ZEN CLASSES AT IYENGAR YOGA OF FT COLLINS
This hour-long session is dedicated to the experience of sitting silently. By joining others, we support one another in remaining still and alert for a specific length of time, and find out what the path of meditation has to offer us. There is no charge for this hour, although any amount you can donate will help pay for the rental of the space. In-person at the yoga studio, Sunrise Room (which is the door to the right as soon as you walk in)
Catherine Wright was given Dharma transmission on April 2, 2023 in the Zen tradition. Her teacher, Peggy Metta Roshi, of the Zen Center of Denver, has given Cathy permisssion to teach the Dharma in the Harada Yatsutani lineage. She has been trained in the Soto style of Robert Aitken Roshi of Hawaii, and the Rinzai style of Phillip Kapleau of Rochester, NY. Her Dharma name is Seizan, Sacred Mountain.
A look into devotion, what it means, how it works in our life, how do you get it if you want more of it? Below is an important phrase on the pillars in every Zen Temple around the world:
GREAT IS THE MATTER OF BIRTH AND DEATH
LIFE PASSES QUICKLY BY
DON’T WASTE A MOMENT
WAKE UP, WAKE UP
From Zen Teacher, Robert Aitken.”Becoming Settled”;
Each moment is eternity itself. How do you practice that?
Come to a halt. Stay there.
Settle there. Treat each breath as though it were your last.
Someone asked me, How should I treat each breath as though it were my last?I said, Breathe each breath count.
Settle into the breath counting.
Sink into one, two, three.
Put everything else to one side.
Let everything else go.
Let there be only the breath and the number you are on.
Let the breath breathe the breath.Don’t wander about in your head and validate shadows anymore.
Open yourself to the world, the sound of the wind, the airplanes overhead.
They help you stay oriented.”
Following are more quotes to share:
Herman Hesse: “within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.”
Lao Tzu: “Through return to simple living comes control of desires. In control of desires stillness is attained. In stillness the world is restored.”
Bhagavad Gita: “Still your mind in me, still yourself in me, and without a doubt you shall be united with me, Lord of Love, dwelling in your heart.”
Chuang Tzu: “If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes a mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.”
Eckhart Tolle: Your innermost sense of self, of who you are, is inseparable from stillness. This is the I Am that is deeper than name and form….. It is the stillness that will save and transform the world.”
Zen Master Dogen: Cast aside all involvements, cease all affairs and let the myriad things rest. Setting everything aside, do not think of good or evil, right or wrong. Halt the flow of the mind, cease conceptualizing, thinking and observing and give up even the idea of becoming a Buddha. This holds true not only for seated zazen but for all your daily actions.