CityZen — Santa Rosa, California

CityZen Programs

All of our in-person meetings have been cancelled due to the pandemic until further notice.

CityZen is a Welcoming Sangha

Join us on Zoom for Monday night meditation, dharma talk, and discussion.

Email Zenappt@gmail.com to receive an invitation and a link to join our Zoom evenings and 1 day Zoom retreats.

Individual Meetings with a Teacher by reservation

Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi: Zenappt@gmail.com

Michelle Brandt Sensei: Koanview@gmail.com

($25 suggested donation)

CityZen ½ Day Meditation Retreat

Saturday April 17, 2021

Finding Today

Zoom 6:50am — 12:30pm (optional early morning sit 7:00am–8:30am)

Cost: $25 plus Dana

In deep meditation, we can find a way of experiencing life outside our usual thoughts and beliefs – unraveling the confines of the mind which keep us wrapped in delusion, and uncovering our own true nature that we share with all beings. Zen, then, isn’t about building a new belief system, or erecting a different kind of structure to replace the old one, it consists of dismantling the thoughts we considered essential to who we are – then the world just appears to us, rich, glorious, warm and friendly, and we can’t find a problem anywhere.

Dokusan: They’ll be an opportunity to speak directly with Rachel Roshi (early morning), Michelle Sensei (mid-morning), and teacher in training, Deanna Hopper (late morning)

Meditation Retreat Schedule

6:50 Logon and Welcome for early risers (Rev. Chris Bell)

7:00am – 8:30am Optional early morning sitting: seated meditation, walking meditation, and private interviews in a break-out room, with Rachel Mansfield-Howlett Roshi

8:30 – 8:50am Breakfast break

8:50 Logon and Welcome (Rachel Roshi)

9:00 – 10:00 Seated meditation, walking meditation, and interviews in a break-out room with Michelle Brandt Sensei

10:00 Dharma talk and discussion with Rachel Roshi

10:30 – 11:30 Seated meditation, walking meditation, and interviews in a break-out room with Deanna Hopper

11:30-12:30 Sutra service and closing circle

Please orient your monitor so that you can be seen. You do not need to face the monitor except for during the dharma talk, sutra service, and discussion.

As in a regular retreat, there will be timed 25 min. sittings and 5 min. walking meditation periods. Please use the periods of walking meditation to get a drink or use the restroom.

Peach Blossoms

Lingyun was wandering in the mountains and became lost in his walking. He rounded a bend and saw peach blossoms on the other side of the valley. This sight awakened him and he wrote this poem:

For thirty years I searched for a master swordsman.

How many times did the leaves fall

and the branches break into bud?

But from the moment I saw the peach blossoms,

I’ve had no doubts.

Centuries later the Japanese teacher Keizan responded with his own poem:

The village peach blossoms didn’t know

their own crimson

but still they freed Lingyun

from all his doubts.

Email Zenappt@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link

Gardening and Recipes

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