Chester Zen Peacemaker Circle

 

Our Great Heart activities in Chester have been developing using the structure of the Zen Peacemaker Circles, with the aim of creating a network of people coming together to explore the "Three Tenets" of the Zen Peacemakers - Not Knowing, Bearing Witness, and Loving Action.  We're continuing also to explore both Zen and the spirit of Rumi as found in his poems, linking in to the training we've done together for several years in the Leicester meetings.  In Chester we now have three fortnightly meetings:  a "Street Zen Training", where we study, meditate and share a meal outdoors on the streets of Chester; a "Rumi Reflection Group", where we meet in a cafe and discuss one of his poems; and a "Mindfulness and Metta Class" where someone leads practice of two traditional Buddhist meditations.

Everyone is welcome, we are a very diverse group of all ages, genders, nationalities and backgrounds.  Come! Come!

Leicester Great Heart Circle - Rumi and Zen Meditation With Sufi Flavours

What is meditation ?  Sri Sri Ravi Shankar describes it as : “A mind in the present-moment.  A mind without agitation. A mind that becomes no-mind.  A mind that has no hesitation and no anticipation. A mind that has come back to its source.”

The Leicester Great Heart Circle is an established group that meets monthly to practice Zen meditation with a Sufi flavour, to share experiences and to celebrate our interbeing through a shared meal. It is inspired by the Great Heart of the Sufi poet Rumi. The evening is suitable for all regardless of background or experience.

First Thursday of Every Month,  7.30-10.00 pm, Suggested Donation- £5

Unitarian Chapel, City Centre,

45, East Bond Street,

Leicester LE1 4SX

No Meeting In July 2013

For More Information Contact

greatheartzendo@gmail.com

Leicester Great Heart Circle June 2013

Walking quietly in the garden of Great Meeting as the sun sets ............

Only Breath  by Rumi    

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu,
Buddhist , sufi, or zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not a entity in this world or the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless , a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.

(Coleman Barks)

Not this, nor that, not this, neti neti
Looking for One, it is not this, it is not that, la ilaha, la ilaha, there is no one to be found
amongst all this diversity, but there is one, ila allahu