Meditation & Conversation
6-7:30pm Wednesdays
Currently online via Zoom
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Retreats in person and online
Our sessions are in Spanish or English with Spanish translation. The meditation is lightly guided or in silence.
Our meditations are deep and our conversations are lively.
Videos of talks from the weekly sessions are available on YouTube. Use the video link at the bottom of any page.
You can visit Flower Mountain Zen, Pacific Zen Institute, and Ordinary Mind Zendo for many offerings in English that provide online participation.
LET YOUR BURDEN DROP. PICK UP YOUR LIFE.
Maestro D tells the story of Budhai and his heavy bag full of both useful and useless things. When someone asks him, 'What is zen?' he lets his bag fall to the ground. When that person then asks him how to live zen, manifest it, Budha picks up his bag and walks on. Without words. He simply lets it fall. He simply picks it up. Nothing complicated.
Current Koan
No teachers of zen but there's zen.
Master Huang Bo said to those present, "You are like a bunch of clowns who drink the wine dregs but not the wine. You go on pilgrimages, but where is today? Do you not know that there are no Zen teachers in all of China?"
A monk asked him, "Then what about those people in many places who help disciples and guide assemblies?"
Huang Bo said, "I didn’t say there is no Zen. I said there are no Zen teachers."
Books by D Allen and Virginia Filip, Oaxaca Zen teachers, are available. Contact us or visit us in Oaxaca. D's book is also available as an ebook at Amazon.
THIS IS THE STONE, DRENCHED IN RAIN, THAT POINTS THE WAY
"This is a line from the poet Santoka. Once he was walking for hours in the freezing rain. His clothes were wet. He was not wearing any shoes. Then he saw a stone.. That stone showed him the way to continue. The rain drenched the stone and drenched him. He felt gratitude to the stone, and a profound peace.
About our sessions...
Four bells start the meditation, which is lightly guided. Then D Allen or Virginia Filip offers a brief talk that leads into a conversation about the theme we are exploring in the session. We use koan stories and our own lives as the material for these conversations.
For example, a koan says: "The coin lost in the river is found in the river." Hearing that, what feeling or thought comes to you? What has been your experience of losing and finding? What is this river for you? Sharing our experiences, doubts and insights, we shed light on each other's lives and wake up together to this difficult and shining world
We meet in the lovely and tranquil yoga and meditation room at Casa del Angel, or you can participate from wherever you are through our Zoom connection. Our sessions are informal and relaxed but please arrive a few mintues before the start time.
VIRGINIA FILIP HABLA DE LOS KOANS en general y de cómo activan nuestra imaginación. Utiliza el ejemplo del koan sobre un búfalo que pasa por una ventana. La cabeza, los cuernos, el cuerpo y las patas pasan, pero la cola no pasa. ¿Por qué no?
A TASTE OF ZEN MEDITATION
A guided meditation that invites us into being here and now, just this moment. It also asks you: Who are you?
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Video is not needed for a guided meditation. Just listening is itself meditation. This guided meditation invites us to feel tranquility and peace within our own bodies and to meditate on three questions about our lives. Because it lasts 40 minutes, we can delve more deeply into silence and curiosity.
There are guided meditations in Spanish and more talks in both Spanish and English on the Meditations and Talks page.