Brad Warner
THE ART OF SITTING DOWN AND SHUTTING UP: A ZAZEN RETREAT
April 2-5
3 nights
$195 ($97.50 deposit) Dana
Brad Warner is an ordained Zen teacher in the Soto lineage. He has practiced Zen for 25 years, beginning when he was a student at Kent State University. He was ordained by Gudo Nishijima in 1999 and has been teaching Zen ever since. He is the bass player for the hardcore punk rock group Zero Defex and works for the company founded by the man who created Godzilla.
This simple retreat will focus on the Shikantaza style zazen practice described by Master Dogen in his 13th century classic, Shobogenzo: Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. Students will spend most of the retreat sitting in silent zazen practice periods of 30 minutes each, separated by 10-minute rounds of walking meditation. This unadorned, bare-bones style was said by Master Dogen to be the deepest and most profound of all meditation methods. Fear not, though! The stories you have heard about shouting Zen masters hitting students with big sticks are mostly exaggerations. In any case, that is not what we will be doing here. There will not be a lot of ritual or chanting, but there will be group talks, discussions, and ample time for private instruction and questions.