A Day for Families at Windhorse
by Marnie Downs We just had our “family” day at Windhorse and my sense of it is that we all want a whole lot more of them! It was just the most delightful day and here is what we did: We started our day at around 10:30 with a gathering of parents with their children (ages ranging from 3 ½ to 7 with a toddler in there too) in the zendo. We all gathered around Sunya who told the most thrilling story of the Buddha who had turned herself into a parrot. And lo and behold “our” Ginger actually Read more...
read moreDharma Family Day on April 6th
This Saturday we’ll be hosting a program for parents and children at the Windhorse center at 580 Panther Branch Rd in Alexander, near Weaverville. Activities will include storytelling, seed-ball making and throwing, learning how to fold origami cranes (for those old enough to do that; parents of younger children can do the folding themselves), quiet listening and brief meditation. Weather permitting, we’ll be hiking in the woods and down to the pond, listening and watching for birds as Read more...
read moreHigh Noon in Mid-March
Pond Musings by Sunya Kjolhede, Sensei So still down here by the big pond on the other side of the Windhorse woods, near the hill where Wally and Ginger’s homestead stands. It's a few days before the Equinox but already warm and full of the news of spring—these southern mountains don’t usually wait for the official Opening Day. Directly overhead a crow calls out across the water to its treetop comrades, sparking a raucous conversation. The heavy drumming of a pileated woodpecker echoes Read more...
read moreGreeting the New Year at Windhorse
New Year's Eve is one of the highlights of the year at Windhorse. The Great Turning is always a potent time for practice, and resolutions take on new meaning when made in the atmosphere of deep liturgy and meditation. Each year we set the charged energy of the evening with zazen, which then gives way to a sangha circle centered on the themes of clearing, reflection, and renewal. The New Year invites us to reintegrate these crucial elements of practice into the moment-to-moment rebirth that constitutes Read more...
read moreSupporting Our Community Building Project
Dear Sangha and Friends, (Please also read through to "Brief and Excellent News" at the end of this posting.) With David Loy’s powerful workshop and the Thanksgiving festivities behind us, and with the Ceremony of Gratitude, Buddha’s Enlightenment Sesshin, and New Year’s Eve just around the bend, it feels time to offer up an overview of where things stand here at Windhorse, and to ask for your on-going support. It’s no secret that we took a big chance getting this amazing property, Read more...
read moreA Weekend with David Loy
As many know, Windhorse co-sponsored a series of talks this past weekend by author and Zen teacher David Loy along with Urban Dharma and Malaprops. Thankfully, each talk was a thorough success, generating impressive turn-outs and inspiring some vitally important discussions.On Friday night at Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café, David gave a talk to a large assembly of listeners crammed into virtually every space available. He spoke on the intersections of Buddhism, social activism, and the modern Read more...
read moreHurricane Sandy
By Lawson Sachter As we all know, the devastation created by Hurricane Sandy has been massive, and the related suffering immense. At the same time it has been heart-lifting to see not only those moments of refined compassionate response, but also to come across some really excellent articles portraying the ferocity of the storm not as some random act of nature, but linking it directly to the larger issue of our seemingly insatiable consumption. The authors of these articles tend to agree that Read more...
read moreGrieving Cows: An Ear-Witness Account
Personal Reflections by Sensei Sunya Kjolhede Here in the idyllic beauty of these ancient mountains, with rolling fields and green pastures all around, we’ve just passed through the Agony of the Cows. For those who’ve never lived with cows as close neighbors, let me explain. For months we’ve watched some of these lovely brown or black cows--proud, doting and protective mothers--with their babies, who nurse and sleep and jump around in the grass with other calves, and grow bigger. Then, Read more...
read moreDavid Loy coming to Asheville and to Windhorse
Windhorse, in collaboration with Malaprops and Urban Dharma, is proud to announce a talk and workshop on November 16 and 17 with David Loy, the well-known and prolific author on such topics as ecology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, and in particular on the confrontation between Buddhism and Western modernity. An authorized Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage, David is a close relative in the dharma, having trained under both Yamada Koun-roshi and Robert Aitken-roshi. He began his practice in Read more...
read moreLiving with Long-Distance Relationships
by Susan Quinn I think at times I’m destined to do things the hard way—like being engaged in a long-distance relationship when I might find possibilities in my own backyard. But this time I feel confident that I made the right decision—by joining the Windhorse Zen Community. I live in Poinciana, FL, and was in the process of changing teachers and sanghas. My previous lineage was the White Plum Asangha, started by Taizan Maezumi Roshi; for many reasons I decided not to limit myself Read more...
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