We gather to meditate on Zoom
We gather online for regular sitting on Tuesday evenings with David Weinstein Roshi. Join us whenever you can for however long you can.
At each of our regular events, we sit with a koan and have a conversation. Senior leaders are often invited to give talks. No meditation experience is required to attend.
We begin with a period of meditation ranging from 25–40 minutes depending on the evening’s host. After meditation, we’ll often break into groups of 3–4 to discuss our experience in a more intimate context. Then we come back as a large group and share our experiences of meditating.
We are thrilled to have you!
Weekly Sitting
We gather regularly for sitting on Tuesday evenings with David Weinstein Roshi
TUESDAY ZEN with David Weinstein Roshi
Weekly, 6:00 – 7:30 PM Pacific Time
Register to participate
Join Pacific Zen Insititute for Sunday Zen with John Tarrant & Friends
SUNDAY ZEN with John Tarrant Roshi & Friends
Weekly,10:00 AM – 12:30 PM Pacific Time
Register to participate
Join the Sit
TO REGISTER for Tuesday or Sunday Zen, return to our RMC website homepage for the week’s events.
Click on the event to register. Registration for most events is FREE with an option to donate 10. Dana is gratefully accepted.
Retreats, Sesshins & More
PZI Sunday Zen, retreats, sesshins, and more PZI events can be found in the PZI Events Calendar here.
Great faith—acceptance of yourself or by someone else as you are—allows for great doubt, and great awakening.
 I have been the happy editor, image finder & general custodian of the RMC news for 5 years now and it is time for me to move on to tasks that await me on the PZI Mothership.
(Things are changing – Stay tuned) Website Updating in WordPress: ‘posts’ & ‘events’ , keeping the website slider current and all zoom links – The oaklandzen.org webpage needs updating and posting of ‘this week’ link and the weekly ‘events’ in WordPress. I have done this as well and the new editor may or may not want to do so. Social Media – Meetup is being handled by David Longerbeam – THANK YOU! A lot of members have found us through Meetup. RMC Facebook weekly ‘Events’ and page updates need a manager – David has his own page too. We could also use a volunteer copy editor to assist the new ‘News Guardian’ once on Monday mornings before the news goes out and also to edit any other retreat or web copy for David’s Urban retreats. This person could also update the web appointment page & calendar for David’s Saturday Conversations. This is easy – will train you. Changes twice monthly. Contact me, Corey HItchcock, if interested for more information |
Koan: Someone was asked, “If a bronze mirror is melted down and cast into an image, where does the reflection and illumination go?”
The response was, “Your face when you were a child and hadn’t yet left home – where has it gone?”
The questioner paused and asked, “After the image is completed, why doesn’t it reflect and illuminate anymore?”
The reply was, “Although it doesn’t appear to reflect and illuminate, it is not deceiving you.”
This koan about the brass mirror is the koan that spoke to me after the last PZI board meeting. During that meeting, looking ahead at an indeterminate period of time of paying rent for our location in Rockridge, while not being able to use it, nor collect any rent from our subletters, led to the decision to let go of our Rockridge location, effective June 1.
Gallery from RMC
If you have not used Zoom before there are some great Zoom YouTube videos to acquaint yourself with the platform. And here are some quick etiquette points:
If possible use a headset – the microphones are very powerful and will pick up ambient noises easily – also headphones seem to eliminate most feedback issues.
Locate the mute button on your device (slight differences between using a laptop, a iPad, tablet or iPhone) – so acquaint yourself with the controls on the device you choose to use. (Mute/Unmute, Video on/off, Raise hand)
If you are using a phone to call in – please find out how to identify who you are so your name is showing up and not just your phone number – nice for us to know who is there.
Set aside this time to be fully present in the meeting – try not to multi-task as the temptation might be there to check emails, work, eat etc.
When the time comes for others to speak, raise your hand to let the host or moderator know you want to talk and then be called and remember to UNMUTE your device! Say your name.
If you need to leave your spot for a moment for a bio-break etc. – please turn your video off – that way others don’t detect movement on your screen etc.
Laptops and iPad allow for a gallery view (above) so all of the participants can be seen – this makes the field feel very present and intimate so if at all possible please have your video capability on. The gallery view is NOT available on the iPhone – just an FYI.
Thanks!
A short video clip from a talk given by David at Summer Sesshin, July 2019.
If we want to fulfill ourselves as human beings, a good place to start is to see through who we are, to see through the dream that we are in. This underlies everything we do. It gives us a freedom to walk through interesting times and to live our way into our best selves.
John
This talk will be livestreamed in case you can’t be there in person
John’s talk will begin after the meditation and silent break at 8pm
Gestating the Spiritual Embryo with David Wienstein & Michael Hofmann
Being Unborn – Video Dharma Talk
Recorded live at RMC with David Weinstein.
The koan is: Everybody has a place in the world of karma. What is yours?