Noon Mindfulness Book Club XVII: Four Huts

We'll read this tiny book (80 pp) over 4 sessions from Mon. May 26 to Mon. June 16 with 2 sections per week: 1 at noon & the other at 6:30 PM. It offers chi, "records" of places which framed & shaped the practices of Chinese Ch'an & its heir Japanese Zen. We'll start right out on the introductory material & the first "hut" on May 26, so you'll want to have that little bit read.
Our reading schedule is:
Mon. May 26: pp. ix-14.
Mon. June 2: pp. 17-30.
Mon. June 9: 33-64.
Mon. June 16: 67-74 (

We will send you 2 Zoom links, for both the noon & evening sessions the week of Fri. May 23. If you are already on our email list from any previous sessions, you will receive both links automatically in an e-mail to the list. Message us providing your e-mail by Sunday May 25, 6 PM, if you are seeking to join for the 1st time. You need not specify which link you intend to use. In fact, if you have an appointment opposite your usual time, you may use the other link. The links will not appear in any public listing including sangha e-mail nor on this page.
The evocation of beloved places so suited to their contemplative residents is in poetic prose & accompanied by poetry in some cases, & they invite the reader to give up struggle for a place, maybe even for comfort, & to immerse the self in nature. (Comparisons to Walden Pond in order?) The genre does evolve over the centuries & in a different culture in Japan. Is comfort a distraction from the contemplative life or is it needed to enable contemplation? What is the optimal relationship to one's government for a contemplative? What is the place of spiritual arts in that life? What relationship can there be between the contemplative devoted to simplicity & the hierarchical society? The hallmarks of Ch'an / Zen are present from the beginning, but the weight of impermanence gathers momentum. Does turmoil in the world mean inevitable turmoil in the mind?
https://www.facebook.com/events/1388956775481832/1388956785481831?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22surface%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22groups_highlight_units%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D