Not Held at Japan Society – Residential Zen Arts Intensive at Zen Mountain Monastery
Five Weeks – Five Retreats
June 27 – July 30
Photography Retreat
Seeing with the Unconditioned Eye
with Daido Roshi • July 4 – 9
Clay and Flowers
The Earth Speaks
with Mn. Hojin Kimmel & Marcia Wang Shibata • July 20 – 23
The Color of Everything
A Watercolor Retreat
with Jon J Muth • July 13 – 16
Haiku & Haiku Painting
with Stephen Addiss • July 20 – 23
Creativity is our birthright as human beings. Whether we’re preparing a meal, programming a computer, building a sand castle, walking through the woods, or painting a canvas, the seeds of creativity are manifest in whatever we do. Because our creativity reflects our inherent nature, the practice of the arts is intimately woven into the fabric of Zen training. Zen teachers have always used the arts as a way of teaching their students. The Zen arts have also played a critical role in the history of Zen Mountain Monastery. Daido Roshi first encountered Zen practice through his study with the photographer Minor White, and the Monastery itself began as a Zen arts center. Within the training matrix used at the Monastery, the creative process is recognized as one of the “Eight Gates,” or pathways for studying the self.
This one-month residential program dedicated to the artless arts of Zen will help participants deepen their appreciation of the creative process as a mirror for self-investigation. Sustained by the regular monastic training schedule and lectures on the Zen arts by Daido Roshi, participants will attend the weekend retreats offered during the month, including the Introduction to Zen Training Retreat; Seeing with the Unconditioned Eye; The Color of Everything; Haiku and Haiku Painting or Clay and Flowers; Sesshin; and a three-week mini-course on on-site nature poetry with Woodstock Poet Laureate Ed Sanders. Participants will also have the opportunity to pursue individual art projects in the afternoon. The program is suitable for those just beginning to explore their creative process, as well as for practicing artists who wish to learn more about the Zen aesthetic and its relationship to spiritual inquiry.
Cost: $850. Please call to register (845) 688-2228. For more information, please visit http://www.mro.org/zmm/retreats/zenarts.html#monthintensive.
- June 27, 2006 – July 30, 2006