Kyozan Joshu Sasaki, Roshi, about 40 years ago, at the age of 61

August News

Changes to the schedule

The Zen Centre will be closed on both Monday, August 25 and Monday, September 01. There will be no regular Saturday morning zazen on August 23 because of the weekend sesshin.

Summer Weekend Sesshin

The Zen Centre will hold a two-day weekend sesshin, August 23-24, with the possibility of staying overnight at the Zen Centre both on the Friday and Saturday nights. The cost will be $80/sesshin, $45/Saturday and $40/Sunday with a minimum of one full day’s attendance as part-time. The schedule will be 4am to 9pm, Saturday, and 4am to 5pm, Sunday. Please speak with Myokyo if you are interested in attending or put your name on the sign-up list.

“Sunday afternoons at the Zen Centre”

Our first talk of the autumn series, Sunday, September 07, at 2pm, will be a discussion between Myokyo and Dr. Anna Towers, Director of the Palliative Care Division at McGill University. The title of the talk is “Zen, Life and Death: adapting to life changes” and will focus on how we can embrace death as part of our lives instead of ignoring it.

Montreal Zen Poetry Festival 2009

We are well into planning for the second Montreal Zen Poetry Festival to be held March 06-08, 2009, the theme of which is “Forget the Words”. If you would like to volunteer your help, please contact the Zen Centre. We are also looking for inexpensive local office space for the Festival for January, February and March.

Wish list

> editing of “Sunday Afternoons at the Zen Centre” talks
> help with translation of Poetry Festival material
> a late-model laptop
> help with putting robe hooks back up at the Zen Centre!

Important Dates

August 23-24 – Summer Weekend Sesshin, no regular Saturday morning zazen
Monday, August 25 – Zen Centre closure
Monday, September 01 – Labour Day, Zen Centre closure
Saturday, September 20 – Zazenkai, no regular zazen
Monday, October 13 – Thanksgiving, Zen Centre closure