Winter Solstice Events

Tallgrass Zen Center
Winter Solstice
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Deep Creek Community Center

Meditation from 9 am - 5 pm
with consulting interviews
bring your own lunch
tea provided

Potluck at 5:30 pm

Candlelight Kido at 6:30 pm

All events are open to the public,
no prior experience necessary
free will offering to cover rental of facility

for directions call 785-537-8713 or e-mail tallgrasszen @ yahoo. com

Kwan Se Um Bosal / Ji Jang Bosal

Yesterday we had our first ever kido retreat led by Linc Rhodes, JDPSN. It featured about seven hours of chanting kwanseumbosal over and over while sitting and walking and keeping time with percussion instruments. In the words of Sam Wisely, it was "interesting." At one point, about 4 hours into our afternoon chanting, everyone seemed to wake up together and began hitting their instruments hard. Several us of were hitting the floor. The energy was palpable. This went on for a while. It's hard to explain how one minute you can be practically falling over with exhaustion and the next minute clear and exhilarated.

This morning we had practice at Ana Franklin's Yoga Studio and chanted Ji Jang Bosal to commemorate 9/11. Ji Jang Bosal is the "earth storehouse boddhisatva," which is a lovely way to think of the dead. Afterward we sat in a circle and talked and ate Ana's delicious meal. Thank you, Ana!

And many thanks to everyone who participated in both events, especially to Linc for traveling so far and being so steady.

kwanseumbosal kwanseumbosal kwanseumbosal

Tallgrass Zen Kido Retreat

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Guiding Teacher Linc Rhodes JDPSN

Deep Creek Community Center
In the Flint Hills of Kansas
10 minutes from Manhattan,kansas

Kido chanting retreats consist primarily of chanting with breaks for meals. We chant “Kwan Seum Bosal”, the Korean name for the bodhisattva of compassion, while sitting, standing and walking. These retreats are suitable for beginners as well as experienced students. Kido begins at 6am & ends at 9:30 pm.


$50 general public
$45 Kwan um members
$40 dharma teachers
scholarships/work exchange

to register call 785-537-8713 or e-mail tallgrasszen@yahoo.com

Tallgrass Zen Center is affiliated with the Kwan Um School of Zen
http://tallgrasszen.blogspot.com/

Buddha’s Birthday Poem

look up into the sky
look into the Baby Buddha’s eyes.

despite his declaration: “Only I am holy”
we love the Baby Buddha anyway.

before he could teach us to WAKE UP
he let go of silver spoons to grow up.

look into the Baby Buddha’s eyes
in the face of everyone you meet.

in the early morning twilight
as planets align in the eastern sky
buffalo graze on tallgrass.

Happy Buddha’s Birthday

Margaret Wheeler
May 10, 2011

Jijang bosal for Honey

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Honey

My little cat Honey is dying. She was diagnosed two or maybe three weeks ago with kidney failure, and despite my best efforts has slowly wasted away. I am very sad. I’m also feeling very guilty because I was negligent in various ways.

We adopted Honey nine years ago from the local animal shelter. She was a pregnant stray who was very close to being euthanized. So in another sense I am feeling quite virtuous because we prolonged her life, and because her life was by and large a good one, with plenty of food and water and love.

Somewhere between guilt and virtue lies a truth about our lives and our deaths. I don’t know what it is.

I know that I love the little creature and that she loves me. She’s lying right now in the garden, under a rose bush, in the sunshine, while her life slowly ebbs away. Margaret and I have been weeding the vegetable garden, stopping now and then to visit with her. She lifts her head a bit when we touch her then falls back into a doze. This is best death I can give her, to let her lie in a safe familiar place, to return to her again and again so she can hear my voice and feel my touch.

I know that there is great teaching in all this, about suffering and impermanence. But right now all I want to do is cry.

One Day Retreat: May 7, 2011

Tallgrass Zen Center

One Day Mediation Retreat with Consulting Interviews

Deep Creek Community Center

Saturday May 7, 2011

Set up will be at 6:45 am

7:30 am – 5:00 pm

Bring your own breakfast/lunch

Tea will be provided

Please RSVP to tallgrasszen @ yahoo. com if you plan to attend

On Saturday morning April 16, we arrived for practice and our matts. cushions and altar items had been removed by hospital staff. A note had been left for us and the items were safely locked in an office. We have subsequently learned that we will still be allowed to use the chapel for our practice times on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings, however we will not be allowed to store our supplies at the hospital any longer. So when attending practice you might consider arriving early or staying late to help with set up and take down.

This change is the result of Matt Cobb"s resigning from his position as Chaplain at Mercy. He has been a great friend and bodhisattva to our sangha in his kind offer of the chapel for our practice over 5 years ago.

We will continue to hold practice at the hospital, and continue to search for an (im)permanent home for Tallgrass Zen Center.

May Our Practice Benefit All Beings,
Margaret Wheeler, Co- Abbott
Tallgrass Zen Center
Manhattan, Kansas

London Zen Centre

I wrote this last week but was unable to post it. Gratitude never gets stale!

I'm staying at the London Zen Centre, and just wanted to say thanks to the teacher, Ja An (Bogusla) for her hospitality and clear teaching. I also want to encourage everyone reading this to visit asmamy Zen Centers as you can.

Here's a pic of us I took on yesterday.




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New Kwan Um Website

Breaking news! The Kwan Um School of Zen has a new updated website. It's quite beautiful. If you've never visited or if you haven't visited in a while, check it out at www.kwanumzen.org.

Practice cancelled 02/01/2011

Due to the winter storm, practice is cancelled Tuesday evening 02/01/2011. Stay safe and keep warm.

Our Path

Eating breakfast beside the banana river I looked up and heard / saw a big splash of water, the trace of some creature who had surfaced and then sunk back into its element. Seeing and hearing happened so closely together that they seemed as one. But they lagged behind the event--a fish jumping, perhaps. All I could see/hear was the trace of the effect. And I thought, it is like that. We live our whole lives within an aftereffect, mistaking it for the thing itself. I imagine--I believe--that what the Buddha found was a way to experience that which is always already happening just prior to our perception of it. And so I follow his path (which of course is no more a path than a splash of water is a fish).


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Location:Cocoa Beach