Darlene Cohen

CALENDAR





  Crystal Springs Sangha
  Russian River Zendo
  Suffering & Delight
  Healdsburg Sitting Group
   

2007


WORKING PEOPLE’S SAMADHI:
Distilling the Essence of Practice
With Darlene Cohen & Daya Goldschlag
July 20-22, 2007

Tassajara Hot Springs
(See www.sfzc.org/tassajara or call 415-865-1899)

Many Zen teachers, including Bodhidharma, have set out to us what they consider the most essential practices for Zen practitioners. For almost all of them, the paradigm has been monastic practice with no family encumbrances or investment in the world. Most of us, however, are up to our chins in “encumbrances.” What then can we abstract from the writings of the Ancients as the core essential practices for us to integrate into our everyday life if we wish to practice effectively? How do we do our work without preference for any particular task? How do we give family members the same kind of absorption and devotion we give our demanding work ? How do we drive to work? Shop for groceries? Treat clerks, panhandlers and co-workers? We will practice the 3 Doors of Liberation: Emptiness, Non-conceptualization and Aimlessness, as well as meditations on eating, talking, and sense perceptions. When we can work and play with appreciation for all of it, we dont have to wait for enlightenment; it colors and informs our every breath. There will be plenty of time to explore the beauty of Tassajara on your own.


WOMEN'S RETREAT - North Fork, CA
August 2-7, 2007

Empty Nest Zendo

Five days of zazen, training in Zen forms, teaching on female Zen ancestors, and discussion of issues facing women in Zen practice. Teachers are: Darlene Cohen, Miriam Levering, Angie Boissevain, Lama Palden, Grace Schireson and Mary Mocine.
Fees: $40/day
Contact Baika Pratt at baika2@gmail.com

Download Flyer here (835kb MS Word Document .doc)


DHARMA TALK – Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito, CA
Sunday morning, August 12, 2007, 10am
Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito, CA

Call 415-383-3134 for more information


WORKSHOP - Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito
Saturday, August 25, 9:30am-5pm
Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito, CA

A Day of Practice for People Who Think They Can't Sit Because of Pain and
Chronic Illness.

Led by Darlene Cohen & Susian Jion Postal
Call 415-383-3134 for more information

6 CEUs for MFTs and LCSWs available.

Darlene Cohen developed rheumatoid arthritis in 1977 while living at Green Gulch Farm. Susan Jion has been living with systemic lupus since 1966. Because illness and pain galvanized their desire to practice, they have developed practices and sitting schedules which permit both wholehearted participation in zazen and support for their own well-being. Darlene Cohen says, "It is very poignant to me that people who can't do the traditional cross-legged sitting posture feel so much relief when they find another way to do zazen. They thought they were excluded from a practice that comes to mean so much to them." We will explore 6 different postures, including yogic prone positions, for meditation; hear a dharma talk from both teachers; do meditation on movement and walking meditation; and sit 25-minute periods.

Susan Jion Postal is the founder of the Empty Hand Zendo in Westchester County, NY, and also leads a Chronic Illness Support Group nearby. Ordained by Maurine Stuart in 1988, she now studies with Darlene Cohen. See www.emptyhandzen.org for more information.


SOGAKU PRIEST On-GOING TRAINING - North Fork, CA
Noon Friday, September 21 - 2pm Sunday, September 23
Empty Nest Zendo


LECTURE AND DEMONSTRATION - San Francisco
Wednesday, September 19, 2007, 7-8pm
Easing Chronic Pain and Arthritis: A Self-Healing Instruction
Parkside Public Library, 1200 Taraval St, San Francisco
753-7125
FREE


A ZEN HALF-DAY RETREAT - Spokane, WA
Saturday, October 13, 9:30am - 12:30pm
1604 W. Riverside Ave, Spokane
$25 Suggested Donation

PRIVATE INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE AFTER 1PM
Call Daya at 509-328-6215
to pre-register and for interview info

 THEME: "WORKING PEOPLE'S SAMADHI"

The ancient teachers, including Bodhidharma, have set out to us what they consider the most essential practices for meditation practitioners seeking liberation. For almost all of them, the paradigm has been monastic practice with no family encumbrances or involvement in the world. Most of us, however, are up to our chins in “encumbrances.” What then can we abstract from the writings of the Ancients as the core essential practices for us to integrate into our everyday life if we wish to practice effectively? How do we do our work without preference for any particular task? How do we give family members the same kind of absorption and devotion we give our demanding work ? How do we drive to work? Shop for groceries? Treat clerks, panhandlers and co-workers? When we can work and play with appreciation for all of it, we dont have to wait for enlightenment; it colors and informs our every breath.


FALL FIVE-DAY SITTING - Guerneville, CA
October 25-29
See http://russianriverzendo.org for details


BENEFIT CONCERT Berkeley, CA
Sunday, November 11, 3 p.m.

For the Benefit of Darlene Cohen
A concert to raise money for Darlene's post-chemo care

Performances by:
Lew Richmond, of the Vimala Sangha and
Alan Senauke, of the Berkeley Zen Center

St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave, Berkeley

Benefit Goal: $20,000

Concert cost: $20-$50*

To pay in advance, please address and send your check to:
For the Benefit of Darlene Cohen
c/o Lisa Hoffman
255-A Downey St.
San Francisco, CA 94117

Sponsorship opportunities available.

To reserve a seat, find out about sponsorship, or for more information, contact:
Lisa Hoffman,
lisahoffman@sbcglobal.net;

415-759-0476

* If you want to be at this event but can’t afford $20, please do come and pay what you can!

· May all beings be happy
· May all beings live in safety
· May all beings live in peace
· May all know the ease of well-being ·


ONE DAY RETREAT - Sacramento
Saturday, December 8, 9am to 4:30 pm
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
2620 Capitol Ave
Sacramento, CA

Meditation in Motion: A Stress Alleviation Strategy

The most important step in breaking free of a life dominated by stress and anxiety is to learn how to sink into the present with all of our senses and feelings available to us; then all of our personal resources come into the present with us. We can break the habit of “showing up” only for the moments that we think are worthwhile and then going numb for all the rest. Just as a muscle gets weak from disuse, our ability to be present fades if we don’t practice awareness right in the midst of our goal-directed activity. During this time together, we will use commonplace physical activities to develop meditative consciousness: mental flexibility through physical movement; talking meditation; eating meditation; and focusing the attention on a series of objects while walking.

For private interviews on Sunday, December 9, call Trish Pease at
916-456-2157 to make arrangements.

For Registration: Send $20 (checks payable to SBMG) to:
Trish Pease, 2015 61st Street, Sacramento, CA 95817


DHARMA TALK - Sacramento
Sunday, December 9, 7-8:45pm
Koyasan Temple
1400 U St, Sacramento

Sponsored by Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group
Donation requested

See www.sbmg.org


DHARMA TALK - Sacramento
Monday, December 10, 7-9pm

See www.ironbell.org


2008

ONE-DAY SITTING - Pacifica
Saturday, February 2, 8:30 am-5pm
Rissho Kosei-Kai Buddhist Temple
1031 Valencia Way  Pacifica, CA

Donation requested.
Call 415-987-9882 to register


DHARMA TALK – Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito, CA
Sunday morning, February 3, 10am

Call 415-383-3134 for more information


SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD with Darlene Cohen - San Francisco Bay Area
February 2 - March 9, 2008

Theme for the practice period will be "DANA PARAMITA: The Way the World Works"

The practice of dana paramita is basically stepping into the flow of life. It's breath-based and sense-based, a perceptual flow in which you don`t break your experience up into giving or taking or anything like that. You're in the flow of reality. You know that any separating out you do is just temporary, for convenience. So when you practice dana paramita, it's just living, just being part of the fundamental richness of direct experience. The richness of just being alive flows into you and whatever you have to give or do flows out. Money, food, home flows in; money, food, your work, your complete attention flows out. So giving and receiving become basically the same practice; both are based on the perception of the richness, the bounty, the uniqueness of our individual experience.

The practice period will consist of the following activities:
(You are invited to participate in individual sittings and classes if you are not able to sign up for the whole practice period.)


ONE-DAY SITTING - Pacifica
Saturday, February 2, 8:30 am-4:30 pm
(Open to everyone)
Rissho Kosei-Kai Buddhist Temple
1031 Valencia Way
Pacifica, CA
Donation requested.
Call 415-987-9882 to register
Daily sitting at home 4x/week;


Five-Week Wednesday night class in Pacifica, CA:
Wednesdays, February 6, 13, 20, 27, and March 5, 7:30-9pm
(Open to everyone)
539 Esplanade, Pacifica, California
“DANA PARAMITA: The Way the World Works"
$50 or donation; Call 415-987-9882 to register

Directions to 539 Esplanade, Pacifica, California
From San Francisco:
Take 280 south to Highway 1 South, towards Pacifica. Take the first Pacifica exit, Manor Drive/Palmetto. As you exit, bear left (south). You will be on Palmetto heading south. Go about a block and turn right (west) at the first stop sign, which is Manor Drive. Manor dead ends on Esplanade, so go left on Esplanade. 539 Esplanade is about halfway down the block on the left.

From various points in San Mateo County:
Take 280 north. Take the Pacifica-Highway 1/Mission Streetexit. Stay to the left, towards HighwayOne/Pacifica. Take the first Pacifica exit, Manor Drive/Palmetto. As you exit, bear left (south). You will be on Palmetto heading south. Go about a block and turn right (west) at the first stop sign, which is Manor Drive. Manor dead ends on Esplanade, so go left on Esplanade. 539 Esplanade is about halfway down the block on the left.


A practice day with Darlene at her home in Guerneville, CA
Sunday, February 17
(Open to practice period participants only)
sitting, walking, study, discussion and lunch with Darlene at her home/temple,
Donation requested.


1 or 2 Friday afternoon teas (Open to practice period participants only)


WORKSHOP - Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito, CA
Saturday, February 9, 9:30am-5pm

ENCOUNTERING THE ONE WHO IS NOT BUSY:
A Radical Approach to Time and Work

Ever wish you could not only get things done, but also enjoy doing them? Learn to do so with this holistic approach to time management and the fundamental and specific skills necessary to make it happen. There is a part of us that is not involved in gaining or losing. but is boundless and infinite and appreciates all things for just what they are, The One Who Is Not Busy. Learning to be simultaneously "busy" and "not busy" by living the Zen principle of simultaneous inclusion allows us to experience work and the rest of our lives in a deeply meaningful way. In this workshop we will do sitting and moving meditations indoors and outside, as well as emphasize point of view in everyday activities such as eating, talking, and walking.
6 CEUs for MFTs and LCSWs available.

Call 415-383-3134 for more information


MARCH 3 DAY SITTING - Guerneville, CA
Noon Friday, March 7 – Sunday 3pm, March 9
SHUSO CEREMONY on March 9
Russian River Zendo

(Open to everyone)
“Dana Paramita”
COST: $100/night includes meals plus teacher donation.
To register email Tony Patchell at zentrash@earthlink.net


DHARMA TALK - Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito
Sunday, February 3, 2008, 10am
Call 415-383-3134 for more information


WORKSHOP - Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito
ENCOUNTERING THE ONE WHO IS NOT BUSY:
A Radical Approach to Time and Work
Saturday, February 9, 9:30am-5pm
Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito, CA

6 CEUs for MFTs and LCSWs available.

Ever wish you could not only get things done, but also enjoy doing them? Learn to do so with this holistic approach to time management and the fundamental and specific skills necessary to make it happen. There is a part of us that is not involved in gaining or losing. but is boundless and infinite and appreciates all things for just what they are, The One Who Is Not Busy. Learning to be simultaneously "busy" and "not busy" by living the Zen principle of simultaneous inclusion allows us to experience work and the rest of our lives in a deeply meaningful way. In this workshop we will do sitting and moving meditations indoors and outside, as well as emphasize point of view in everyday activities such as eating, talking, and walking.

Call 415-383-3134 for more information


Five-Week Wednesday night class in Pacifica, CA:
Wednesdays, February 6, 13, 20, 27, and March 5, 7:30-9pm
539 Esplanade, Pacifica, California

“DANA PARAMITA: The Way the World Works"
The practice of dana paramita is basically stepping into the flow of life. It's breath-based and sense-based, a perceptual flow in which you don`t break your experience up into giving or taking or anything like that. You're in the flow of reality. You know that any separating out you do is just temporary, for convenience. So when you practice dana paramita, it's just living, just being part of the fundamental richness of direct experience. The richness of just being alive flows into you and whatever you have to give or do flows out. Money, food, home flows in; money, food, your work, your complete attention flows out. So giving and receiving become basically the same practice; both are based on the perception of the richness, the bounty, the uniqueness of our individual experience.

$50 or donation; Call 415-987-9882 to register

Directions to 539 Esplanade, Pacifica, California

From San Francisco:
Take 280 south to Highway 1 South, towards Pacifica. Take the first Pacifica exit, Manor Drive/Palmetto. As you exit, bear left (south). You will be on Palmetto heading south. Go about a block and turn right (west) at the first stop sign, which is Manor Drive. Manor dead ends on Esplanade, so go left on Esplanade. 539 Esplanade is about halfway down the block on the left.

From various points in San Mateo County:
Take 280 north. Take the Pacifica-Highway 1/Mission Streetexit. Stay to the left, towards HighwayOne/Pacifica. Take the first Pacifica exit, Manor Drive/Palmetto. As you exit, bear left (south). You will be on Palmetto heading south. Go about a block and turn right (west) at the first stop sign, which is Manor Drive. Manor dead ends on Esplanade, so go left on Esplanade. 539 Esplanade is about halfway down the block on the left.


RETREAT DAY - Sacramento, CA
March 29, 2008, 9am-4:30pm

A day-long Class/Sitting in the Genzo-E style
(class alternated with sitting and walking meditations)
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Assembly Room
2620 Capitol Avenue Sacramento, CA

DANA PARAMITA: The Way the World Works

The practice of dana paramita is basically stepping into the flow of life. It's breath-based and sense-based, a perceptual flow in which you don`t break your experience up into giving or taking or anything like that. You're in the flow of reality. The richness of just being alive flows into you and whatever you have to give or do flows out. Money, food, home flows in; money, food, your work, your complete attention flows out. So giving and receiving become basically the same practice; both are based on the perception of the richness, the bounty, the uniqueness of our individual experience.

For Registration: Send $20 (checks payable to SBMG) to:
Trish Pease, 2015 61st Street, Sacramento, CA 95817

For private interviews on Sunday, March 30 or Monday, March 31, call Trish Pease at 916-456-2157 to make arrangements.


DHARMA TALK - Sacramento
Sunday, March 30, 7-8:45 pm
Koyasan Temple
1400 U St, Sacramento

Sponsored by Sacramento Buddhist Meditation Group
Donation requested

See www.sbmg.org


DHARMA TALK - Sacramento
Monday, March 31, 7-9pm

The Yoga Solution
887 57th Street #B
(In the Antique Mall, Between H and J Streets)
Sacramento, CA 95819

See www.ironbell.org


SOGAKU PRIEST On-GOING TRAINING - Berkeley, CA
Berkeley Zen Center,
9am - 5pm, Sunday, April 27
 


A ZEN HALF-DAY RETREAT - Spokane, WA
Saturday, May 3, 9:30am - 12:30pm
1604 W. Riverside Ave, Spokane
$25 Suggested Donation

PRIVATE INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE AFTER 1PM
Call Daya at 509-328-6215
to pre-register and for interview info

ANA PARAMITA: The Way the World Works

The practice of dana paramita is basically stepping into the flow of life. It's breath-based and sense-based, a perceptual flow in which you don`t break your experience up into giving or taking or anything like that. You're in the flow of reality. You know that any separating out you do is just temporary, for convenience. So when you practice dana paramita, it's just living, just being part of the fundamental richness of direct experience. It arises from your own feeling of bounty. The richness of just being alive flows into you and whatever you have to give or do flows out. Money, food, home flows in; money, food, your work, your complete attention flows out. So giving and receiving become basically the same practice; both are based on the perception of the richness, the bounty, the uniqueness of our individual experience. It's just an unbroken flow in and out, in and out. That is dana paramita. Its your responsibility to perceive the bounty of your own life circumstances, whatever they are.
 


SOGAKU PRIEST On-GOING TRAINING - North Fork, CA
Noon Friday, May 9 - 2pm Sunday, May 11
Empty Nest Zendo

Practicing with Lust, Rage and Foggy Mind: Two Ancient Paths
A Four-Day retreat with Darlene Cohen offering Buddhist approaches to working with emotions.

Tassajara Hot Springs:June 2-5
Call 415-865-1899 for information or check out www.sfzc.org

We must deal with the emotions of desire, anger and confusion as they arise everyday. How does craving transform itself into universal love? How does anger become the raw energy that fuels creativity and social justice? How does confusion crystallize into wisdom? Two very different Buddhist approaches to working with emotion will be considered: the Abhidharma and the Middle Way. We will explore, through teachings, zazen, movement and dialogue, how practice stabilizes our personal lives. Participants will have the opportunity for individual meetings with the retreat leader. There will also be plenty of time to enjoy the natural beauty of Tassajara on your own.

6 CEU credits MFTs and LCSWs.


TASSAJARA STUDY WEEK -
Sunday, June 8-Friday, June 13
Call 415-865-1899 for information or check out www.sfzc.org

An intimate group study allowing plenty of time to enjoy the natural beauty of Tassajara Hot Springs in the Ventana wilderness. Call Darlene at 707-869-3787 for details.


WOMEN'S RETREAT - North Fork, CA
Thursday, July 10 - Monday, July 14
Empty Nest Zendo

Five days of zazen, training in Zen forms, teaching on female Zen ancestors, and discussion of issues facing women in Zen practice. Teachers are: Darlene Cohen, Miriam Levering, Angie Boissevain, Lama Palden, and Grace Schireson
Fees: $40/day
DHARMA TALK - Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito
Sunday, July 20, 10am
Call 415-383-3134 for more information


WORKSHOP - Green Gulch Farm, Sausalito
Saturday, July 26, 9:30am-5pm

Call 415-383-3134 for more information
6 CEUs for MFTs and LCSWs available.

A Day of Practice for People Who Think They Can't Sit Because of Pain and
Chronic Illness.

Darlene Cohen developed rheumatoid arthritis in 1977 while living at Green Gulch Farm. Because illness and pain galvanized her desire to practice, she has developed sitting postures and practices which permit both wholehearted participation in zazen and support for her own well-being. As other practitioners have aged or been injured, they have found her understanding of the basics of sitting practice to be of great use. Darlene says, "It is very poignant to me that people who can't do the traditional cross-legged sitting posture feel so much relief when they find another way to do zazen. They thought they were excluded from a practice that comes to mean so much to them." We will explore 6 different postures, including yogic prone positions, for meditation; hear a dharma talk; do meditation on movement and walking meditation; and sit 25-minute periods.




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