This weekend is the big event I've been waiting for! The first-ever Gathering of Friends Nichiren Buddhist practice retreat in beautiful Port Hueneme, California, on the beach north of Los Angeles!
The retreat kicks off tonight with gongyo and chanting daimoku. Some of us are staying at our hosts' vacation home, and others are staying in nearby motels. Tomorrow (Saturday) morning, we will kick off at 9:00 am with gongyo and a dharma talk by Ryuei Michael McCormick. Then, we will have a day full of various activities, including a beach barbecue, more chanting and walking meditation, and the practice of "shakyo".
For those of you unfamiliar with this traditional Nichiren Buddhist practice, shakyo involves tracing the calligraphic characters of "Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo". I have done this practice before, as part of a Bodhi Day retreat at the Los Angeles Nichiren Shu temple. It's an interesting practice for me, bacause I have to concentrate so dang hard on getting those characters right that I don't have the energy to pay attention to my"monkey mind". So, copying the daimoku is actually a very effective form of meditation. And the Lotus Sutra itself does tell us to practice by "reading, reciting, copying, and keeping". Up until now, my "copying" practice has been pretty much limited to making copies at Kinkos, so I'm looking forward to doing some copying the old fashioned way...by hand!
Then, tomorrow night, we will watch a movie ("Little Buddha") together and stay over for another night.
On Sunday, we will have morning gongyo, another dharma talk, some more daimoku, and a lovely brunch. I am in charge of slicing up the fruit for everyone, so I'm bringing along some of my own knives for the job.
I'm taking the train up there from Los Angeles after work tonight, and I am so very excited! I will definitely blog about the experience next week - stay tuned! I might even have some photos!
Enjoy your weekend (I hear "Wall-E" is good). I know I'm going to enjoy my weekend a lot!
Be earnest, be adventurous, be cool.
Byrd in LA
It was great! The sense of community (sangha) and unity of purpose was so strong.
I posted about it on my blog, and I can't wait to read your impressions here.
We returned home refreshed in body and spirit.
Posted by: Michele at June 30, 2008 09:21 AM