Roshi Grace Jill Schireson: "Zen Meditation: Healing the Mind, Freeing the Mind"

Date
Thursday November 7th 2013, 7:30 - 8:30PM
Event Sponsor
Buddhist Community at Stanford, Ho Center for Buddhist Studies at Stanford
Location
Henry and Monique Brandon Family Community Room, Black Community Services Center
Roshi Grace Jill Schireson: "Zen Meditation: Healing the Mind, Freeing the Mind"

6:45 pm - Guided Meditation (optional)

7:30 pm - Talk 

Abstract:
Zen meditation still conjures a mystique of austere Buddhist monasteries, and an image of pure and devoted monks and nuns. This mysterious allure of Zen sells, perfume, MP3 players, Zen pens, Zen hair salons, your moment of Zen and much more to Westerners. Somewhere between the monastic ideal and the commercial appeal, Zen teaches a straightforward method for transforming everyday suffering and living more creatively. Zen heals through stabilizing attention, enhancing concentration and distributing awareness. This class will demonstrate essential Zen skills that light up the mind and offer psychological insight, yet differ from Western psychotherapy. 

Speaker's Bio:

Grace Schireson is a Zen Abbess, president of Shogaku Zen Institute (a Zen teachers’ training seminary), and a Clinical Psychologist. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. She leads two practice centers and a retreat center under the Central Valley Zen Foundation.  She is the author of Zen Women: Beyond Tea Ladies, Iron Maidens and Macho Masters (Wisdom, 2009), and has published articles in Shambhala Sun, Buddhadharma and Tricycle magazines. She has also been anthologized in Zen books : The Book of Mu, Receiving the Marrow, and The Hidden Lamp as well as in a book on spiritual training: The Arts of Contemplative Care. She received Dharma Transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi of the Suzuki Roshi Zen lineage.  The late Fukushima Keido Roshi of Tofukuji Monastery, Kyoto asked her to teach the koan she studied with him during her practice there. She has been married for 45 years, and lives with her husband part time on Stanford campus and at her Zen retreat center, Empty Nest Zendo in North Fork, California. She has two grown sons and four grand-children.