Practice of the Wild (M&W 2025 sesshin day 3)
/Myoshin Kate McCandless explores living and practicing in place through Gary Snyder’s essay “The Place, the Region, and the Commons.”
Soto Zen Practice in Vancouver, BC
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Myoshin Kate McCandless explores living and practicing in place through Gary Snyder’s essay “The Place, the Region, and the Commons.”
In this talk, Shinmon Michael Newton discusses Gary Snyder’s essay “Blue Mountains Constantly Walking” and explores how the idea of the mountain can be expressed in our practice.
Myoshin Kate McCandless introduces the theme of this years MRZC Mountains and Waters sesshin - The Practice of the Wild. Through the writing of Gary Snyder, in particular the essay “The Etiquette of Freedom,” the talk explores our practice in relation to nature, wilderness and the wild.
Note: we apologize for the audio issues in the first few minutes of the talk
Shinmon Michael Newton shares teachings about mantra and suggests the Heart Sutra is chanted the better to drink it in, helping gather body and mind in times of distress, loss, and confusion.
Mysohin Kate McCandless discusses how to practice with hindrances. When we free ourselves from fear, that gift extends out through the world in ways that we may never know.
Myoshin Kate McCandless asks if we can enter mountain time and invites us to explore the notion that we might all be wind-bells in the dharma wind, manifesting the particular song of our lives.
Myoshin Kate McCandless describes the senses as dharma gates, through which we interact with our environment. The Heart Sutra suggests that this body - this life - is the medium, the gift we are given to help us fully awaken to the true nature of our being.
Shinmon Michael Newton gives an insightful overview of dependent origination - how everything affects everything. You and I are all part of a great dance, and are woven in to the process of causal relationships.
MRZC's Soto Zen practice emphasizes being fully awake to our own moment-to-moment experience, from our meditation cushion to every aspect of our everyday life. Join us!
Mountain Rain Zen Community's Wall street Zendo and Bright Stream Temple (Koryuji) are situated on the unceded, traditional and ancestral territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Let's let our time in nature not be just another way of consumption, but a way of learning from the web of interconnection--
Mountain Rain Zen Community
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Banner: Blue Mountains Walking by Bruce Shotoku Nielsen (2013)