October 8, 2023, 10:30am
Presenter: Bill McCracken
Service Description:
Spiritual practice is sometimes approached as something special or something different from our everyday lives. We might even try to turn it in to another self-improvement project, or use it as a way to stand out and be different from others. Zen practice, however, is about being ordinary and in doing so, seeing the inherent perfection we already have. We can recognize the ways we have covered over our inherent perfection.
Spiritual practice can be about manifesting compassion in the ordinary world. It does not matter whether we are writing a book, creating a piece of art, or taking action against a social injustice. We greet each of these things with authenticity, sincerity, and compassion as an expression of spiritual practice.
In this talk, Bill McCracken will discuss a fascicle from Zen Master Dogen’s Shobogenzo titled Genjokoan as well as a koan used by Zen Master Dogen to highlight this tendency to specialize the ordinary.
Bill McCracken
Bill McCracken is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Internationally Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. He has received Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Teacher Certification from the Oasis Institute at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He teaches for The Mindfulness Standard and Mindful Leader where he is recognized as a fully certified Level III Teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. He is also is qualified as a Leve 1 Teacher of Mindfulness -Based Cognitive Therapy from the Mindfulness Center at Brown University and has also received certification as a Certified Koru Mindfulness Teacher (a mindfulness program for college students and young adults). Bill has been practicing various forms of meditation for almost 30 years. He was previously a Senior Dharma Teacher and lay priest in the Korean Zen tradition and is currently ordained as a Novice Priest in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition.
NOTE: This service will be held in person as well as on-line via Zoom ("hybrid"). If you want to attend in person, please review our
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