As I told somebody after dinner yesterday, with the state of mind I have been in the past week, helping to steer the inaugural meeting of the Young Urban Zen group was pretty much the last thing I felt like doing. But, as I know so well, the important thing is to show up, and by showing up, something happens. It may not be what you expect to happen, or what you want to happen, but it will be something.
Those of us who have been putting our heads together to get this group off the ground over the past five months have had no idea what the response would be when we finally opened the doors. I have to say, we surpassed our expectations. There were twenty-five people in the Conference Center last night - we had too many people to fit in the cosy back room, where we thought we would be; we filled out the large front room and just about ran out of cushions.
We did a bit of zazen instruction, and sat for another fifteen minutes after that. Everyone introduced themselves and said a few words about why they were here, and then we broke into smaller groups for people to express what they wanted the group to offer. Happily, most of the suggestions that came up were in line with the brainstorming we had previously done - some study of texts to help people in their lives, maybe some basic instructions about zen, some yoga, some social action, some socialising.
What felt best for me was the way that people expressed how this group really met a need they felt in their lives to be practising together with people of the same age. There were people who were new to the city, people who were new to practice, people who had been practising alone, people who had been coming to Zen Center but were keen to be a part of this new format. Hopefully that enthusiasm will be sustained in the weeks to come.
If you thought about coming but didn't make it last night, the next meeting is next Monday, 13th June at 7:30. The dharma is offered.
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6 comments:
Even though I am a bit outside of the demographic, I am very very happy that this is being offered. Not everyone can reach the dharma in the way it's presented at Zen Center. The more ways we can make it accessible, the more ways the dharma is spread. Thank you for taking this on Shundo.
Credit is due to the whole team who worked on this: Anne-Marie, Peter, Kate, Juan, Tim, Michael and Meryl before they left, Renee, Tanya.
Excellent idea and the best of luck having it fly. Just wished I wasn't so far away or I'd be there as well.
-isshin
Thanks Isshin - I'm sure you will hear more about it here.
I love the title of this post. Good luck with the project.
Have to credit Dogen for that one, but that was the phrase that popped into my head.
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