Sangha Circles are self-organizing groups of friends and members of Clouds in Water Zen Center. These may be organized by neighborhood or around a particular interest. The neighborhood sitting groups are people from a neighborhood or nearby area coming together to do zazen in a person's home. Interest groups may focus around a particular interest, such as art or cooking, and may include such activities as discussions, readings, or inviting guest speakers. People may be interested in creating groups that focus on life circumstances—groups for parents, elders, GLBT to name a few.
Contact Person: Sosan Flynn.
In Zen Monasteries "Hosan" is a day off from the schedule. We invite you to practice taking a day off from the schedule of your life. Re-claim the Day of Rest that was once present in our culture, but has become lost.
We believe that people badly need this tradition to balance the stress of our fast-paced society. We look around and see people hurrying to get so many things done to meet urgent short-term demands. We listen to people complain about not having enough time to relax or to do the things they know are important in the long run.
Our response is to ask that every one try taking one Day of Rest on a regular basis—once day each week, one day each month, a half-day each week—whatever seems doable. (In monasteries, Hosan is practiced on every day that ends with a '4' or a '9'.) On this Day of Rest, set aside concerns of work, civic duties and world affairs and focus on your private lives. The activities of such a day may vary greatly depending on the individual. Such a day might include playing with family or friends, taking a walk in the park and appreciating the beauty of nature, or, if one is physically exhausted, taking a nap. Although Hosan is traditionally used to tend to personal needs such as laundry and cleaning, we suggest limiting these types of activities so that you can really focus on having a Day of Rest.
This Day of Rest will not only help you rejuvenate your own body and mind, but it could save the world. Our thinking is that by resting, you'll be consuming less, and therefore using up less of the earth's resources, expending less fossil fuels, and accumulating less "stuff." However, we hope that your main focus would be on practicing a day of rest, and that the saving the earth part would follow naturally.
After you try a couple Days of Rest, ask yourself how it feels. Were you glad you did it? Do you feel further 'behind' or did you find that it was OK to put off the things you would have done for a day? Was it worth it? Feel free to discuss it with other people. The members of our group in particular would like to hear feedback from you.
We have compiled a list of suggestions for Day of Rest activities in hopes that it will inspire you to try our idea. We are not asking that people necessarily follow our suggestions, you probably already know how you should spend such a day, but the list might clarify exactly what it is that we have in mind and help you come up with your own ideas.
We will launch this campaign for a day of rest on February 2nd. It is our sincerest hope that you will join us and find some benefit from this practice. Once we learn more about how people adapt to a day of rest—what works, what doesn't—we want to spread the tradition to other sanghas, congregations, communities, regions and continents.
For more information, contact Sosan Flynn at Clouds in Water Zen Center, 308 Prince St., St. Paul, MN 55101.
Here are some ideas to get you started. You may notice that some of these are contradictory. That's because what one person needs to do (or not do) on a Day of Rest may differ greatly from that of another. Each person needs to claim a Day of Rest for themselves, in their own way.
No rights reserved. Please copy at will and pass it on. For more information, contact Sosan Flynn at Clouds in Water Zen Center.