Zen Practice in the Eye of the Storm: Four-part series downtown at Jubilee

Windhorse Zen Community invites you to join us at Jubilee! in downtown Asheville for the first of four evening gatherings this fall:

 On Thursday evening, October 12, from 6:30-8:00.

Each event will include meditation and an open, 

interactive forum with Windhorse teachers, Lawson and Sunya.

Together we’ll be exploring what people really care about in these tumultuous times: individual, collective and inter-generational concerns about what’s really going on and what each of us can do to stay focused on what matters most now, as we open and respond to the challenges before us. 

Autumn at Windhorse - actual schedule until end of year

Tuesdays, Oct. 10:

 Zazen with dokusan, 7-9 pm

Thursday, Oct. 12: Windhorse at Jubilee downtown: 

Zen Practice in the Eye of the Storm; 6:30-8:00pm

Sunday Morning Programs Oct. 15

Zazen with teisho 9:30 - 11:30am followed by potluck

Oct. 16-21: Zentensive 

No Tuesday or Thursday sittings on Oct. 17& 19. 

Due to cancellations, spaces are still available for this unique retreat event.

[Sunday, Oct. 22: No Sunday program on the day following the Zentensive]

Oct. 16-23: Sunya-roshi in Rochester, NY

Tuesdays, Oct. 24

Zazen with dokusan, 7-9 pm

Thursdays,  Oct. 26: 

Two rounds of zazen w/dokusan, followed by “Tea & Candle Conversation” 

— an informal, open forum for exploring issues related to Zen practice in everyday life.

Oct. 24-29: Lawson-roshi in Montreal at annual psychotherapy conference

Sunday Morning Programs Oct. 29

Zazen with teisho 9:30 - 11:30am followed by potluck

Thanksgivingday 2014 at WZC

Wishing Everyone a Happy and Harmonious Thanksgiving Holiday!

“Gratitude is Heaven itself.” -- William Blake

November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving Day at Windhorse: Vegetarian Potluck Feast and Festive Gathering, 2:00 pm

All are invited to this annual Windhorse event! Please let us know soon if you’d like to join us, and what food offering you plan to bring. 

Rohatsu Sesshin in December 9 - 13

The Buddha’s Enlightenment 7 – day Sesshin is coming right up:

 December 6 – 13, 2014

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Feel free to call the center a couple of days later, to verify you’ve been accepted. 

Naturally, full-time participants will be given first priority.

Jackalope of the Self – by Sunya Kjolhede

Jackalope of the Self 

Roshi Sunya Kjolhede

When we cling to the familiar, to this notion of self that we have welded out of thoughts and memories since time immemorial, then we’re identifying with the wrong master. Zen Master Bassui’s essential question was, “Who is the Master?” Who is the one who hears, feels, sees, and talks? Our task in sesshin and in our lives is to put this true master, this “True self that is no-self,” back on the throne. Otherwise all kinds of tricksters and demons break in and take its place.

This brings to mind an image from The Wind in the Willows, the part where Toad is absent from his big beautiful mansion. He’s been arrested and thrown into prison, and all these crafty, greedy weasels pour into Toad Hall and take over. They put on his fancy smoking jacket, they smoke his fancy pipes, they drink his expensive wine, and they trash the place. Ultimately, of course, they have to be driven out for Toad to be reinstated. Of course, we wouldn’t characterize this True Master as having Toad’s personality! – ornary personality or characteristics at all. This is utterly beyond birth and death, good and bad, self and other – beyond all dualities. And yet this is the One who is always right here, this living pulse of our being. Who else could it be?