One Day Meditation Retreat with Shodo Spring

TO STUDY THE BUDDHA WAY

A one-day meditation retreat with Shodo Spring
Saturday January 9, 2016

In this sesshin (settling the heart-mind) we will investigate the meaning of studying the Buddha Way, using Dogen's words from the Genjo Koan:

To study the Buddha Way is to study the self.
To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be verified by all things.
To be verified by all things is to let the body and mind of the self and the body and mind of others drop off.
There is a trace of realization that cannot be grasped.
We endlessly express this ungraspable trace of realization.
(Okumura translation)

The simplicity of just sitting offers a rich opportunity for this study, which is a process of becoming human. The Sunday talk will focus on the last line, the endless expression of the ungraspable trace.

Shodo Spring has studied with Dainin Katagiri, Tenshin Reb Anderson, and finally with Shohaku Okumura, who ordained her and gave Dharma transmission. Her expression of Dharma includes “just sitting,” love of the natural world, and engagement in the issues of our time, particularly climate change.

In 2013 Shodo led the three-month Compassionate Earth Walk. In 2015 she founded Mountains and Waters Alliance, humans joining with all beings to protect and restore the earth and all life. This includes zazen, teaching, a permaculture farm, land care, and being open to what arises next.

In ordinary life Shodo has two children and four grandchildren, is a retired psychotherapist, a mindfulness coach, and a beginning farmer living in southern Minnesota.