2017. USA. Dir: Lana Wilson. With Ittetsu Nemoto. Documentary. 97 min.
This portrait of a Japanese punk-rocker turned Buddhist suicide-prevention counselor translates the emotional complexities surrounding mortality into cinematic terms, eschewing explanatory narration to instead quietly explore the everyday pain shared by the priest and his patients. Screening to be followed by a Q&A with director Wilson ’05.
Tonight / 8 p.m. / Goldsmith Family Cinema / Free
An event sent to us by the most incredible, the amazing, Mr. Jamie Hall ’15!
Searching for enlightenment but unsure of how to transcend your egoand rediscover yourself as the eternal All? For a step in the right direction, join the folks of BuHo and Professor Kaloyanides for ascreening of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring. The film,described as “elementally simple and complexly beautiful” and “greatchillout cinema,” will be shown on Monday 4/21 from 4:30 6:30pm in PAC136. As the Buddhist hermit Hanshan would often say, “shit is gonna be poppin”. Check it out by clicking here.
When: Monday, April 3rd. 4:30-6pm
Where: PAC 136
Cost: 30 karma points (but actually 100% free!)
Nikki “meditation master” Dodd ’15 has planned yet another one of a kind event.
A Talk by Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, Sensei, Abbott of Zen Mountain Monastery:
“What Is Death if There Is No Self: A Zen Buddhist Perspective on Complete Freedom and Responsibility.”Wesleyan Chapel, Monday, April 7, 2014, 7:30 p.m. Free admission and open to the public.In spiritual practice there is a tension between security and mystery, a need to find stability in order to release our choke hold on reality. Yet without releasing that choke hold there is no liberation. Zen Buddhism and its perspective on the self shows us how we can let go of our defensiveness and in doing so we can also let go of our fear of death, others, and the unpredictability of our minds. Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, Sensei Ryushin Sensei is the abbot and resident teacher of Zen Mountain Monastery. Ryushin Sensei came to the dharma through Vipassana meditation, eventually shifting to Zen practice and taking Daido Roshi as his teacher in 1987. After a medical career that included pediatrics and psychiatry, he entered full-time residential training in 1992; he received dharma transmission from Daido Roshi in 2009.
Ryushin will meet and talk with students at 4pm in the Buddhist house meditation room. At 7:30pm He will deliver his lecture in the chapel. Ryushin is an excellent speaker and a great resource for those interested in, or curious about Zen Buddhism.
What: Open discussion with Ryushin followed by a death, freedom and selflessness Dharma talk
When: Monday, April 7th
Time: 4:00 pm for the informal chat, 7:30 pm for the lecture
Where: Buddhist house meditation room / Chapel
Cost: Free!!
The almost too-friendly-to-function Bryan Garrett-Farb ’14 wants to learn you something:
This half credit student forum engages with the work of Alan Watts, a
beat generation philosopher who popularized Zen Buddhism, Daoism, and Hinduism in the West. The class will read and discuss Watts’ work and the work of other related thinkers. It will also provide a framework
for students to implement Watts’ philosophy into their lives through
practice. To learn more, please come to one of two intro sessions this
week. Tuesday 1-28 at 6 pm in Allbritton 004 and Thursday 1-30 at 6 pm
in Allbritton 304. Please email me if you are interested in showing up
so I can let you know of any changes to time or location.
Date: Tuesday, January 28th and Thursday, January 30th
Time: 6pm
Place: Allbritton 004 and Allbritton 304, respectively
A great event comes your way from Nikki Dodd ’15:
What do Buddhism and violence have to do with each other, you might ask? Come to this lecture and Q&A event to find out! This event will address contemporary examples of Asian Buddhists engaged in politicized acts of violence.
THE ISSUES
1) Self-immolation by Tibetan activists
2) Buddhist hostilities with Muslims in BurmaTHE SPEAKERS
1) Dr. Robbie Barnett (Modern Tibetan Studies, Columbia University)
2) Ashin Nayaka (Buddhist Missionary Society of New York)Be sure to arrive on time because there will be pizza!
Date: Wednesday, November 6th, 2013
Time: Noon
Place: PAC 001
Cost: Free
From Noah Rush ’14:
Come to Wash.
Take your shoes off.
Sit.
Weekday Mornings @ 9 AM
Mondays and Thursdays @ 6 PM
Buddhist House
356 Washington Street
(across from Indian Hill)
Date: Weekday mornings; Monday and Thursday evenings
Time: 9AM and 6PM, respectively
Place: Buddhist House (356 Wash)
Come to Buddhist House this Sunday, December 6th, to hear Professor Jan Willis of the Religious Studies Department inform us about compassion, a essential concept in Buddhist philosophy. During this hour-long program we will meditate and seek to understand and begin the practice of compassion. This promises to be wonderful night– come and bring your friends!
WHAT: Meditation on/practice of compassion
WHERE: Buddhist House (356 Washington)
WHEN: Sunday 12/6 from 6-7pm
WHY: It’s good for you
Check out the Buddhist art exhibit, on display for most of this semester at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies (that really nice house with the Zen garden on the corner of Washington Terrace and Wyllys Avenue). From Abby Blake ’10:
Enlightening Images: Buddhist Art Work
Buddhism has been a rich inspiration for artists, and Buddhist art in turn has helped believers to understand and practice their religion better. This exhibition brings together a set of Japanese temple woodcuts, Tibetan prints and contemporary photographs all of which explore the involving, ancient iconographic traditions of East Asian Buddhism.
The center is open daily 12-4pm and closed Mondays. It will be closed October 24-27 and November 23-30.
Date: Oct. 12 – Dec. 3
Time: 12-4 PM, every day but Monday
Place: Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies
Here’s Professor Bill Johnston talking about the exhibit:
Buddhist House is hosting a three-day Koan retreat in the Zen tradition with John Tarrant Roshi of the Pacific Zen Institute:
This event and all meals are free and open to the public. No experience necessary, meditation meets you where you are. Koans are traditional paradoxical dialogues aimed at transforming perception and consciousness with humor and grace.
The retreat will begin at 2:00 p.m. on Friday and end at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Everyone is encouraged to come for as much or as little as they would like. We will maintain a formal retreat schedule but intend to allow those who have not experienced retreat to get a flavor of what it is like. You can come just to meditate, just for the talks, for everything, or only for forty five minutes. This retreat, unlike the vast majority of Zen retreats, is free and open to everyone. So please, it is for you, come and join us!!
This retreat is an ideal opportunity to get a feeling for a traditional Zen sesshin on a much more relaxed schedule. If you’ve never sat before and want a sense of what practice can be, this is an ideal framework in which to experience that; if you’re an oldtimer, this is a great way to go deeper.
John Tarrant has many years experiencing teaching lay practitioners, artists, students, and medical students koans and meditation and is known for his sense of humor and lightness in confronting delusion and difficulty. There will be public dialogues and discussion on koans, as well as formal talks. We have been working for a year to arrange this unusual event and we hope you can join us. We will certainly laugh a lot. John’s project has been the re-invirogation of koan practice in the west. He’s also a widely published poet, and an all around awesome dude. (The only Zen teacher to ever call me “dude”, as an aside.) There will also be the opportunity for sanzen, a private meeting with the teacher.
So please join us for part or all of this free retreat! Or just come for the talk and the meals.
We will practice 2pm – 10 pm Friday night (alternating periods of stitting and walking meditation, chanting, etc.), and guests are encouraged to sleep in the meditation hall, so bring a blanket and toothbrush if you want. We will begin again on Saturday at 5 a.m., and go until early evening or later for those who wish. Saturday afternoon will feature a public koan case for discussion. Sunday morning will begin at 5 a.m. and go until around 1 p.m. All meals will be vegetarian, free, and cooked by retreat participants. Tea will be served regularly.
Date: Friday 3/27 – Sunday 3/29
Time: 2 pm Friday – 1 pm Sunday
Place: Buddhist House
A night of Dharma-inspired music with Ravenna Michalsen
Thursday, May 1st – 8:00 p.m.
Buddhist House (356 Washington)
“Gutsy, powerful, colorful, and as deeply devotional singing as you’ll ever hear. Think Buddhist gospel music… Her pure and clear voice is skillfully combined with a lush and atmospheric soundscape, and the sparse textures help to spotlight the breadth of her emotional range.”
