Grace Schireson, an ordained Zen priest and Dharma heir in the Suzuki-roshi lineage is also a trained Clinical Psychologist. Grace is the founder of Empty Nest Zendo (North Fork, CA), Fresno River Zen Group (Fresno, CA) and the Valley Heartland Zen Group (Modesto, CA). She has taught Zen throughout the United States and in Japan and is committed to teaching Asian methods of quieting the mind using techniques suitable for Westerners living actively in the world. (www.emptynestzendo.org).

Zen Meditation: Returning to Beginners Mind
Grace Schireson
August 22 - August 26, 2007

Program fee $80

Finding the place where we are fresh, the place where our essential presence arises, is the key to finding freedom through Zen. In the expert's mind they are few possibilities, in the Beginner's mind there are many, said Suzuki-roshi when he began teaching Zen to Americans. Zen training to uncover Beginner's Mind helps us to open up to the many possibilities for finding peace in the midst of the stressful world we live in. The ideal of Zen conjures up an image of a peaceful meditative state, but returning to Beginner's mind in the midst of our stressful, worldly lives is what really counts. We are not practicing to realize some abstract ideal; we are practicing meditation to integrate Beginner's Mind in our own very human daily lives.

The workshop will present basic Buddhist principles for happiness, and will then focus on Zen training specifically. The program will teach the essential techniques of seated meditation, walking meditation, and chanting for centering and deepening concentration. The program will also teach how meditative techniques can be practiced throughout daily life to reduce stress and facilitate ease and composure.

The program will offer an introductory session on the first evening. Special emphasis will be given to help each participant find the optimal meditation posture for his/her particular body. The focus is on finding peace of mind just where you are, in just the posture that facilitates your deepening meditation. The workshop will help participants learn to apply principles of meditation and Buddhist thought to their own daily life situations. In this way, we can deepen our own relationship to peace, a peace we can find when we return home or go back to work.

During the day there will be specific training, group meditation and instruction in how the actual training techniques are connected to the principles of Zen Buddhism. In the evening we will also meditate and study the lives and teaching words of enlightened Zen male and female teachers to see how their spiritual practice helped them to not only overcome personal adversity, but also to bring wisdom and compassion to everyone and everything they encountered. Participants will be encouraged to see their own lives and their own spiritual path as part of this continuum of seekers.