Everyday Bodhisattva Practice Period

'Undivided Activity'

Guide for Developing Practice Commitments

Practice Period is an opportunity to invigorate and deepen your practice with the support of other Sangha members who are making practice commitments at the same time. They are supporting you, and you are supporting them.

Clarify whether you experience your intention to practice as a kind of chore or as an expression of your inmost request. If you feel burdened by the idea of "having to make a commitment," see if you can reconnect with your inmost request (what you truly want in life) and ask yourself what role meditation and Zen practice play in it. Proceed from there.

Zazen

Make an honest inventory of how frequently and how regularly you sit zazen. Are you satisfied with your pattern? If not, what would you like to change? How frequently do you want to sit? How long? Morning or evening or both? Do you value sitting with others or do you prefer to sit alone?

Look at the BZC zazen schedule and decide which of the offered communal zazen periods would support you in your intentions. Decide whether you will make a commitment to come to certain BZC zazen periods in person or online.

Mindfulness (and Digital Fasting)

We can understand mindfulness practice as meditation in everyday circumstances. Mindfulness is to hold the intention to bring attention to sensation without thinking about it. This can be practiced in any and all circumstances. To practice mindfulness, it might be useful to establish times of digital fasting during your day.

Reflect on the usual pattern of your day. Which of your daily actions can you commit to converting into a mindfulness practice? Here is a list of possibilities:

• Getting out of bed
• Making tea or coffee
• Personal hygiene
• Getting dressed
• Starting and driving your car
• Entering and leaving a room
• Working
• Eating
• Washing dishes
• Cleaning, sweeping, vacuuming
• Exercise, running, swimming
• Going to bed

During the Practice Period, we will explore suggestions for how to convert these activities into mindfulness practices.

Study

The practice of Zen Buddhism is an ongoing dialogue between experience and views. We study views, then test and verify them through our experience. We observe our experience and make sense of it through the views we study. Along the way, we develop a shared language within the Sangha.

Practice Periods at BZC are an opportunity to be initiated into key writings of our Soto Zen lineage, especially from Dogen's Shobogenzo ('Treasury of the True Dharma Eye'). As a Sangha, we develop a dialogue about our experience and experimentation with Buddhist views.

Decide how you want to participate in this study opportunity. In addition to the Weekend Seminar, which is required, will you commit to attending the four Dharma Talks or listen to them on the podcast? Are you interested in attending the Study Group that allows for exchange and discussion with other practitioners who are also choosing to examine their cultural views and assumptions by contemplating Dogen's dharma teachings?

Will you pick up the recommended translations and readings and make time for studying on your own?

Intensives

The key that unlocks Zen practice is to experience and understand the field of mind. Sitting for extended periods of time—with others!—is the time-proven method to deepen your experience of the field of mind. This is why at least one intensive is required.

Decide which intensive you will attend. Are there other dates you can make work?

The 7-day Sesshin is an important practice. Do you feel ready to do one? If you are unsure, schedule a consultation with Zenki Roshi.

Ritual

Zen ritual, in essence, is an embodiment practice—with an emphasis on mutual embodiment. We use movement and voice to wake up our energetic bodies and practice subtle mutual attunement.

If you are unsure about the relevance of ritual in Zen practice consider reading Zenki Roshi's chapter The Role of Ritual in his book The Path of Aliveness.

You have the opportunity to attend the bowing and chanting practice at the Boulder Zen Center after daily zazen. Will you make a commitment to make use of this opportunity? How does this fit together with your intention to possibly attend communal zazen in the Zendo, be it in person or over Zoom?

In addition, during the Practice Period, we will offer three Full Moon Ceremonies. Traditionally, the full moon is used as an occasion to renew one's practice commitments and vows. Look at the dates and decide whether you can make a commitment to attend.

Dokusan (Meeting and Speaking with the Teacher) and Practice Discussions

Progress in practice depends on observing and articulating one's experience.

Dokusan is the traditional name for meeting and speaking with the teacher about your practice. Usually, it happens during zazen, so that the meeting arises from and within the mind of meditation.

As a Practice Period participant, you have preferred access to Zenki Roshi on Tuesday and Friday mornings when Dokusan is offered. Upon request, other times can be scheduled. If you haven't done Dokusan before, feel free to ask questions about the process.

In addition, our Practice Leader, Genki Michael Hayes, will offer small group practice discussions. There will be a variety of dates, and you will be invited to sign up for one of them.

Sangha Dialogue (Meeting and Speaking with Peers)

Equally important to articulating your practice with the teacher is to develop an ongoing dialogue with other Sangha members.

By speaking with peers, we can discover new ideas and perspectives on how to live our practice on a daily basis. How do others solve or think about common difficulties and problems in practice? What is their understanding of core teachings and practices?

To facilitate this Sangha dialogue we offer a Practice Buddy System, in which you are paired with one other practitioner.

Weekly Tea on Fridays after morning Zazen allows for an informal yet mindful conversation about forms and general BZC affairs with Zenki Roshi and Practice Council members over tea. The Practice Discussions with Genki Michael Hayes (see above) are another way to meet other practitiones.

Reflect on the importance of (and maybe your reluctance to) articulating your practice with and for others. How does the practice of articulation and dialogue generate insight, mutual support, and accountability? Decide whether and how much you want to make use of the opportunity to dialogue with other Sangha members.

Making Commitments

Write down which elements of the Practice Period you are committing to. You will use this list later to fill out an application form. Later, after you have registered, you will be asked to write down your commitments on a piece of paper. We will collect these commitments anonymously during the Opening Ceremony and place them on the altar for the duration of the Practice Period.