Continuing a celebration of Buddha’s Birthday that began locally two years ago, the Zen Group of Chattanooga will return to Barking Legs Theater on April 13 for Buddhapalooza III, to offer a day of meditation, dharma talks (lectures) and performance on Saturday, April 13.
The day will include Zen meditation instruction, a talk with chanting by followers of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and another from a senior disciple from the Atlanta Zen Center, will be presented. Beginners instruction in zazen, the Zen form of meditation, will be offered as well. The event will open with a traditional Zen hanamatsuri ceremony commemorating the Buddha’s birth.
Performances designed to celebrate Buddhist thought will also be featured, including a reading of Walt Whitman’s “Carol of Words,” a readings of a poem by contemporary Buddhist poet and former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center Norman Fischer, and performances by a “kirtan” call-and-response music group and the Atlanta-based musician and Zen student Michael Goldman.
The day will be a benefit for the Chattanooga Zen Center, leading to the goal of incorporation as a nonprofit and eventually establishing its own space and zendo, so a $7 donation (or pay what you can) at the door will be welcomed, but no one will be turned away.
For more information call 622-2862 or email jhashe@epbfi.com
Event Schedule
10-10:30 a.m. Welcome and hanamatsui ceremony
10:30-11 a.m. Newcomers’ meditation instruction, short zazen (sitting) period
11-11:30 a.m. Dharma talk (Zen), Shokai Steven Hart
11:30-noon Reading of Norman Fischer’s poem “A Model of the Universe”
Noon-12:30 p.m. Newcomers’ meditation instruction, kinhin (walking meditation)
12:30-1 p.m. Reading of Walt Whitman’s “Carol of Words,” discussion
1-1:30 p.m. Music of Michael Goldman
1:30-2 p.m. Dharma talk (Tibetan), Tara Mandala sangha
2-2:30 p.m. Kirtan call-and-response music group
2:30-2:45 Chanting of the Heart Sutra
2:45-3 p.m. Cutting of Buddha’s birthday cake