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2020 Term 3 Koans Online Zen Group Roshi Susan Murphy Sensei Kynan Sutherland Social Action Talks Teachers

‘Where can we meet after death?’

‘In the orchard of spring
There is neither long nor short
The heavily flowering branches grow,
Each according to its length.’

Talk #3 from Term 3 of our Online Zen Group for 2020. Click here for other talks in this series.

Teacher: Roshi Susan Murphy
Response: Sensei Kynan Sutherland
11 October 2020

Dedicated to Thich Nhat Hanh

True friendship transcends intimacy and alienation.
Between meeting and not meeting there is no difference.
On the old plum tree, fully blossomed,
Southern branch owns the whole spring!
Northern branch owns the whole spring!
Nyogen Sensaki

Click on the recording below to listen to this talk now. We will upload a transcription when it becomes available. ()

Questioner: Where can we meet after death?
Thich Nhat Hanh: We shall always be meeting, at the beautiful heart of peace.

zen open circle · Where can we meet after death?
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2020 Term 3 Koans Online Zen Group Roshi Susan Murphy Sensei Kynan Sutherland Talks Teachers

‘One appropriate response’

Talk #2 from Term 3 of our Online Zen Group for 2020. Click here for other talks in this series.

Teacher: Roshi Susan Murphy
27 September 2020

Click on the recording below to listen to this talk now. We will upload a transcription when it becomes available. ()

zen open circle · One appropriate response
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2020 Term 3 Eco-Dharma Koans Online Zen Group Roshi Susan Murphy Talks Teachers

‘All through the body are hands and eyes’

Talk #1 from Term 3 of our Online Zen Group for 2020. Click here for other talks in this series.

Teacher: Roshi Susan Murphy
13 September 2020

Click on the recording below to listen to this talk now. We will upload a transcription when it becomes available. ()

zen open circle · All through the body are hands and eyes
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2020 Term 3 Black Lives Matter Resources Social Action

BLM Link Library Update

We now have links to over 50 articles, books, podcasts, video, artworks and websites in our Bla(c)k Lives Matter Link Library. Here are a few of our recent offerings…

You can access the BLM link library directly at www.brightanddark.net/blmlinks or via the [CATEGORIES] menu above. 

Contributions are really welcome! here or email curlytrees@gmail.com

Enjoy!

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Oonagh

I Am Not Your Negro

Director Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished – a radical narration about race in America, through the lives and assassinations of three of his friends: Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and Malcolm X. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson.

Ambelin Kwaymullina in conversation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDceCazXDjI

Ambelin Kwaymullina, author of “Living on Stolen Land”, in conversation with Teela Reid (Blackfulla Bookclub Co-Founder) discuss Kwaymullina’s book, a compelling call to action for Australia to come to terms with its past and present.

Beyond Crisis Webinar Series

A slide from Yin Paradies Presentation “An Aboriginal reflection on modernity and its discontents (August 2020)”

These 9 excellent webinar recordings with a special focus on indigenous knowledge in the building of a socially just and ecologically flourishing society, feature among many others Mary Graham, Yin Paradies and Victor Steffensen. There is a small fee of $10/15 to access these, but well worth it!

https://events.humanitix.com/beyond-crisis-recordings

Some Thoughts About the Philosophical Underpinnings of Aboriginal Worldviews

This essay by Mary Graham, offers a succinct perspective on Aboriginal philosophy. Mary is a Kombu-merri person, also affiliated with the Waka Waka group through her mother and has lectured and tutored on Aboriginal history, politics, and comparative philosophy at the University of Queensland and at other educational institutions around the country.

Valuing Country Let me Count Three Ways

An essay looking at ‘country’, ‘natural capital’ and ‘rights of nature’ by Jane Gleeson-White, published in Griffith Review 63, Feb 2019.

Jane Gleeson-White is an award-winning writer and author of four books, including the internationally acclaimed history of accounting, Double Entry (2011). Jane is a regular commentator on economics and sustainability, including at the European Union, United Nations and the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable

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2020 Term 2 Black Lives Matter Covid-19 Eco-Dharma Online Zen Group Roshi Susan Murphy Sand Talk Talks Teachers

‘Guilty as charged’

Talk #6 from Term 2 of our Online Zen Group for 2020. Click here for other talks in this series.

Teacher: Roshi Susan Murphy
23 August 2020

Click on the recording below to listen to this talk now. We will upload a transcription when it becomes available. ()

zen open circle · Guilty as charged
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Dawn Dojo Koans Roshi Susan Murphy Sensei Kynan Sutherland Talks Teachers

Dawn Dojo #5: Encouraging Words | 108 Bells

Talks and 108 Bells, from our 5th and final fullmoon gathering of the Dawn Dojo for 2020. Click here for other talks in this series.

Teachers: Roshi Susan Murphy (Part 1) & Kynan Sutherland (Part 2)
6am | 4th August 2020

Click on the recordings below to listen to the talks from this gathering. We will upload a transcription when it becomes available. ()

zen open circle · Dawn Dojo #5: Encouraging Words
zen open circle · Dawn Dojo #5: 108 Bells and Concluding Remarks
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Sand Talk Study Group

Study Group # 6

https://www.commonground.org.au/learn

Which Way


On Sunday the 30th August we come together for our sixth and final Sand Talk Study Group.

“Now that the small questions of existence have been answered – why are we here? How should we live? What will happen when we die? – us-two should be able to get back to the business of asking some of the bigger questions. We’ll need living lands and bodies to do that, though. So lets put these hands of ours to work.”

pg 277

What work do we need to continue with?

How do we “put these hands of ours to work”?

How do we move closer towards the charge of equanimity?

As we have explored Sand Talk together, what has stuck to you? 

When: Sunday 30th August 2020, 4 -5:30ish pm AEST via zoom (please see your email for ZOOM details).

What we will do: Each fortnight us-two will continue our exploration of Sand Talk together.

Schedule: We invite you to sit zazen before gathering online. This will help to provide a wide open space for our discussions.

3:20 – 3:50pm | Offline zazen in place
3:50 – 4:00pm | Online space opens (cup of tea welcome)
4:00 – 5:00pm | Main Gathering
5:00 – 5:10pm | Closing & Notices
5:10 – 5:30pm | Informal social time.

See you Sunday

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Karen & Deborah
Study Group Hosts

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Dawn Dojo Social Action Words

Dawn vigils for kunanyi

A report from Ross Coward

A small band of concerned citizens, meeting under the auspices of the community group, Residents Opposed to the Cable Car, ROCC, formulated an action plan in early 2019 to protest against the Cable Car project by holding vigils in the area on the mountain summit where the proponents want to build a pinnacle centre . A number of vigils were held during 2019, some at dawn, some at sunset, one on a Sunday afternoon and one evening on the lawns outside Parliament House. These vigils have been symbolic but powerful statements made by us-two as a protest against the Cable Car project and as a mark of respect for this place that we love. 

We meet on the summit 30 minutes before the scheduled start then clamber down a rocky path to take up our positions. Eight sentinels, mainly women, dressed in red or pink or orange cloaks, stand upright on proposed drill sites (located by GPS). The bell ringers, two mountains & rivers zen practitioners, take up their positions, about 100m apart. A photographer moves around to document each vigil. On one dawn occasion a renowned wilderness photographer used a drone to take aerial shots. Sometimes vigils had to be cancelled when the mountain road was closed due to weather conditions, ice or snow. A few observers watch from a viewing platform above where the vigil takes place.

At the appointed time, the first appearance of the sun disc, three bells are rung. The morning light is spectacular. The proclamation is read aloud, for the mountain to hear us, for us to hear the mountain, to see the mountain, for those whose ears are deaf, we make this statement. Then 108 bells with a call and response dance between the two bell ringers. The bells resonate from bell to bell, from dolerite boulder to dolerite boulder, from me-to-you, and back again. As the final bell fades away we remain in silent repose for two minutes. The sentinels are magnificent, facing towards the east, their powerful silent statement flows down to the city below.

It is exhilarating being here on this high place, alone and with others, feeling the breeze, the cool air, seeing the formations of cloud above, below. Then we pack up, have a short de-brief in the summit shelter, and leave. This was a satisfying thing to have done.

The pic of the dawn vigil on Monday 7 January 2020 was the last vigil we have done and coincided when the proponents were submitting their latest documentation to the Hobart City Council. Covid-19 has been a stopper.

waiting for the bell
the green mountain walks east
a currawong calls

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Ross

Categories
Eco-Dharma Social Action Words

Proclamation: keep kunanyi wild and natural

This is a proclamation that is read as part of the Dawn Vigils for kunanyi in Tasmania. Click here to read a report from Ross Coward about those vigils...

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Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge that every place within this island lutruwita/Tasmania, is not a ‘thing’ but country – a lived mystery of the sentient kinship that creates every detail of place, held in mind and tended by the tens of thousands of generations of people who walk before and with us, the muwinina (moo-we-nin-ah) and pal-a-wa people. We just accept our indebtedness to them, past, present and future, with respect and gratitude for this 40,000-year deep tap-root in time and refined awareness.

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We, as citizens of this city, nipaluna/Hobart, oppose and deplore this proposed cable car development on this mountain by the Mount Wellington Cableway Company.

We deplore this proposed development which is planned to run from South nipaluna/Hobart to the summit of kunanyi/Mt Wellington.

We deplore the loss of the grand and open views to the east from the summit. And we deplore the loss of the uncluttered views from the city to the mountain.

We deplore the gift of public land for this cable car enterprise and pinnacle centre which will destroy this ancient alpine garden and boulder field and subsequent loss of habitat. This mountain and the views to and from the mountain are not to be ‘gifted’ to private entrepreneurs seeking to exploit and profit from its beauty.

This private enterprise is not welcome on the people’s mountain.

This mountain is our home, Palawa and Tasmanian.

This mountain is our place.

This mountain is for all people.

This mountain belongs to everyone.

When Peter Dombrovskis spoke of kunanyi/Mt Wellington, it was that “It’s value is as a place where all people can come and know its wildness.”

We will continue to make our voices heard.

We will defend this mountain, the people’s mountain, our mountain, from this cable car enterprise that has no place on this mountain.

We ask that all citizens respect this mountain.

We ask for kunanyi to be allowed to remain wild and natural and as a place of refuge for plants, animals and humans alike.

We stand here today to bear witness, to hold this vigil, to protest against this proposal that is not wanted on this mountain – kunanyi.

Categories
2020 Term 3 Dawn Dojo

Sangha

Sweet phases of the moon. Exploration with Oreos during afternoon tea. Anouk & Karen

108 days,

as the moon waxed and waned,

we sat

together.

Before dawn.. at dawn.. in the mid afternoon and with the setting sun.

We sat

together.

The birds. The skies. The changing light.

Nudged by chaos, fur and birds at home in that chimney.

Black soot. Darkness.

Time dissolving.

Resolving.

There is always a dawning.

Long may we continue,

together

109,

110,

111

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Karen