spirit of living a life of healthy discipline with the guidance of Zen Buddhism. Designed for new students or those wanting to renew and deepen their understanding. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion.
Lotus Sutra Study Group
Wednesday April 25, 2012 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
An 8-session study group on Wednesday evenings in April, May, and June prior to our 7 pm meditation led by Zaren Edie Norton on The Lotus Sutra, a seminal work establishing the Bodhisattva Way in early Buddhism.
Zen in Bellingham – Nomon Tim Burnett
Saturday May 5, 2012 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Zen in Bellingham is our new once a month public-facing program offered on the first Saturday of every month from 9:30am – Noon. The community is warmly invited to join us for a moment of Zen with plenty of instruction and support. A little bit of each element of a Zen meditation meeting is offered with a introduction to meditation available to everyone coming early.
Buddha’s Birthday Sesshin
Saturday May 5, 2012 6:00 am – 9:00 pm
Registration required.
Join us for all or part of a full day Zen sesshin (formal Zen retreat) including three oryoki (formal three-bowl) meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Koan Study Group
Monday May 14, 2012 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Monthly Koan Study Group with Seishu John Wiley
2nd Monday on the month, 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Lotus Sutra Study Group
Wednesday May 16, 2012 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
An 8-session study group on Wednesday evenings in April, May, and June prior to our 7 pm meditation led by Zaren Edie Norton on The Lotus Sutra, a seminal work establishing the Bodhisattva Way in early Buddhism.
Weekend Zen Retreat with Zoketsu Norman Fischer (Vancouver)
Friday May 18, 2012 7:00 pm – Sunday May 20, 2012 4:00 pm
This non-residential silent retreat is suitable for both beginners and experienced students. Beginners are advised to discuss the schedule with the registrar. It will include periods of zazen (sitting meditation), kinhin (walking meditation), chanting, and talks by the teacher. There will also be opportunities for individual or group interviews with the teacher, and with MRZC resident priests Kakushi Kate McCandless and Onshin Michael Newton.
Lotus Sutra Study Group
Wednesday May 23, 2012 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
An 8-session study group on Wednesday evenings in April, May, and June prior to our 7 pm meditation led by Zaren Edie Norton on The Lotus Sutra, a seminal work establishing the Bodhisattva Way in early Buddhism.
Lotus Sutra Study Group
Wednesday May 30, 2012 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
An 8-session study group on Wednesday evenings in April, May, and June prior to our 7 pm meditation led by Zaren Edie Norton on The Lotus Sutra, a seminal work establishing the Bodhisattva Way in early Buddhism.
Zen in Bellingham – Yuzan Nancy Welch
Saturday June 2, 2012 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Zen in Bellingham is our new once a month public-facing program offered on the first Saturday of every month from 9:30am – Noon. The community is warmly invited to join us for a moment of Zen with plenty of instruction and support. A little bit of each element of a Zen meditation meeting is offered with a introduction to meditation available to everyone coming early.
Lotus Sutra Study Group
Wednesday June 6, 2012 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
An 8-session study group on Wednesday evenings in April, May, and June prior to our 7 pm meditation led by Zaren Edie Norton on The Lotus Sutra, a seminal work establishing the Bodhisattva Way in early Buddhism.
Lotus Sutra Study Group
Wednesday June 13, 2012 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
An 8-session study group on Wednesday evenings in April, May, and June prior to our 7 pm meditation led by Zaren Edie Norton on The Lotus Sutra, a seminal work establishing the Bodhisattva Way in early Buddhism.
Samish Island Sesshin 2012
Friday June 15, 2012 5:00 pm – Saturday June 23, 2012 12:00 pm
Our annual 7-day (8 nights) silent Zen sesshin with Zoketsu Norman Fischer includes seven days and eight nights of silent practice of sitting and walking meditation in this beautiful church camp on the water on Samish Island in the Skagit Valley. Retreat includes dharma talks by Norman and other Northwest teachers, doksusan and practice discussion, sitting and walking meditation, and delicious vegetarian meals. A deep time for practice and reflection with the support of sangha and teachers.
Zen & the Practice of the Wild
Monday July 9, 2012 – Monday July 16, 2012
A week long practice experience at wilderness edge with Nomon Tim Burnett, Eko Jeff Kelly, and Kurt Hoelting.
Explore the connection between contemplative practice and wild places within the context of the Soto Zen tradition in this exciting offering with Inside Passages, Kurt’s project integrating mindfulness practice, eco-tourism, and wilderness near Petersburg, Alaska.
Our annual 3-day contemplative backpacking retreat to Mount Baker. Held earlier in the summer this year to make room for the Mount Rainier trip.
Registration required. [Note: tentative dates]
Circumambulation of Mount Rainer
Friday September 7, 2012 – Sunday September 23, 2012
As our annual Mountains and River’s backpacking retreat moves into it’s 12th year, coordinator Reizan Bob Penny is planning a more ambitious wilderness Dharma adventure: hiking the 100 mile Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier!
Full List of Events: <http://www.redcedarzen.org/index.php/events/>
Handy Events Calendar: <http://www.redcedarzen.org/index.php/calendar/>
