Please join us on the night of Thursday, December 31st from 10pm to 12:10 am to bridge the old and new year with zazen and set a compassionate tone for 2021. The sitting will be led by Kyōshō Valorie Beer, Kannon Do’s sewing teacher. Please find the schedule and Zoom link below.

New Year’s Eve Sitting: Bridging the Old and New Years with Zazen

December 31, 2020

10:00 p.m.  Zazen

10:30 p.m.  Kinhin

10:40 p.m.  Zazen

11:10 p.m.  Kinhin

11:20 p.m.  Zazen of intention: Leaving behind what we don’t want to carry into 2021

11:40 p.m.  Brief stretch/kinhin

11:45 p.m.  Zazen of intention: Our intention (vow) for 2021

12:05 a.m.  Chanting the Heart Sutra (eko below)

12:10 a.m.  Happy New Year, and bow out

Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva,

          when deeply practicing prajña paramita,

Clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty

           and thus relieved all suffering.

Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness,

          emptiness does not differ from form. 

Form itself is emptiness,

          emptiness itself form.

Sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness

          are also like this.

Shariputra, all dharmas are marked by emptiness;

          they neither arise nor cease,

          are neither defiled nor pure,

          neither increase nor decrease

Therefore, given emptiness, there is no form, no sensation,

          no perception, no formation, no consciousness;

          no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind;

          no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch,

          no object of mind, no realm of sight

          … no realm of mind consciousness.

There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance…

          neither old age and death,

          nor extinction of old age and death,

          no suffering, no cause, no cessation, no path,

          no knowledge and no attainment.

With nothing to attain, a bodhisattva relies on prajña paramita

          and thus the mind is without hindrance.

Without hindrance,

          there is no fear.

Far beyond all inverted views,

          one realizes nirvana.

All buddhas of past, present and future

          rely on prajña paramita

And thereby attain

          unsurpassed, complete perfect enlightenment.

Therefore, know the prajña paramita

          as the great miraculous mantra,

          the great bright mantra,

          the supreme mantra,

          the incomparable mantra,

          which removes all suffering and is true, not false.

Therefore we proclaim the prajña paramita mantra,

          the mantra that says

Gate Gate Paragate  Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha

New Year’s Eko

          Kokyo:

          In the Dharma world there is no increase, no decrease, no coming, no going, no beginning, no ending.

          Out of boundless compassion Buddhas appear in the transient world 

          And continuously convey the unsurpassed penetrating and perfect Dharma.

          Entering this turning of the New Year we have chanted the Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra for:

                    Our great original teacher Shakyamuni Buddha

                    To all the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas

          May they extend their hearts to all who are suffering in the world’s calamities,

          May we leave behind in the old year what does not need to be carried into the new,

          And may our effort in this new year grow and flower 

          Into big, joyful, and compassionate mind for ourselves and all beings.

          All:

          All Buddhas ten directions, three times

          All honored ones, bodhisattvas mahasattvas

          Wisdom beyond wisdom, maha prajna paramita.

Please join us via Zoom:

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Clicking this link will enable you to join the meeting without entering a password:

https://zoom.us/j/6067111411?pwd=aWtVNWdSZ2RIRkdQUEM5eHV5Wkhkdz09

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Meeting ID: 606 711 1411

Passcode: 100088

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