December 2008Welcome to
the December 2008
- Home Practice Program
offerings.
DECEMBER 12 (Friday PM) -
Sharpening Focus on Change:
Expansion & Contraction
Emphasis:
Sharpening the technique Prerequisites: Previous experience in practicing Focus on Change: Expansion & Contraction Version. Comments: Expanding and Contracting represent an “advanced way” to Focus on Change. It is based on the model of nature/consciousness/enlightenment espoused by Joshu Sasaki Roshi, who, at the age of 101, is arguably the most senior Zen master in the world. This model broadens the notion of “impermanence” to include force and energy as well as change. It facilitates a “spherical contemplation” of how the Source (Zero) polarizes to manifest self (Feel, Image, Talk) and world (Touch, Sight, Sound) then neutralizes to absorb self and world back within it, over and over again, moment-by-moment. To participate you need at least some experience practicing Focus on Change: Expansion & Contraction. I will guide you through several “special exercises” designed to sharpen your ability to use this approach to practice.Suggested Reading: Focus on Change Summary Fee: $10 per person (This fee does not include charges, if any, by your long distance phone service.)
DECEMBER 13 (Saturday AM)
-
Learning Focus on Rest: Do
Nothing
Emphasis:
Getting the foundations of the technique Prerequisites: Previous experience in practicing Focus on Rest: Standard Version. Comments: Do Nothing is an advanced option for the Focus on Rest technique. Most of what we do in the 5 Ways involves some intention, but there’s a vast tradition both in the East and the West that's "practice that’s not practice." Different names are given in different parts of the world, but the basic idea is to "call off the search" and simply abide in Nature/Grace. Shinzen believes that both approaches—the "Noble quest" and the "Call off the search"—have validity and therefore has incorporated this latter approach as an option to the Focus on Rest technique. You can think of Do Nothing as a path to Absolute Rest…not path in the sense of a way to get to Absolute Rest, but rather path in the sense of a way that Absolute Rest can get to you! Suggested Reading: Return to the Source, Focus on Rest Summary Fee: $20 per person (This fee does not include charges, if any, by your long distance phone service.)
DECEMBER 13 (Saturday PM)
-
Learning Focus Out
Emphasis:
Getting the foundations of the technique Prerequisites: The Introduction to Basic Mindfulness Class or its equivalent in the form of an Onsite Retreat or private work with Shinzen/facilitator. Comments: The main goal of this program is to master the formal apparatus of Focus Out. You will learn how to anchor yourself in the present moment by focusing on external vision (“Sight”), external hearing (“Sound”) and physical-type body sensations (“Touch”). Suggested Reading: Focus Out Summary Fee: $20 per person (This fee does not include charges, if any, by your long distance phone service.)
DECEMBER 14 (Sunday AM)
-
Sports-based Mindfulness Emphasis:
Applying the techniques Prerequisites: Previous experience in practicing Focus on Positive. Comments: It is common for athletes to experience highly developed mindfulness while engaged in sports. This experience is often described as blissful and deeply spiritual, and is generally associated with superior performance. It is also common for athletes to experience inordinately poor mindfulness when engaged in sports, especially when the pressure is on. This is generally associated with unsatisfactory performance. In this retreat we will learn to intentionally bring up excellent mindfulness, and to overcome poor mindfulness, when playing sports. Participants should try to practice some kind of sport, in at least an abbreviated form, during the one-hour self practice period. Fee: $20 per person (This fee does not include charges, if any, by your long distance phone service.)
DECEMBER 14 (Sunday PM)
-
Return to the Source
Emphasis:
Deepening the techniques Prerequisites: Previous experience in practicing Focus on Change: Expansion & Contraction Version and Focus on Rest: Do Nothing Version. Comments: The mystics of the world speak of ordinary consciousness (i.e., the experience of self and world) as arising from and returning to Absolute Consciousness, moment-by-moment. Many terms have been used to describe Absolute Consciousness (True Self, No Self, Ultimate Simplicity, Contentless Consciousness, Todo, Nada, Cessation…) but my favorite terms are Source and Zero. There are many ways to approach the Source. (To make a mathematical pun: Many sequences converge to 0 J) The Basic Mindfulness system is built on “mutually complimenting contrasts.” Not surprisingly it offers two very different approaches to returning to the Source, one based on making a concerted effort and one based on letting go of all effort. The first approach involves paying close attention to when things disappear from awareness. Doing this will continuously advert (direct) your attention to the Source. Can you guess why? Well, where the previous sensory event goes to is precisely where the next sensory event will arise from! The second approach is a bit more radical. It involves the method of no method whatsoever. You “call off the search” to find your True Self, but in a way that allows the True Self to find you. In this retreat we will explore both of these approaches.Suggested Reading: Return to the Source, Focus on Rest Summary, Focus on Change Summary Fee: $20 per person (This fee does not include charges, if any, by your long distance phone service.) |
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