Sunday, September 22, 2013

Zenwest: October workshops & courses


Zenwest is offering a special workshop on compassionate communication in October, as well as two courses:

Compassionate Communication
with Ven. Daitetsu Hull

Saturday, October 5, 9:00-4:00 PM
Kokizan-ji (Red Flag Mountain Temple) in Sooke
Open to all
Bring a bag lunch. The cost is $75 for the day. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. Please contact registrar@zenwest.ca to register.
Speaking Freely
It’s easy to feel frustrated about communication in your relationships with family, partner, friends, and co-workers. For many of us, no matter how carefully we try to speak we find we still encounter conflicts and misunderstandings.
This workshop will offer a different way to communicate, based on the tools of Compassionate Communication (also called Non-Violent Communication, or NVC). This approach is effective and open hearted, direct and compassionate. Each of us will be challenged to be honest, open, and courageous. You don’t have to be a genius to attend this workshop, but you do have to be brave.
The day will include an overview of the work, some teaching, and then a chance to practice with real live challenges drawn from the participants lives. We can only learn so much by understanding concepts. When we actually experience something directly for ourselves we can deeply know and integrate it.
In the workshop you will:
  • Learn an effective, compassionate, and direct way of communicating.
  • Begin to transform your inner dialogue from one of judgment and blame to one of understanding and connection.
  • Enjoy a safe space to work with issues in your relationships and see them in a new way.
  • Gain insight about how meditation practice can support you in creating more peace and connection in your relationships.
Ven. Daitetsu’s Bio:
Daitetsu Hull graduated Lewis & Clark College with a BA in Psychology in 1994. He spent the next six years travelling overseas, teaching English in both Venezuela and Japan. In 2000 he entered residential training with Chozen and Hogen Bays, and was ordained as a Zen priest in 2003. Daitetsu lived and trained at Great Vow Zen Monastery under these two teachers from September of 2000 through September 2013. Daitetsu has been attending meditation retreats with the Zen teacher Genjo Marinello, Osho in Seattle since 2009. In addition to his Zen practice, Daitetsu has a passion for tools that maintain psychological health and skillful communication. To that end he has been receiving training in Compassionate Communication (also called Non-Violent Communication or NVC) since 2003 and in Voice Dialogue since 2005.


Intensive Preparation

Saturday mornings, 9:00-11:30 AM
October 12 & 19, 2013
Kokizan-ji (Red Flag Mountain Temple) in Sooke
Open to Zenwest Members who have completed the free online Orientation to Zen and a practice assessment.

If you have successfully developed a stable daily practice of Zen meditation, and are wondering how to go further with our Sangha, this course is your next step. Participants will be introduced to the subtleties and differences involved in intensive training, and will receive an orientation to, and experience of, practices that are specific to intensive training in the Zen tradition. The Intensive Preparation course is the gateway to deepening your practice.

For Full members of Zenwest, the course fee is included as part of membership dues. For Basic and Distance members the course fee is $95. Course fees includes a course manual and materials.

For more information, or to register, please visit the Intensive Preparation course page.

Fundamentals of Zen Practice

Wednesday evenings, 7:30-9:30 PM
October 2, 9, 23, and 30, 2013 (no class Oct 16)
Kokizan-ji (Red Flag Mountain Temple) in Sooke
Open to Zenwest Members who have completed the free online Orientation to Zen and a practice assessment.

Building on the foundation of training established through the Orientation to Zen, you will be introduced to some of the fundamental teachings of Zen Buddhism. Group activities and training assignments ask that we take these teachings out of our head and engage them in the day to day unfolding of our lives.

This course also provides you with the opportunity to explore the ceremony of Jukai, which is commonly considered formally “becoming Buddhist”. The Jukai Ceremony consists of four distinct aspects, each of which is introduced and discussed in an intimate environment of friendship and community. The four aspects are:
  1. Sange (repentance/purification).
  2. Taking the Threefold Refuge.
  3. Receiving the Five Sila (precepts).
  4. The Four Bodhisattva Vows.

For Full members of Zenwest, the course fee is included as part of membership dues. For Basic and Distance members the course fee is $295. Course fees includes a course manual.

For more information, or to register, please visit the Fundamentals of Zen course page.

Questions? Email registrar@zenwest.ca

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