LINEAGE & LIBERATION
Entering the Bright Circle of Wonder
A Half Day of Zen Practice & Play
April 14, 2024
7am - 12:30pm
Kelly's Barn, North Boulder
Hosted & Led by Dragon Lake Zen
Zen is a mind to mind transmission, beyond words and letters, that has been continuously practiced for two and a half millennia. The continuity of the lineage has provided training that has enabled practitioners to wholeheartedly and freely engage in this one life.
As the complexity of modern living exponentially increases, Zen practice has never been more important. Thoroughly realizing our Oneness and our innate freedom is crucial in facing the speed, complexity, and scale of our current culture.
We invite you to fulfill your longing to discover and participate in practices and communities that restore a connection to self, cultivate resilience in our nervous systems, reawaken our interdependence, and reinvigorate our relationship to life.
Led by members of Dragon Lake Zen, practitioners and dharma holders in the White Plum lineage, we will gather in community to experience the silence and spaciousness of our true nature in sitting meditation (Zazen), receive a dharma talk from a senior monk, and connect with other members of the training through structured interpersonal explorations to discover what matters most.
The unifying qualities of Zen rituals, gentle embodiment practice periods, and optional one-on-one meetings with senior monks will also support a wholehearted experience for each unique participant.
This event will begin a series of deepening practice containers to rigorously and playfully train together in realizing our ever present liberated and compassionate nature. Working deeply with body, mind, heart, and community, Lineage & Liberation will leave us awake, embodied, and connected.
Come join us in wholehearted practice and play!
Limited seats. Register early to reserve your space.
GENERAL SCHEDULE:
7:00 Welcome, Movement, & Meditation
8:45 Break
9:00 Dharma Talk & Interpersonal Exploration
10:15 Break
10:35 Movement & Meditation
11:50 Service (with an orientation), Q&A
12:30 Close
Optional Lunch Out
INVESTMENT LEVELS:
$50, $125, $200
Please choose the price that works for your current financial context. For those who can pay more, all higher funds received will help create practice opportunities for participants of lower financial means.
WHAT TO BRING:
Please wear black or dark clothes without patterns ~ this is a Zen tradition meant to bring visual unity and coherence. Please do not wear any perfumes or scented products as some participants have sensitivities. You may wish to bring a water bottle, though we will provide cups and water. You do not need to bring a meditation cushion unless you have a specific one you prefer. We can also provide chairs for those with physical conditions inhibiting them from sitting on a cushion.
Coffee, tea, and snacks will be provided. Please eat a hearty breakfast and bring additional snacks you may need, as we will not be serving meals. You are invited to join us for an optional lunch out after we close at 12:30pm – location TBD.
COVID PRECAUTIONS:
We are tracking and following Boulder Public Health recommendations for mitigating the spread of COVID-19. If you are feeling sick or displaying symptoms, please stay home and your registration can be moved to a future event with us. Otherwise, masking is optional; please feel free to mask if you prefer. We will provide masks for those who need them.
LOCATION:
Carpooling encouraged to minimize parking in the neighborhood.
Kelly's Barn (in North Boulder)
1360 Sumac Ave, Boulder 80304
From central Boulder: north on Broadway, right on Sumac. Kelly Barn is a blue barn attached to a blue house on the south side of the street. Please park on the street and be courteous to the neighborhood, not blocking mailboxes or driveways. Enter around the back (east side). The space is a big blue barn-shaped building attached to a gingerbread Victorian house in a residential neighborhood. Once you come around back, you’ll find a porch with glass doors leading into the space.
*The owners of the barn kindly ask that participants walk quietly from the street to the barn due to the early start time of our event.*
Our Members Include
Brooke Teisui McNamara, MFA, is a poet, teacher, and ordained Zen monk. She has practiced as a student of Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi, since 2010, and before that as a student of nondual teacher and poet, Dorothy S. Hunt. Brooke has published two books of poems: Bury the Seed and Feed Your Vow, and has taught at Naropa University in Yoga Studies and CU Boulder in Dance. She lives with her husband and two sons in Boulder, CO.
Rob Daishin McNamara is the author of Powerful Listening, The Elegant Self and Strength to Awaken, and a co-founder of the advisory and consulting firm Delta Developmental. He is a core faculty member for Real LIFE programming and is a senior monk training under Diane Musho Hamilton at Two Arrows Zen. Rob’s intimate experiences with death have sharpened him to wholeheartedly engage what matters most. He is a devoted meditation practitioner, husband and father of two boys with a radical heart that’s fierce, playful and loving.
Brian Butsudo Turner has been practicing Zen in the White Plum branch of the Soto lineage for nearly fifteen years. He received ordination in 2012 from Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi. Brian has a Ph.D. in Physics and currently works as an engineer in a local optics manufacturing company.
Sashi Etsudo Gerzon-Rose has been drawn to the numinous for as far back as she can remember. She has been practicing meditation for just shy of 20 years, and has been a student of Zen Buddhism for more than a decade. She is a long-time teacher of yoga and meditation, and currently works as a contemplative therapist and coach. Sashi is endlessly inspired by how practice on the cushion translates so directly into being a kinder, more skillful human in relationship with others. Sashi ordained as a Zen monk in the White Plum Lineage in 2019.
Lauren Juno Beale has been practicing Zen with Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi, Dragon Lake and Dragon Heart Sanghas for 6 years. She has felt the significance of practice in all aspects of her life, bringing forth compassion, inquiry and heartfelt action into her movement teaching, creative expression, relationships, parenting and humanity. She most recently deepened her devotion to Zen practice by ordaining as a monk, and lives in Longmont with partner Amanda and children, Lila and Finlay.
Ari Gerzon has been practicing with Two Arrows Zen and Dragon Lake Zen since 2016. He participated as a boy in retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh that awakened in him the beauty of meditation and Zen practice. Ari is a passionate student of the dharma and finds deep connection in the sangha.