Join me for an online, interactive introduction to Zen and Buddhism: the Middle Way, Four Noble Truths, Eightfold Path, and Three Treasures. We will also discuss how to integrate the wisdom and energy of Zen and Buddhism into modern life. There is no fee for this event.

The lotus flower rises invisibly through mud and muddy water, and opens up pure and clean despite its history and surroundings. If we can keep on the right path while in the middle of activity and challenges, we can finally drop struggles of the past and live a life of true freedom and compassion.

The topics include a basic short history of Buddhism, primary principles (see below), the impact of Zen, and integration with modern life.

The principles and concepts that are covered are:

The Middle Way: a crucial piece of understanding for maintaining one's balance and staying on a healthy and effective path towards self-knowledge.

The Four Noble Truths: these address the root meaning of Buddhism: an understanding that life not lived well is ultimately full of inadequacy and pain, but that with a right understanding and effort, we move towards being free of suffering, while helping life on this planet be more humane and awakened.

The Eightfold Path: addresses in a specific manner the key components for living the best possible life, a life that benefits self and others, that reduces suffering, and that leads to liberation.

The Three Treasures: concerns the elements that support following the path towards awakening and liberation.

We will also examine the direct expression used in Zen and how it captures the emotion and wisdom of life without using religious references, and will talk about how to see Zen and Buddhism as a modern teaching.

**********************

The teacher, David B. Alexander, has practiced Zen since 1970, with teachers at the New York Zen Center in the 1970s and 1980s, and most recently has been active at the Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, NY. He has also been practicing and teaching Tai Chi Chuan, a mind / body practice, since 1978, and is an active psychotherapist using gestalt therapy, psychoanalysis, and nonviolent communication in his work with individuals and couples.

Note: if any attendee does not wish to join in the discussion after the presentation, but prefers to observe and absorb, that preference will be respected.

The webinar meeting will take place online via Zoom. The webinar can be joined via ordinary phone, but for a full experience use of a computer will allow observing other attendees and those who are speaking.

William Blake portrayed, in striking and unique ways, his understanding and experience of what our human nature is, and what our potential is. There is a large amount of commonality between Blake's work and the teachings of Zen Buddhism. They both focus on knowing ourselves fully, rather than seeking an external source for wisdom or spirituality.

This (free) interactive webinar, taking place on Saturday August 3rd from 11am to 12:30pm ET, will examine some key quotes and art from William Blake and quotes from Zen tradition, and how Zen and William Blake relate to our human potential.

Born in England in November 1757, William Blake was never financially successful but always, barely, kept a roof over his head and that of his beloved wife Catherine. He had apprenticed for seven years in engraving and was self-taught in poetry.

Blake used his engraving, painting, and illustration skills to earn a bare-bones living, primarily through commissions for work from close friends and followers who believed in his genius. He never reached a larger-scale popularity or recognition during his life.

In his work, Blake portrayed the human being as ultimately what he called Albion, which is an ancient name for the island Britain. For Blake, "Albion" was the original man before the mythological, timeless fall from a healthy and integrated state of being.

The four capacities that have become fragmented from each other are sensation, intellect, desire / love, and imagination. Due to the fragmentation, the capacities are conflicted and are imbalanced in expression, resulting in a lack of fulfillment of the individual's potential.

Carl Jung spoke similarly of mental capacities of sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuition. Psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott pointed out that real progress in psychotherapy occurs when the client grasps a new insight in a manner that unites intellect and emotion.

Blake himself emphasized uniting and freeing the four capacities to act as one in an integrated, liberated human being and society. The result is experience and expression of the individual's and humankind's native ability to experience, think, love, and create in productive ways.

In this session we will examine and discuss several key quotes and artworks from William Blake, and explore their universal meaning, and how they relate to Zen teachings as pointers to an inspired understanding and experience of life.

From Huineng, the sixth patriarch in China of Zen, in seemingly simple words:

"Just be true, and there are no barriers."

From Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell":

"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite."

Most of us know karma as, basically, the concept that our thoughts and actions have consequences, whether immediately or at some future time. Although that statement captures the basic principle of karma, there is significantly more to karma than that.

Another important teaching is the Four Immeasurables, which can be seen as a solution for creating good karma, leading to liberation. To find our true freedom we need to use our higher capacities as human beings, which help us break free from limitations. Actions that are "clean", and do not create bad karma, help us toward our own and others' liberation.

Our higher capacities allow us to cultivate a mind that frees itself from following past negative karma, gradually breaking those chains. By connecting to one's unlimited mind rather than to the narrow mind, we can help free ourselves and others from painful complications in living.

During and after the presentation we will discuss and practice these principles, and enjoy community.

*********

The teacher, David B. Alexander, has practiced Zen and studied with leading teachers for more decades than he would like to declare. With approval from recognized Zen masters, he is offering these talks on Zen and Buddhism.