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Windhorse Sittings and Programs: June 2019
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening,that is translated through you into action; Weekly Programs and Formal Sittings After a wonderful weekend with two very different events, we’re gearing up now for the Summer Solstice Sesshin (June 15-22). If anyone has time to help out with those preparations, we’d gratefully…
Read MoreNew Year’s Prayer
May all beings, as numberless as the stars, who are suffering pain of body and mind, obtain, through the merit of our practice, true peace and fulfillment. May the earth be fertile and the seasons in order, and may all live in harmony with nature. May great spreading trees again shade our continents, and may…
Read MoreReflections on the Winter Solstice
The Winter Solstice is one of the biggest events in the great cycling dance of sun and earth, marking the time when the northern hemisphere leans farthest away from the sun, and the sun makes its lowest and shortest arc across the sky. Officially this year the last of the four ‘power points’ of the…
Read MoreThe Buddha’s Enlightenment
December Eighth is the day when so many people across the globe celebrate Buddha’s Enlightenment. To put you in the spirit of this extraordinary holiday, we’re attaching a copy of the story of this great event. Although this version, originally written by our dear friend and dharma brother, Rafe Martin, has been altered a bit…
Read MoreThanksgiving Greetings & Reflections by Sunya Kjolhede
“The Dharma Wheel turns from the beginning. There is neither surplus nor lack. The whole universe is moistened with nectar, and the truth is ready to harvest.” — Eihei Dogen At this time of year, I always think of our teacher. Philip Kapleau loved Thanksgiving! He was certainly aware of the dark shadows playing at…
Read MoreCeremony of Gratitude
Ceremony of Gratitude Each year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving we host a Ceremony of Gratitude at Windhorse, with this year’s event falling on November 18th. It ‘s the same time as our usual Sunday morning program: 9:30 -11:30, and includes zazen, a talk on the spirit of Thanksgiving, chanting of our dharma ancestral line,…
Read MoreRohatsu Sesshin 2018
ROHATSU Our next sesshin will take place over the first week of December: Saturday, Dec.1st through Saturday afternoon, Dec. 8th. The Japanese term for this special sesshin is Rohatsu, which translates as “eighth day of the twelfth month.” Traditionally considered to be the culmination of one’s year of practice, this 7-day sesshin explicitly commemorates the…
Read MoreWindhorse Zen Postings: Autumn 2018
Friday, November 9, 2018 For decades I’ve found myself at times pondering what it must have been like to have been an open-minded, good-hearted citizen of Germany in the 1930’s, as Hitler and the Third Reich gathered power and momentum. I’ve read that at that time, fewer than a third of those living in Berlin…
Read More“The Mind’s Dragons” now available in Tricycle Magazine
Lawson and Sunya’s latest article, “The Mind’s Dragons,” is now available in the Winter 2018 edition of Tricycle Magazine. You can also find it through our newly revised PsychoDynamicZen.org site, which offers a more in-depth picture of the role of the unconscious in dharma practice, and the ways that our Zentensive Workshop and Retreats help to address some of the issues unique to Western practitioners.
Read MorePathways of Deep Change: Reclaiming Our Purpose and Passion ~ October Series
Three-part fall workshop series at Jubilee! Community in downtown Asheville, October 16, 23 and 30 6:30 – 8:15 pm Exploring ways that different forms of meditation, combined with a better understanding of our own inner dynamics, can help us to reconnect and re-envision our lives—stepping beyond resistance and self-sabotage to reconnect with our deepest callings.…
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