Postings regarding Koan Gatherings or Koan Study
Spring Koan Series with Sarah Bender, Roshi Saturdays, March 20, 27, April 3, 10, 17 and 24, 20214:00 PM MDT All are welcome!To join the email list and have the weekly selections sent to you,please contact Sarah Bender, Roshi at sembender@gmail.com…
One day the poet Huang Tingjian was visiting his teacher Huitang. Huitang said, “You know the passage in which Confucius says, ‘My friends, do you think I’m hiding things from you? In fact, I’m hiding nothing from you.’…
Standing at the Blue Cliff : The Enlightenment Talks A limited edition DVD Scenes from an extraordinary retreat with two Zen masters, and a chance to support our ongoing work. In Autumn 2012, Zen koan masters John Tarrant and Joan…
SMS Practice Period, 2016 Dear Springs Mountain Sangha, Here’s to Winter! Over the Fall months, a number of you have expressed a desire to deepen, to strengthen your Zen practice. As we take our first steps into Winter, we are…
Dear Friends, FIRST NOTE: Now that the downstairs of Shove is available again, we can hold Saturday work in the room (individually, meeting with a teacher for Dharma) This Saturday, Sarah Bender will be offering work in the room during…
Dear Friends, Our koan group last Sunday enjoyed the following koan: Book of Serenity, Case 94 DONGSHAN IS WELL Dongshan was ill. A student asked, “You’re unwell. Is there someone, after all, who isn’t sick?” Dongshan said, “There is.” “Does…
When we take up some questions our ancestors have asked, some stories they’ve told to point to the territory of freedom—-when we hold these in our hearts and minds of today and bring our outrageous lives into play with them, something new, fresh,…
Group Koan Practice at Shove Chapel Monday, August 2015 This Monday, at Shove Chapel, we’ll have one period of meditation followed by a group Koan discussion. From Joan Sutherland’s “Acequias and Gates”: “Koans are a spiritual practice in the sense…
Koans in Manitou Springs, with Andrew Palmer Sensei Recently, Sunwater Garden Spa opened in Manitou and every week a variety of meditations from a variety of traditions will be offered. Andrew will be leading one of them, offering koan…
May 15, 2015 A NOTE FROM SARAH BENDER Dear SMS, As I see it, a practice community is a pretty amazing organic being: a collection of individuals, each embodying a universe, coming together to support each other in the project…