Meditation Group

**Please note: Our meditation group is not currently meeting…but here’s the information anyway**

Our meditation group is a great way to get your feet wet with koans and meditation in a friendly and informal setting. Sitting with us does not require any previous experience with Zen, meditation or koans, and in fact being clueless is probably your best bet anyway. The group is led by Jesse Cardin, Roshi, senior teacher in the Pacific Zen School.

Sixteen bodhisattvas stepped into the bath together. They cried out in unison, “This subtle touch reveals the light that is in everything! We have reached the place where the sons and daughters of the Buddha live.”

Whenever we meditate, the whole world meditates with us. When we move, ripples flow outward in all directions and when the wind rustles through the trees, something in us rustles, too. It’s good to have company: we support each other, we irritate each other, and we teach each other. We can’t really ever know which we’re doing at any given time, so the best thing might be to just dive in with an open heart. We don’t get enlightened on our own–even the uneven sidewalks and crunchy autumn leaves play their part–and even if we did awaken in isolation there would be no one with whom to share the luminous life we’d found.

What’s the skinny? The group meets every Wednesday evening from 6:30 – 7:30pm in the Sophia Fahs Room at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Antonio (7150 IH-10 West, San Antonio, TX). There is no cost for attendance, but a donation of $5.00 is suggested to help pay for the room. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated. If you have cushions or a bench other sitting gear you’d like to use, feel free to bring it; otherwise, we’ve got plenty of chairs that you’re welcome to use. If you would like to arrange to come a little early for some beginning instruction, please let us know. However, this is not necessary and it might be good just to throw yourself in.

What happens during the group? We begin with a brief introduction to the practice, our current koan, and each other.  We meditate for about 30 minutes. Then we open the floor for sharing what we noticed. You don’t have to sit super-still like a mountain and have good concentration, and there’s really no need to come up with something clever to say–you can just notice what feels alive for you and that will be enough. We pick a new koan when it seems like it’s time to, which means we might hang out with any given koan for a few weeks, a month, two months…

If you have any questions or would like to schedule private instruction, please shoot us an email: ItsAliveZen@gmail.com

You can also join our Meet Up group to stay informed about upcoming events.