IF YOU GOWhat: Buddhapalooza III, Buddha's birthday celebrationWhen: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, April 13Where: Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave.Admission: $7 suggested donationPhone: 423-622-2862Email: jhashe@epbfi.com
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 Saturday, April 13, to offer a day of meditation, dharma talks (lectures) and performance to honor the great teacher.
Anyone interested in Buddhism will find times during the event to learn more, as 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 also will be featured, including a reading of Walt Whitman's "Carol of Words," 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. The suggested donation is $7, but a pay-what-you-can policy means no one will be turned away.
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) by Shokai Steven Hart
• 11:30 a.m.-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 p.m.-1:30 p.m. Music of Michael Goldman
• 1:30 p.m.-2 p.m. Dharma talk (Tibetan), Tara Mandala sangha
• 2-2:30 p.m. Kirtan call-and-response music group
• 2:30-2:45 p.m. Chanting of the Heart Sutra
• 2:45-3 p.m. Cutting of Buddha's birthday cake