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ZEN CLUB
Saturday 12th March
1-3pm @ the Rojana Center
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Zen Group Meeting #1: “What is Zen?”
1-3pm at the Rojana Center, Sukhumvit 23 (directions below)
This is the first gathering for our informal Zen Club meeting, led by Joe and Sid. If there is enough interest, they will lead discussions once a month on Zen and related topics, with video, some book readings, and other formats.
Zen Buddhism is a Chinese, then Japanese, and now American form of Buddhism with emphasis on ‘direct’ meditation seeing into the ‘Buddha nature’ of the mind.
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This month’s topic:
“What is Zen”. How is Zen Buddhism different from Theravada and other Buddhist teachings? How is the meditation practice different? What is Zen philosophy? How does it incorporate Chinese and Japanese ideas? What is Zen like in the West? Why is it often taught through stories, poems, koans (riddles) and personal experiences? Join us for a lively discussion of these and other questions.
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About Zen Club:
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 guidence 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 Sid are long time educators from San Francisco, 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.
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:
Rojana Dhamma Center – Please follow the map. It is VERY precise. It is easy to find: there are only one or two turns depending on which direction you are coming from.
Go down Sukhumvit 23 to the first four way intersection. Turn right, and then turn right again at the end of the road.
Or just ask the motorcycles inside Sukhumvit 23 – they know the way.
A few tips: Locals and taxi drivers will not know the Rojana Centre, and will send you somewhere else instead, so follow the map – plenty of landmarks are shown along the way.
In Thai the centre is known as Rojanatam
Here is the Google Map link, if you prefer this method
Here are the GPS coordinates if you prefer : 13.739356, 100.564748