Sesshin Talk by Shinei Brown - ON SITE (in Zendo)

Sesshin talk will be given by Shinei (神英) Brown, following one period of zazen.

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm Zazen

3:30 pm - 4:30 pm Dharma Talk

Entry into the Realm of Reality

Look to your childhood, for inviolate places, where we are born whole. . .  not hapless nor helpless in the face of our own awkwardness, and the vagaries of the world. Sudhana, a young aspirant encouraged by Manjushri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, sets out on pilgrimage to encounter fifty-three spiritual friends, guides on the Bodhisattva Path. “Noble one, it was Manjushri who inspired me to seek supreme perfect enlightenment and directed me to attend spiritual benefactors. Please tell me how a spiritual seeker can find great peace and true presence while carrying out the practice of the bodhisattva.” Sudhana’s journey is reflected in the thirty-ninth book of the Avatamsaka Sutra. It's an overflowing spaciousness with jewel-like imagery, poetry, and joy.

About Shuso: Shinei began her zen practice in 1997, taking Jukai in 1998. She became a disciple of Abbot Kyogen Carlson in 2001, maintaining a close teacher-disciple relationship with him until his death in 2014. After moving to Eugene, Oregon in 2017, Shinei began practicing with Abbot Ejo McMullen, becoming his formal disciple in 2020 and then taking Koji ordination in 2023. She was given the dharma name Shinei which means “Sacred Flower.” Zen practice, zazen and the creative arts have been essential to her life. Her quest originally motivated and sustained through difficult early experiences and the integration of her painting and writing with formal zen practice.