Day: Thursday
Time: 7:00 – 8:30
Affiliation: Pacific Zen Institute
Contact: Chris Gaffney  cgaffney@csuchico.edu or 530-588-4941
Practice: Chan/Zen practice

Timeline: We begin with about 30 minutes of silent meditation usually utilizing a koan* that is given by the teacher/lead of the practice. After silent meditation, we have walking meditation for about 10 minutes. After which we take a break and then have a talk, usually led by Chris Gaffney. After the talk, we share experiences around the room that we have had in our meditation and in the conversation.

What is expected of participants: We invite you to join in our discussion after meditation as much as you feel comfortable. There is no pressure to participate. We do believe that heartfelt, honest conversation is very helpful in freeing us from chains of habitual feeling and thinking. Please join us – all of us is wiser than any of us.

Cost: There is no cost for joining us for meditation, if you can we do ask for a donation to support the operating costs of the Center as a whole.

More about our Sangha:

This is the stone, drenched with rain, that points the way’ -  Santoka 

The mission of our Sangha is to help one another open our minds and hearts to the Buddha nature inherent in all beings. Our practice is one of silent meditation, koan inquiry, and Dharma conversation. The use of koans – stories which provide a bridge between the spoken and the unspoken, and thereby provide a path to fuller embodiment of spiritual practice – is key in our Sangha. 

Our Chan/Zen practice is one in which neither conceptual clarity nor psychological equanimity, both good things, is considered fundamental. What we wish to nurture is a better feel for our own true nature, which we have found is fundamentally mysterious, as is the universe we find ourselves in. These are not separate mysteries. 

We meet every Thursday evening from 7:00 – 8:30. We begin with silent meditation, a koan having been dropped into the silence at the beginning of meditation. After silent meditation, both sitting and walking, we have a dharma talk, usually by Chris Gaffney. (Chris is a long-time member of Pacific Zen Institute, and works with Roshi David Weinstein on a weekly basis.) After the talk, we share experiences we have had in our meditation and in the conversation. We believe that heartfelt, honest conversation is very helpful in freeing us from chains of habitual feeling and thinking.  

The point of Chan practice is to have it vanish into our actual life, including the knotty parts, the parts where any ‘answer’ found is not what’s most important. Engaging with koans facilitates the embodied recognition that the Buddha’s awakening is not distinct from ours. Please join us – all of us is wiser than any of us.  

Questions? Contact Chris at cgaffney@csuchico.edu (530-588-4941).