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  • Norman Fischer Will Speak About his New Book, Sailing Home

    Published July 3rd, 2008

    Next Wednesday, July 9th, Senior Zen Buddhist Priest, dharma teacher, and poet, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, will be speaking on his new book, Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer’s Odyssey to Navigate Life’s Perils and Pitfalls. The event will begin at 7:00 pm Wednesday evening at Brooklyn Zen Center. Due to the event, both zazen and the precepts group will be canceled.

    For those who wish to buy copies and get them signed, books will be available for purchase at the event. I encourage you to join us to hear Norman speak and together explore Homer’s Odyssey from the perspective of practice. Dana (donation for the teaching) as an expression of our gratitude for Norman’s teaching is also encouraged and appreciated.

    About the Author: During almost 30 years at San Francisco Zen Center, Norman held many senior positions, including abbot and director. Norman currently heads theEveryday Zen Foundation and offers teaching to many sanghas across the country. Among his numerous publications, Norman has written nine volumes of poetry as well as Opening to You: A Zen-inspired Translation of the Psalms andTaking our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up, which is based on his work mentoring young people.

    About Sailing Home: Norman Fischer deftly incorporates Buddhist, Judaic, Christian, and popular thought, as well as his own unique and sympathetic understanding of life, in his reinterpretation of Odysseus’s familiar wanderings as lessons that everyone can use.  With meditations that yield personal revelations, illuminating anecdotes from Fischer and his students’ lives, and stories from many wisdom traditions, Sailing Home shows the way to greater purpose in readers’ own lives.  People will learn a new way to view their path, when to wait and when to act, when to speak their mind and when to exercise discretion, how to draw on their innate strength and distinguish between truth and deception, and  how to deal with aging and changing relationships. Sailing Home provides the courage people need to renew bonds with loved ones and to make the latter portion of their lives a heartfelt time of spirit and love.

     

    “We all sail across the wine-dark sea, and Sailing Home gives humane, wise instruction for our voyage. In these pages, zen master and poet Norman Fischer, beloved for his forthright honesty and kind heart, guides us to understand our own Odyssey, our own hard-earned, vulnerable, mysterious life journey, with genuine compassion and newfound understanding.”—Jack Kornfield, author of The Wise Heart: A Guide to the Universal Teachings of Buddhist Psychology and A Path with Heart

     

    “It is not so easy to come home to yourself, although it may be the most important journey any of us will ever take.  This profoundly inspiring book reminds us of why the cultivation of awareness and kindness are so necessary and so difficult.  By exploring this archetypal story that lies at the very root of Western Civilization, and tying it to the travails of our personal lives and to a very human understanding of Zen and Buddhist meditation from decades of practice and teaching, Norman Fischer brings it all to life, and us as well, so that we can remember what muses are best listened to, especially when we are so easily captivated by false dreams of security and attainment.” —Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Coming to Our Senses and Arriving at Your Own Door

     

    “I would not have thought a modern Zen master meditating on Homer’s Odyssey was a promising notion. Wrong! Sailing Home is both delightful and insightful. Reflecting on the wanderings of the wily Odysseus in light of the wisdom of the Zen tradition turns out to be surprisingly relevant to the modern heroic journey. Norman Fischer is skilled in exploring the metaphors in this story and making what was once the central narrative of Greek culture come alive for modern readers.” —Sam Keen, author of Sightings and Fire in the Belly

     

    “Norman Fischer is a wise guide and wonderful companion, who teaches us the essentials: that knowing when to set sail is an art in itself, and that our destinations will appear on the horizon when we are ready to see them.” —Priscilla Warner, co-author of The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew—Three Women Search for Understanding

     

    “This book reminds us that the great literature of the world and the great religions of the world share something in common. They each reveal us to ourselves. They invite us to discover our transcendent destiny and the path we must travel in order to realize it. What Fischer does is specifically focus on the actual experience of our life as an Odyssey or journey toward our unknown fulfillment. He bears witness that what we discover is that our transcendent fulfillment is welling up in the ground beneath our feet. The very way we’re trying to get there is manifesting what we’re seeking.” —James Finley, author of Merton’s Palace of Nowhere and The Contemplative Heart

    The Robe Chant

    Published July 3rd, 2008

    Several of you have asked about the words to the Robe Chant that we chant together at the end of the second period of zazen on weekday mornings. The words to the chant are not in the Brooklyn Zen Center chant book. The Robe Chant is chanted by Zen Buddhist practitioners before putting on their rakusus (symbolic robe of rectangular cloth worn around the neck) or okesas (full robe of priests). Both represent the robe of practice. Though the translation varies depending on where one practices, we are currently using the following translation, which is chanted twice in Japanese and once in English.

    Dai zai ge da bu ku
    Mu so fu ku den e 
    Hi bu Nyo rai kyo
    Ko do sho shu jo

    Dai zai ge da bu ku
    Mu so fu ku den e 
    Hi bu Nyo rai kyo
    Ko do sho shu jo

    Great robe of liberation
    Field beyond form an emptiness
    Wearing the Tathagata’s teaching
    Saving all beings

    Though the Robe Chant refers to the putting on of the lay or priest robe, at BZC all may join in the chanting of it. Enjoy. 

     

    Brooklyn Zen Center Summer Sesshin w/ Teah Strozer

    Published June 28th, 2008

    Here are a couple of photos taken after the 2008 Brooklyn Zen Center summer sesshin for those who would like copies.

    Thank you again to all of those who took part in the sesshin and helped to make this event happen. The sincerity of your practice was inspiring. I am very much looking forward to continuing together with our practice and study.

    Also, I would like again to express on behalf of the sangha our deep gratitude for Teah Strozer, who continues to travel across the country to generously and lovingly support our sangha with her teaching.

    Thank you to all and gassho.

    Scientists Study Effects of Meditation

    Published June 23rd, 2008

    Here is a study led by The University of Oregon on the effects of meditation. The study revealed that after only five days

    meditators outpaced nonmeditators on the attention test, and they became significantly better at handling stress.

    There are several other findings that might be of interest to you as well, one of which was that

    meditation may sharpen the ability to focus by training the brain to apply limited processing power more efficiently.

    The study also found that

    long-term meditators showed a 40 percent to 50 percent reduction in brain activity in response to pain compared with a control group of non-meditators.

    But, as mentioned by the abbot of the Dharma Rain Zen Center at the end of the article, all of this is no more than an interesting side effect of a much deeper path.

    Tassajara Monastery’s Summer Guest Season Begins

    Published June 12th, 2008

    Every summer San Francisco Zen Center’s Tassajara monastery opens its gates to those who wish to come as vacationing guests or as guest students taking up the practice of supporting the daily operations during guest season. Tassajara monastery is one of the major training facilities for the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki practiced at Brooklyn Zen Center. Both guests and guest students are able to practice at Tassajara as long or as little as the monastery schedule and your personal schedule allow. So if you are interested in visiting Tassajara this summer, you can find out more information here at the Tassajara Guest Season web page. Be sure to check out the calendar of workshops and retreats as well as the list of retreat leaders in case you would like to time your visit with a particular retreat or teacher. I know some of you already visit regularly. For those who have not been, I highly recommend a visit. Enjoy!

    Three Mini-meditations for a Busy Life

    Published June 4th, 2008

    The Huffington Post article here briefly lays out three meditation techniques that can be taken into a busy life that some might find helpful. The first, which the author, Kay Goldstein, calls Putting yourself “On Pause,” suggests that we “resist the urge to rush on to the next thing.” The second recommends a visualization technique. The third describes integrating standing meditation into our day, a practice that “allows our whole selves to stand at ready.” The author suggests taking time throughout the day to cultivate “awareness, mindfulness and simply “showing up” for yourself.”

    Shunryu Suzuki Roshi Gives Talk on the Sandokai

    Published May 28th, 2008

    Jae pointed out that YouTube had this rare footage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi near the end of his life, giving a talk on the Sandokai (Merging of Difference and Unity.) This video is from San Francisco Zen Center and has been on their website for sometime. But thanks to Jae, we can now embed it into the Brooklyn Zen Center blog. Enjoy!

    Mindfulness Therapy

    Published May 27th, 2008

    Ian emailed me a link to this interesting New York Times article on the use of Buddhist mindfulness practices as a psychotherapeutic technique. The “catch-and-release” method mentioned in the following quote might sound familiar:

    This exercise in focused awareness and mental catch-and-release of emotions has become perhaps the most popular new psychotherapy technique of the past decade. Mindfulness meditation, as it is called, is rooted in the teachings of a fifth-century B.C. Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha.

    Video of Sojiji Temple in Japan

    Published May 26th, 2008

    Along with Eiheiji, Sojiji is one of the two main temples in the Soto Zen tradition. Here is a simple, nice video of life at Sojiji. You may recognize some of the practices as our own at Brooklyn Zen Center.

    Robert Thurman on Becoming Buddhas

    Published May 21st, 2008