MOUNTAIN
SILENCE

Issue 28;

Together Apart?

Article

A Virtual Practice Period - Sitting together Across the World

By Michael Kogan Muju

During the weeks in January 2016 when the January practice period was held in Green Gulch Zen Farm in California Wendy Klein based in Cambridge UK once again initiated for us a 'virtual' practice period. This offered the possibility to followers sitting in the Soto zen Tradition of Shogaku Shunryu Suzuki  to be 'together' with those practising across the ocean in USA. Those interested vowed to sit everyday of the three week period, to chant the Prajna Paramita Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra and to listen to one or more of Tenshin Reb Anderson's talks that are available on the web at http://www.rebanderson.org/ or at  Gaia House site Dharma Seeds http://dharmaseed.org/teacher/384/. Wendy in particular recommended that we view/listen to a series of 6 talks given by Reb in Sacramento in 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlwK1UH8E7c, Zen Training for the Welfare of the World.  If you haven't listened already I strongly recommend these talks. For me it was almost as if Reb was in the room.The responses to the virtual practice that came in from Germany, Denmark, Sweden and UK demonstrated that this form of virtual practice can be a powerful way of bringing together practitioners who geographically are far apart. This seems to me to be an  an inspiring and pragmatic approach that Dancing Mountains could utilise to help empower and support its members and sanghas. Deep Bows to Wendy for this intitiative.


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