Fall 2019 Online Practice Period 10/2 – 12/7

Practice Center
Date / Time
Oct 2, 2019 / 6:30am - Dec 7, 2019 / 6:00pm
Event Type
Practice Periods
Description

Online Participation

Students in the online program participate via our Online Practice Period website. Students who live locally or are visiting the San Francisco area are invited to join us for open temple events such as zazen, ceremonies, dharma talks, and the Saturday morning class. However, this practice period is designed to reach those who cannot participate on-site on a regular basis and need to study on their own schedule.

All paid events at City Center are available to the participants at the member rate.

Awake Body – Awake Mind: Embodying the Buddha Way

Led by Kiku Christina Lehnherr
October 1 – December 7

Register now:

Register Online

Applications for online participation are due September 29.

Participants can engage in the practice period in one of three ways:

About the Fall 2019 Practice Period – Awake Body – Awake Mind: Embodying the Buddha Way

A Practice Period is a traditional intensive training period common in the schools of Buddhism and varying between six to twelve weeks in length. There are three practice periods offered onsite each year at our City Center temple—Winter, Spring, and Fall. Participants can engage in a practice period in one of three ways: as a resident, as a commuter, and online.

"Those who in past lives were not enlightened will now be enlightened.
In this life, save the body which is the fruit of many lives.
Before buddhas were enlightened, they were the same as we.
Enlightened people of today are exactly as those of old."
—Chan Master Lung-ya in Dogen Zenji’s “Eihei Koso Hotsuganmon”

Being awake in this life means being in alignment with the Being we are and to be fully inhabiting our body. It means to be responsive to all aspects of our life and to take full responsibility for them. We are one completely intertwined, inseparable body-heart-mind-spirit being. Whatever has happened to this being in the past, is happening to it in the present and might be happening to it in the future; how we bring ourselves to the impact of those events is completely in our hands, is completely our own responsibility, is transformative and will determine the outcome. This is a dynamic and continuous process of dependent co-arising, a journey of becoming moment by moment.

For this karmic life, we have been given a wonder-ful body. It is the host and vehicle for the Being we are to express itself, as well as the storehouse of all our experiences. It is a body that intricately, inseparably and continuously participates in and responds to every thought, feeling and action, to every experience, to every impact.

It is an organism of complete, all-inclusive responsiveness, functioning continuously. It responds to but is not dependent on the level of our awareness. Our bodies are children of planet earth, together with all other species in nature. And as such our bodies too carry the innate capacity of nature to live in harmony with difference and equality. With all these capacities our body is a faithful ally and wonderful teacher for the endeavor of waking up, for the undertaking of Embodying the Buddha Way.

In this existence, enlightenment arises with and within the body. There is no enlightenment available to us apart from it. With the support of the online practice period structure, zazen (sitting meditation), mindfulness, sensory awareness, each other, and texts from Zen and other traditions we will discover that learning to be all-inclusive within ourselves, more capable to meet and embrace the full spectrum of how we are arising moment by moment in this body, will also enable us to find ways to peacefully co-exist with others.

This Fall Practice Period is a chance to develop and deepen your practice together with others in a supportive environment and through activities including daily sitting, study, and weekly sangha discussion.

Christina will also teach a class on the practice period theme, Awake Body - Awake Mind: Embodying the Buddha Way. It will meet six Saturday mornings, October 12, 19, 26, November 9, 16, 23, 8:45 – 9:45 am.

There will be two one-day sittings, on October 5 and November 2. The practice period concludes with a seven-day Rohatsu sesshin, beginning the evening of Saturday, November 30 and ending on Saturday, December 7. (One-day sittings and the sesshin must be registered for and paid for separately.)

The online practice period includes:

  • Livestream Dharma talks on Saturdays which will be available to watch at any time.
  • Audio recordings of additional Dharma talks given on Wednesday evenings and during sesshin 
  • Access to videos of the practice period class, Awake Body - Awake Mind: Embodying the Buddha Way. The recorded video will be available for viewing for those who cannot attend live.
  • Downloads of handouts, readings, and exercises.
  • An online zendo to sit with others each morning Monday through Friday.
  • Interactive meetings with the practice leaders and other participants via video conference calls.
  • Opportunity to have an online sangha relationship with other students via the practice period website.
Fee Information

Online Participation Fee: $179 general; $161 current members; $143 limited income.

Registration Information

Online Registration & Questionnaire

  • Register Online     or call our toll-free number 888.743.9362 or our local number 415.475.9362 to register and pay for the practice period. 
     
  • And complete this Online Questionnaire.

Access to the practice period website will be provided a week prior to the practice period.

Deadline for registration is September 29. Some partial scholarships are available; please review this page for more information.