Platform sutra

So we were supposed to start on the Platform Sutra this week, but yours truly left the materials at home... fantastic.  Probably best given the number of first-time attendees - both the biggest number of new folk on one day and I think a record number of bums on seats, too, with a total of 8 sitting.  Not that anyone's counting!

A couple of resources then, for your entertainment & delectation, before we get going on this sutra for next week:

• The Wikipedia entry on the Platform Sutra... like I tell my undergrad students, we all know that we all read wikipedia, we just never admit it officially...
• An article I wrote on Huineng / Daikan Eno back in August 2010.  Gives some background, a critical perspective and some links.
• One translation of the sutra itself (there are a few).

Let's hope I remember the text & my notes this week...

Northampton's Resident Monk(ey Mind)

So - the move is made, the family & the furniture arrived and are safely installed (if not yet entirely unpacked).  Now if I can only figure out how to get from my new home to the Friends Meeting House...

This weekend, I was back up in Liverpool (odd given I'd only just moved away from Liverpool!) for the 10th Anniversary of StoneWater.  A good time was had by all, and Keizan Sensei spoke movingly of how it was the people that make the group, and that the Anniversary event's main aim was to say thank you.

The same holds true even for a wee provincial, teacher-less group like ours, too, of course - so while I'm thinking about it, thanks to everyone who's come through the door at zeNN1, hard-core regulars (!!) or even those who have only popped in once.  It's the bodies on the cushions that make a zen group.