Mei Elliott explores many questions related to concentration practice. Is it possible to cultivate concentration without gaining mind? Do both shamata and shikantaza develop concentration? What does focusing on the breath have to do with freedom from suffering?

To answer these questions we will be exploring Zen teachings as well as material from the early Buddhist canon, including information about the jhanic factors.

A follow-up class to Meditation and the Thinking Mind.

How do we speak the questions we don't know how to ask each other? Can we find ways to cross the gulfs that divide us and keep us separated? It is up to us to start having the conversations we want to be hearing and creating the realities we want to inhabit.

Siobhan's talk focuses on finding ways connect across difference using the framing of "Skillful Speech" which is one of the steps on the Eightfold Path. She will be inviting us to look at how we can begin to heal by having the courageous conversation that you don't want to have.

The teaching of interdependence, as an interpretation of Dependent Arising, is a cornerstone of California Zen. How can we enrich our understanding of Dependent Arising to foster transformation?

Engetsu Lefevre speaking about the Genjokoan and creativity. The Genjokoan was written by Eihei Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen in Japan, and it addresses how true reality can be expressed in everyday life.

Compassion - Miriam-Webster "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it"

Will this make a person soft, weak? Many can see how this is a good trait with loved ones or the unfortunate in our society but on a daily basis - will a person get taken advantage of at work? in fighting for justice? or dealing with the more fortunate in society at large? How does this central tenant of Buddhism apply in a person's everyday life?

Bryan Clark speaks on the four noble truths as stages of practice. He's calling it his, "feeble attempt to shoe horn his personal journey into established Buddhist doctrine."

Mei Elliott explores how to work skillfully with thinking in meditation. For many practitioners, it can be easy to relate to thoughts as "the problem" in our meditation, and yet, the thinking mind is imperative for communication, work, survival, and for understanding the very teachings that allow us to practice. Given this, it can be difficult to know how to relate to thoughts, and what to do when they arise in meditation: do we drop them, ignore, reject, chase, or allow them? During this YUZ session we will explore how to skillfully relate to thoughts through traditional meditation instruction from the Zen and early Buddhist traditions. Learning how to see our thoughts clearly, frees us from compulsive reactivity, providing us with insight into the nature of not-self and greater freedom in daily life.

Mei will be focusing on this curriculum for a two part series. Both classes on this theme will gravitate around practical meditation training, and will provide opportunities for you to ask questions about your practice. The date for part two in this series will be announced shortly, and will likely occur in the coming month.

Siobhan shares about the theme in the context of her personal experience:

My relationship with my parents is a central theme in my life. My dad has alzheimers and my mum is his main carer. They just celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary, and the dynamics between them have transformed as age has set in. Watching the change in their relationship from hardworking politicians in Europe, (my father was a member of the European Parliament and my mum worked with him), to the simplicity of their current lives where the main decision of the day is which cafe to go to and read the papers, has been a really beautiful and tender witnessing. Seeing how they both are dealing with aging and death, particularly of their friends, has been an inspiring example, heartfelt with no grasping.

Siobhan will also speaks about how to practice with the challenging dynamics that often arise with our parents: the wish to be approved of and the pain of not meeting their standards; or the difficulty of not being able to save, control or fix parents that suffer and struggle.

Wonder is an inspiring field of practice that both includes and reaches beyond the practical.