Taking Part in the Gathering, term 2 2026

A Winter Term of Practice starting soon      

Accepting All Offers

For the past year or so we’ve been on a long close walk back to the ancestral source of this path of practice.  We came to meet with the formidable Bodhidharma, and then, one by one, the first six ancestors  down from him, through whose hands were passed the old barbarian’s robe and bowl.  

And then – emerging from that fertile line of Zen, we’ve spent some detailed time with the two great figures of Tang Dynasty Chan (Zen) in 8thc China,  Mazu Daoyi and Shitou Xiqian, whose gift to us all is that reassuring roar of silence inside the subtle state of being known as Ordinary Mind.

That mind passes on the robe and the bowl to each of us, as long as we're alive to the offer.

It’s time to begin to play more freely in the Buddha fields, accepting all offers – directly, and on the spot – as we find them turning up in koan encounters, lines of poems, stray sayings of the old masters ...and equally in our own lives, in this fast-spinning world. 

An old Chinese poet described directly encountering his own nature (and yours) this way:

In the empty room, the spring wind—

sitting alone in my old clothes,

blossoms whirl around me.

We sit in our old clothes to make room for a relief of quiet to appear in mind and heart, and in the growing roominess, the whole world – the world, whole - befriended, draws breath, as practice becomes not just a thing you do, but simply your life. 

Come share the quiet we offer to each other in zazen, sitting alone together in your own home temple.   We need your help, in the enlivening spirit of inquiry sparked from regular Dharma talks, to establish the true home place that is without gain or loss, certainty or regret,.

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Roshi Susan Murphy.

Please note to join this gathering, you must be a member of Zen Open Circle,  https://www.zenopencircle.org.au/member-fees