AZC Fall 2023 Ango: Things-as-It-Is

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED

  • October 21, 2023 – December 9, 2023

Oct. 21 (formal opening) to Dec. 9 (Buddha’s Enlightenment Celebration)

This Ango (Practice Period) will be led by AZC Guiding Teacher Rev. Choro Antonaccio. You are warmly invited to participate in this fall’s Ango (Practice Period). Ango is an opportunity to find your edge of practice, by committing to as much of the schedule as you can. Add some zazen at the temple with others, join one of the retreats, sign up for the class, attend ceremonies, extend yourself and support others while doing so! 

 “…without sticking to some particular way, we open our minds to observe things-as-it-is and to accept things-as-it-is.” (Shunryu Suzuki)

About this Ango (Practice Period)

The founder of the San Francisco Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, used the phrase “things as it is” to capture the teaching of the inseparability of the multiplicity of things, and nonduality. We will study the Sandokai, sometimes translated as the “Harmony of Difference and Equality”. It is a poem written by a Chinese Zen master of the 8th c. CE, Shitou Xiqian (in Japanese pronunciation, Ancestor Sekito Kisen). We chant this poem as a sutra every week at Austin Zen Center, and it is a fundamental text of our Soto Zen lineage of Buddhism. (The calligraphy is the characters for Sandokai, by Zen priest Taisen Deshimaru.) The class on the Sandokai will meet for the first time on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 6.45 pm for six weeks until Nov. 30 (no meeting on Thanksgiving).  We will study Suzuki Roshi’s talks at Tassajara monastery on the Sandokai text, given in the summer of 1970, eighteen months before he died, edited and published as Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness (1999).  Another feature of Ango is meeting for informal discussion and Way Seeking Mind talks given by sangha members who are participating. These meetings are on Oct. 28, Nov. 4 and 18 after the regular program. There will also be dharma talks during the Saturday program. In addition, we will have an all-day sitting on Sunday, October 22, with a focus on exploring the postures of zazen and receiving hands-on instruction. There will also be a weekend retreat, November 10-12, and the annual winter sesshin, Rohatsu, from Dec. 1-8.  Finally, we will have our usual Full Moon Bodhisattva Ceremonies on Wednesday Oct. 25 and November 29, and the annual Sejiki Ceremony (Feeding and Nourishing Hungry Ghosts) on November 1. Ango concludes with a celebration of Buddha’s Enlightenment on Dec. 9 as part of our regular Saturday program, open to all. The registration for Ango and individual events will be posted soon.  Please contact me if you have questions: choro@austinzencenter.org or in person.

Ango schedule

Events included in Ango Registration:

  • October 21-December 9 Fall Ango 2023 (Practice Period) (Register below by October 27)
  • October 21 – Opening Ceremony (this event has passed)
  • October 25 and November 29 – Full Moon Bodhisattva Ceremonies 
  • October 28, November 4 and 18 – Informal discussion and Way Seeking Mind talks (Included with Ango registration)
  • December 9 (morning) – Ango concludes with Buddha’s Enlightenment Ceremony
  • December 18-January 2 except New Year’s Eve program, evening December 31 –Winter Interim (the center is closed)

Events requiring additional registration and/or cost:

Click here to fill out the the intentions form

Registration is closed for this event

All the practice period events are listed above. Consider what works for your existing commitments and then stretch a little as you consider how much to participate. There are options to set an intention for body practice and home or work practices of mindfulness. If you would like to speak to the practice period leader about your intentions please do so!