2022 Fall Virtual Retreat

Love & Fear: 

Trust in the Heart-Mind of Our Shared True Nature

In a world full of division, disturbance, and distrust. . .

In conditions of fear, exclusion, and separation. . . 

With rampant proliferating opinions. . .

How do we meet our fears and vulnerabilities and embody peace? 

How do we cultivate our natural responsiveness to offer the world love and care?

“The Great Way isn’t difficult for those who are unattached to their preferences.

Let go of longing and aversion and everything will be perfectly clear.”

Our touchstone for this one-day retreat will be the classic Zen poem, Hsin Hsin Ming (Trust in the Heart-Mind), a concise and inspirational poem attributed to Zen ancestor Sengcan. Pointing the way to embodied, wholehearted radical acceptance of all we meet in life, this teaching poem goes straight to the heart of an aspiration to practice Awakening Together in harmony with all beings. 

With guidance from our teacher, Flint Sparks (Jigen Kōshin Rōshi), we will explore ways we can become intimate with our shared true nature, soften into deep recognition of our interconnectedness, and find confident trust in the unifying Heart-Mind of all-inclusive being. Thus, we can return to our tender hearts and restore the deepest meaning of what it means to be fully human.

Retreat occurred September 17, 2022

Retreat Handouts

Post-Retreat Handouts

Books Mentioned by Flint:

Trust in Mind:  The Rebellion of Chinese Zen

By Mu Soeng

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Trust-in-Mind/Mu-Soeng/9780861717941

Psoma Yoga Therapy

By Donna Martin with Foreword by Shelley Winton

http://donnamartin.net/books-mp3s.html

Video Teaching by Joan Sutherland on Endarkenment:

https://vimeo.com/129020260

Poem by Mizuta Masahide:

"Barn's burnt down -- now I can see the moon."

- Haiku written by Mizuta Masahide

Poem by Izumi Shikibu:

Watching the moon

by Izumi Shikibu

English version by Jane Hirshfield

Original Language Japanese

Watching the moon

at midnight,

solitary, mid-sky,

I knew myself completely,

no part left out

Poem by Issa:

how beautiful

through the torn paper screen

the Milky Way

Issa

Quote from Rumi:

“And still, after all this time, the Sun has never said to the Earth,‘You owe me.’ Look what happens with love like that. It lights up the sky.”

Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Persian Poet & Mystic

Koan shared before Inquiry:

Blue Cliff Record, Case 2

Chao-chou, teaching the assembly, said, “The Ultimate Path is without difficulty; just avoid picking and choosing. As soon as there are words spoken, ‘this is picking and choosing, this is clarity.’ This old monk does not abide within clarity; do you still preserve anything or not?”

At that time a certain monk asked, “Since you do not abide within clarity, what do you preserve?”

Chao-chou replied, “I don’t know either.”

The monk said, “Since you don’t know, Teacher, why do you nevertheless say that you do not abide within clarity?”

Chao-chou said, “It is enough to ask about the matter; bow and withdraw.”

The Koan shared by Flint during Inquiry:

Someone asked Dongshan, “When the cold visits us, how can we avoid it?”

Dongshan said, “Why not go where there is no cold?”

“Where is the place without cold?”

Dongshan said, “When it is cold, the cold kills you. When it is hot, the heat kills you.”

—The Blue Cliff Record, Case 43