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Zen Club Meeting #7
Zen Movie: Enlightenment Guaranteed?
Sunday 15th January 2017
@little Bangkok Meditation Center, Ekkamai
Zen club meets more or less monthly. You don’t need to be experienced – it is for anyone and everyone interested in exploring some of the tenets of Zen Buddhism.
- 1-3:30pm at the little Bangkok Meditation Center, Ekkamai, Sunday 15 Jan.
- There is no charge for this event, and no need to book in advance.
- You do not need to take anything along. We’re all ready for you!
- bring your own popcorn
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For our next Zen Club meeting, we will show the wonderful film Enlightenment Guaranteed. The film is a comedy, with some serious moments. It’s about two brothers from Germany, both in the middle of marriage problems and midlife crisis, who travel to Japan to experience life in a Zen monastery. On their way, they have some humorous cultural misadventures that express well the fragility of the life that expats live. After viewing the film, we will have a discussion about what we think it says about Buddhism and about Zen.
(The film is in German, with English subtitles).
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About Zen Club:
Shunru Suzuki The Zen Study club will be a beginners Zen Buddhism study group based around the teachings of historical Zen masters as well as contemporary Zen teachers, including the founder of San Francisco Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and teachers from this lineage in America.Zen is a branch of Mahayana Buddhism that started in India, then was brought to China about 1500 years ago, where it developed into a distinct school. It then spread to other Asian countries, especially Japan, before arriving in the West in the 20th century.The club will informally explore Zen thought, practice and teachings from the perspectives of Zen sutras, stories, poems, koans (riddles), and teachings from contemporary teachers, that will be taken selectively from a large body of Zen literature. Besides an informal and fun exploration of Zen philosophy, we will incorporate some guidance on the Zen method of meditation, which is the heart of the practice.In addition, we might show videos of dharma talks from the San Francisco Zen Center and other American Zen teachers.Joe and Reggie will lead the session – both are long time Zen students, and although not formally trained as Buddhist teachers, have had many years of Zen practice and study. They have a strong interest in developing their own Zen Buddhist practice and sharing it with others in Thailand who might not know about Zen and its practical and ancient wisdom. There will be more focus on interaction and group discussion than lectures.They always put in a lot of effort for these meetings – which is well appreciated!The group is open to all who seek a beginners mind approach to an ancient and revitalized Buddhist practice as it applies to contemporary life. |
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Location:
‘APARTMENTS’ Little Bangkok Meditation Centre is a 4 minute walk from Ekkamai BTS Station.
Enter Ekkamai (Sukhumvit Soi 63). Turn left into the second soi (lane). Bourbon street restaurant is on the corner. We’re the third building on the right, in the ‘APARTMENTS’ building. Go up to the top floor.
Follow the excellent map – it is very precise!
if you can’t see the map directly above, click here
or if you prefer Google maps click here
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Dear Ajahn,
The calendar listing for the next Zen group accidentally has two dates listed for the film: 15 January and 13 November. It looks like it just needs a simple correction. I’ll look into the Meetup listings.
Thanks for all the great teaching and have a happy new year. We’ll be in Siem Reap.
Joe