Death's Tiny Tea House - The Nine Contemplations of Atisha

The Buddha’s teachings on impermanence and death are fundamental:

“I am of the nature to die,
there is no way to escape death.“All that is dear to me and everyone I love
are of the nature of change;
there is no way to escape
being separated from them.”

The Five Remembrances

Death’s Tiny Tea House will provide the community an opportunity to co-create an open conversation about dying, death, grief and related topics. There is no agenda or objective for this conversation.

Participants are requested to read Joan Halifax Roshi’s discussion of the Nine Contemplations of Atisha prior to the Tea House. As she explains: “The Nine Contemplations . . . offer a way to explore the inevitability of death and what is important to us in the light of our mortality. The practice asks us to question what we are doing in our life at this very moment and to see what is important for us to do in order to prepare for death.”

The Tea House conversation will be facilitated by Temple Priest Kodo and ZCO member David Seikan Snyder. Hopefully the discussion of the Nine Contemplations will embrace our personal questions, confusions, and fears. Hopefully the discussion will touch on our practice as well.

Each Tea House will open with a short period of Zazen. We will introduce ourselves and explain what brought us to the Tiny Tea House. After that, we will just allow the discussion to flow. At the end of the Tea House everyone will have an opportunity to express how they are feeling or anything that is on their mind and heart.

Tea and cookies will be served. Questions? Email thayandi@live.com.

Date: February 11, 2025
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
Online Zoom Only.
Price: Free/by donation Specify any amount; $20 suggested donation