On Tuesday April 28th, the South Plainfield Public Library was transformed into a tranquil setting and the backdrop for a traditional Korean Zen Buddhist tea ceremony. Ven. Myong Ahn Sunim spoke on the history of tea and how it is cultivated and has evolved over centuries in the Korean culture. He also performed a traditional tea ceremony to demonstrate how the simple act of mindfulness can transform each and every moment and action in an ordinary day into something extraordinary and bursting with life. Participants were able to sample tea from the beautiful JeJu Island in South Korea and were invited to participate in a tea workshop at So Shim Sa to deepen their experience.
On Monday, June 22 nd Soshima Zen Center presented “Life, Death, Bardo, Next... a Meditative Journey Cloaked in Music”, a dramatic representation of the universal human journey as reflected in Mahayana Buddhist teachings. Attendees entered a darkened room to encounter a circle of cushions surrounded by a ring of electric candles. As they lay supine in the silent hall, the reverberation of the meditation bell signaled the beginning of the journey. Then, a dramatic narration began, accompanied by musical selections chosen to inspire the listener to imagine each stage of the process. The narrative told the story of a person transitioning from living mundane everyday life, unmindful of death, through sudden diagnosis of serious illness, struggle with disease, gradual acceptance of death, passing away of the body, the migration of the spirit, wandering in the bardo, liberation from the wheel of samsara, and the attainment of the Bodhisattva ideal. The conclusion of the prog...