Zen & Rereading

SUNDAY OCTOBER 20

Rereading as Study of the Mind

• How to turn the rereading of writing practice notebooks into a Zen practice?

• The first MiMi Fall Retreat offers texts from Writing Down the Bones and Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind that help to make rereading a truly meaningful practice by exploring what Zen as a "study of the mind" entails and how to apply a Zen view to rereading, concretely.  

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 17

Compassionate Rereading 

• Suzuki Roshi writes that the beginner's mind is the "mind of compassion." How to link this to what Natalie Goldberg writes in Writing Down the Bones, and how to cultivate this "big mind" during rereading?

• The second MiMi Fall Retreat gives insight into what Suzuki Roshi means so that the very activity of rereading goes beyond a mere study of the mind and becomes itself a mind training benefiting not just ourselves but also the people we encounter in daily life. 

SUNDAY DECEMBER 15

Egoless Rereading 

• The last Retreat of the season dives into Zen teacher Norman Fischer's comments on the Tibetan mind training or "lojong" manual that offers both insights into the greatest form of compassion, "bodhicitta" or the "awakened mind," and highly practical guidelines or "slogans" that allow us to see how to wake up to who we truly are - including while rereading "writing practice as a Zen practice". 

What you'll get:

• Two 3.5-hours and one 4-hour Sit Walk Write Retreat

• Guided sitting and walking meditations

• Writing practice & breakout rooms to share your stories

•  The study of key texts about "writing practice as a Zen practice" and their concrete application to rereading and daily life  

• A recording of key parts of each retreat