The Vital Way, Part III of III

Choosing Aliveness and Compassion

led by

Brian Butsudo Turner Sensei
and Rob Daishin McNamara Sensei

A 6-week Online Course
including recordings of each session

Sundays, 9-10:30 MT

Class 1: October 6

Oct 13th no class

Class 2: October 20

Class 3: October 27

Class 4:November 3

Nov 10th no class

Class 5: November 17

Nov 24th no class

Class 6: December 1

*Everyone one is welcome, no prerequisites for Part III.

What is Zen? people often ask. As with any powerful question, asking wholeheartedly is a pathway to liberation.

“Zen” is a word that has been co-opted and integrated into our everyday vocabulary, taking on multiple meanings such as: chill, minimal, elegant and calm.

But what is Zen, really?

"Zen is a training,

but not a taming."

Teisui Sensei

Zen is both a training and a full inhabitation of our humanity. By directly experiencing the life force and liberation always here now, we naturally respond as unconditioned compassion toward this moment, as it is.

"I don't know who I am, but I'm confident about what my function is: to be compassionate to this One Life."

~ Butsudo Sensei

What might happen right now if you open and extend attention, feel sensations in the body, and soften self-consciousness and the inner critic? What might this moment be like experienced freshly?

If these inquiries pique your curiosity, cause your heart to stir, or induce a longing for a more intimate connection to this life, The Vital Way is an opportunity to explore and experience what Zen is and how it could radically inform your life.

“To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be verified by all things. ”

~Eihei Dogen Zenji

Through our 6 weeks together, we realize & cultivate depth in self, relationship and world.

Transitioning through superficiality, efficiency and utility we recognize our ever-unfolding true nature.

Awakening as our unique expressions we explore how we may better respond to Reality and our never-ending interplay with potentiality.

Within our training we develop and refine your skills and capacity for making increasingly more effective choices throughout your life.

Join us to explore both that which you have always been and who you’re uniquely called to become.

Together we’ll recover timeless and ever-present gateways into Bodhisattva Activity.

And, we’ll grapple with our world’s unprecedented emerging complexities.

Saving all sentient beings has perhaps never been more pressing. And together through realization and inquiry we set forth more intimate depths and timely, effective action to support awakening, evolution and life.

Week 1: Being a Boddhisattva

Orientation: The nature of & direct experience of the Bodhisattva.

Posture: Your heart’s true posture & activating your infinite circle of care and concern.

Realization: Experience right-timed & right-sized compassionate action as you.

Week 2: Saving all Sentient Beings

Orientation: The nature of vows & becoming.

Posture: Your choice architecture’s depth, alignment and persistence.

Realization: Experiencing influence and continuity in Reality-as-Whole.

Week 3: Clarifying Desire

Orientation: Distinguish between desires that bind, confuse and dissipate aliveness, and great desires that unify, diversify and concentrate vitality.

Posture: Cessation to deepen and clarify.

Realization: Experiencing inexhaustible desire.

Week 4: Mastering our Dharma

Orientation: True Nature’s insufficiencies & the cultivation of your unique skills and capabilities.

Posture: Continuous practice, skill development and shadow liberations.

Realization: Experiencing boundless, effortless continuities.

Week 5: LIving the Unsurpassable Way

Orientation: The fundamental choices of your heart.

Posture: Sitting as the throne of unsurpassable aspirations.

Realization: Experiencing Reality-Responsiveness.

Week 6: Integration

Orientation: Realization and development as necessary pathways to vivify life, love, and service.

Posture: Immersive community inquiry, reflection, and learning.

Realization: Experiencing the fruitioning and unyielding direction of life and evolution.

Investment:

$180, $270, $360 USD

Please choose the price that works with your current financial context

(limited number of scholarships available ~ priority given to current students, BIPOC, and those with financial constraints)

Who this course is for:

This course is intended for any person wanting to become more intimate with abundant life force and inherent liberation, and wants to respond with spontaneous compassion to any and all conditions. Whether you are new to practice or a seasoned practitioner, this course will offer fresh perspectives and powerful practice experiences that will leave you transformed. This course is for those who are genuinely curious about their own deepest questions, willing to engage and experiment with putting ideas into actual practice, and interested in Zen as a way to become more intimate (not less) with this life, while also realizing innate freedom in every moment.

Each part of the Vital Way is a stand-alone course; there is no need to have taken Parts I or II in order to join Part III.

What you can expect:

Six 90-minute live Zoom sessions with two transmitted Zen teachers, including teaching, meditation practice, and guided interpersonal practices with other participants to bring ideas alive in your experience
Downloadable recordings of each class, added to a video platform accessible for 90 days after the completion of the course
Up to two 15-minute one-on-one meetings with the teachers (Dokusan) to clarify your questions and explore your practice (optional)
Opportunities for online group meditation during the weeks focused on Zazen, and accountability partners to stay on track with practice commitments
An online Mighty Networks community page, to connect with the course community and explore questions between classes
An excellent foundation of learning and awakening to more fully engage with Zen practice and Sangha including retreats, ceremonies, community practice and future offerings.

What's expected:

Participation in the six live Zoom classes (with camera on if possible, please) or via the recording later if you have to miss
Meditation practice during the weeks focused on Zazen - we recommend sitting at least 20 minutes daily; however, you can decide how much, and then honor your commitment
Engagement with an accountability triad to keep practice commitments
Participation in the online Mighty Networks community page, once or more a week, to stay connected and enlivened between classes
An intention of doing your best/ holding a learning mindset

YOUR TEACHERS ARE:

Robert Daishin McNamara Sensei

Robert Daishin McNamara Sensei is a transmitted Zen teacher, advisor, consultant and executive coach. He is the author of three books, most recently Powerful Listening. He is a co-founder of the advisory and consulting firm Delta Developmental. Rob serves on faculty at the Ivey School of Business’ LIFT Advanced Coaching Program, Real LIFE Programs and is a former Harvard University Teaching Fellow teaching adult development at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. McNamara currently advises, trains, and coaches executives and teams addressing organizational viability risks. Rob’s passion supports leaders to better navigate complex organizational and civilizational challenges vital to current and future institutional capabilities.

Brian Butsudo Turner Sensei

Butsudo Sensei has been practicing Zen in the White Plum branch of the Soto lineage for over fifteen years. He received monk ordination in 2012 and Dharma Transmission in 2023 from Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi. He does his best to present the Dharma with warmth, humor and pragmatism. Butsudo loves the forms and rituals of Zen practice provided they are inhabited with intention and relaxation. He lives in Erie with his wife and daughter and has two adult children. Brian has a Ph.D. in physics and currently works as an engineer in an optics manufacturing company.

Dragon Lake Zen