Precepts for Skillful Engagement
6 Thursdays: February 12th - March 19th
9-10am PT / 12-1pm ET
Drop-ins and full series participation welcome to all on a Noble Giving / Dana basis
In these turbulent times, a group of us Dharma teachers would like to offer this series to engage with these fundamental 5 Precepts:
Not Killing / Promote Non-Harming
Not Stealing / Promote Mutuality
Not Misusing Sexuality / Promote Intimacy
Not Lying / Promote Honoring Truths
Not Intoxicating / Promote Clear Heart-Mind
(Week 6: Onward Commitment & Support to Enacting Our Values. — For video of each week’s session, see below w/ teacher’s bio)
In Buddhist practice, the Precepts are offered as a means to protect oneself and others from careless actions of body, speech and mind. When we live, committed to being guided by these values in tangible ways, the possibility for loving interactions rises.
Each week, we’ll recite these 5 Precepts in their fundamental form (the “not” format”), then listen to a short talk from one of our Queer BIPOC teachers, engage in a practice to support a deeper exploration and enactment of that week’s precept, and then end with another recitation of a more contextual format (similar to the second version above).
Our aim is to create a community/sangha in which we can receive guidance from Buddhist teachings, establish a shared space for exploring the nuances of living with these values in our complex times, and then have a “take-away” practice and set of precepts to nourish us for the coming week.
You are invited to join for the full series or as a drop-in. Please be prepared for a variety of practices. Also note, BIPOCs voices and experiences are forwarded. We ask all to honor these EBMC/Visions Inc. Multicultural Communication Practices.
NOTE: As we want this offering to be accessible to as many as possible, all sessions will be videotaped and posted on YouTube with limited or no editing. By joining, you are consenting to being recorded.
Join with this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/272155964
Each week’s session may be found by clicking on title below:
Week 1: Precepts Overview & Non-Harming with Rev Liên Shutt
Week 2: Precept of Not Stealing / Promoting Space-Equity with Rev. Dana Takagi
Teachers:
REVEREND LIÊN SHUTT (she/they) is a priest lineage holder in the Shunryu Suzuki tradition. Born to a Buddhist family in Vietnam, she received her meditation training in the Insight and Soto Zen traditions in the United States, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. They are the guiding teacher of Access to Zen, an inclusive, anti-oppression sangha and nonprofit in the San Francisco Bay Area. She lives in Oakland, on Huichin land, with her partner, exploring waterways and forests as often as they can.
REVEREND WILLIE SHOMON MUKEI (he/him) is a Zen student at The Village Zendo and novice Zen Priest where he leads the People of Color Sitting Group. He is also a psychoanalyst with a private practice and a member of both the Buddhist Council of New York and a Episcopal Priest. Willie has extensive history working the anti-racism and social justice realm.
REVEREND DANA TAKAGI (she/her) is a retired professor of Sociology and zen priest, practicing zen since 1998. She spent 33 years teaching sociology and Asian American history at UC Santa Cruz, and she is a past president of the Association for Asian American Studies.
BRUNI DÁVILA (she/they) has practiced Insight and Zen meditation since 1995. They graduated from the IMS/IRC Teacher Training Program, and has been guided and supported by various wonderful teachers and sanghas, and her ancestors of Puerto Rican heritage. bruni’s practice is grounded in the teachings of Mahasi Sayadaw and Sayadaw U Tejaniya. She teaches at IMC, in Redwood City and in the wider Bay area, in English and Spanish.
RAHIL ROJIANI, MD (they/them) is a queer, genderfluid, South Asian Ismaili Muslim, and an abolitionist trauma-focused psychiatrist at Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School. Rahil’s contemplative practices are informed by their Muslim faith, secular mindfulness traditions, and multiple Buddhist lineages. Rahil has conducted several years of research on the neuroscience of meditation, and they have been facilitating and teaching meditation since 2014— particularly for healthcare professionals, BIPOC, and community organizers.
