This evening we held the first of our new monthly Zen Peacemakers Upaya Workshops, in the beautiful old Bishop Lloyd's Palace building in Chester City Centre. "Upaya" is a word meaning something like "effective method" or "tool" in the Buddhist tradition. These evenings will be a way to explore together the variety of practices and tools that are coming to us through the existing Zen Peacemakers tradition, and also to develop new upayas in response to challenges and opportunities arising for us now.
Tonight we opened with a discussion about "what we each think is NOT Zen" - looking at our preconceptions, right or wrong, so we can begin training with and open mind and an awareness of our ideas. Next we explored shikantaza instructions together, and a little mindfulness practice. We had another discussion, on the Three Tenets of the Zen Peacemakers - Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Loving Action. We finished with Council Circle training, using a quote from the late Shunryu Suzuki Roshi as a theme for Council:
"Each one of you is perfect the way you are and you can use a little improvement."
The next Upaya Workshop will be Tues 10th December from 7pm-10pm in the same venue.
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