Struggle and Bliss
1 Day Online Retreat May 23rd
Retreat is a time to look inside and investigate our life. It is an opportunity to clear our mind of habitual thinking and access our wisdom and compassion.
Empty Gate Zen Center has closed and canceled all public practices due to the COVID-19 situation. Retreats will be held online until further notice.
1 day retreats include extended sitting, walking meditation, and private interviews with Jason Quinn JDPSN. Everyone is invited to participate, regardless of experience or traditions.
To register: https://emptygatezen.com/pl/157750
For more info: https://www.emptygatezen.com/online-retreat
Fundraiser 2020
Dear Friends of Empty Gate Zen Center:
Thank you so much for all of your ongoing support. Whether you're a long-time member of Empty Gate Zen Center or a recent first-time visitor to our Zen Center, we value your contributions.
The current situation with the Coronavirus has made funding for our Zen Center more difficult. We rely on retreats for a portion of our revenue and those retreats have been moved online. There is great uncertainty as to whether we will be able to maintain our revenue with online retreats. As we move forward during this unusual time, we need to make sure our finances stay strong so that we can continue our offerings into the future.
This has been an interesting time, as being online has connected our practice locations in a way we were not connected before. Our Dharma talks and online practice offerings have brought people from all over the globe together. Even more, our members in Boise and at our sister Zen Center in Fairbanks, Alaska have connected...
Letting Go Of Attachment
Letting go of that attachment means that we can be in the real and what’s true. We build this capacity to stay present or we find the capacity we already have. The more we let go of attachment to self, the more we find freedom. We practice to find that place before “Self”. What I am suggesting is the more we stay with what’s true and not get caught up in "I", then we already have it. It’s not some distant fantasy. It’s already here.
By Zen Master Bon Soeng
Cancellations and Online Practice
Empty Gate Zen Center has closed and canceled all public practices at our Berkeley, Bosie, and Santa Clara locations due to the COVID-19 situation. In response, we will offer online streams via Zoom. Visit our Weekly Practice Schedule for more info. http://emptygatezen.com/practice-schedule
The Meditation Pill
If I can connect with what I am doing, I can stay grounded and pay attention to those reactions, see them and not get carried away with them. It doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the good times or despair the bad times. But if I stay grounded, connected with something beyond my likes and dislikes, then there is some stability and clarity in my life because I am not jumping all around getting lost in my reactions.
If somebody calls me something that I don’t like and that raises my anger, I then start acting out of my anger and lose any clarity that I may have found. I am in a dream of anger. I know from my own experience, I end up responding in ways that are usually less constructive and more likely just add fuel to the fire. But if I can keep connected with something and not get lost in the dream of my anger, I might be able to actually see what is happening in the moment and deal with it.
But if I think that my meditation is this pill that I take, then I’m holding...