Chester Street Zen Training, 21st July

 

In our Zen Training circle on Sunday we studied a tool for including all aspects of our life in practice, called the Five Buddha Families.  They're sometimes used in the Zen Peacemakers as a way of reflecting on our engagement with life - Spirituality, Study, Livelihood, Social Action, and Integration/Celebration.  Originally they developed in Indian aand Tibetan Buddhism, where they are used as a very rich model of how our psyche operates moment by moment.

As usual, a fantastic meal was shared together outdoors at the end!

Rumi Reflection Group in Chester

 

The Rumi Reflection Group in Chester finished our exploration of the translation Love's Ripening by Helminski and Rizwani this week, and we'll be moving on to Rumi: Bridge to the Soul, by Coleman Barks next week.  The plan is to cycle through lots of different translations of Rumi so we can hear him in different voices.  We're using Rumi as a starting point for exploring our own lives, so hopefully this will encourage us to hear the diversity in our own voices too.

From somewhere beyond myself

grace radiates into my heart.

Somewhere a Candle illumines this whole world.

Who am I? Just the candlestick holder.

Rumi