Hello Out There

Hi anyone who happens to be reading this.

There seems to be a pretty thriving Buddhist community here at blogger.com so I guess I might as well have a presence here as well.

One thing I am wondering is if there are any Buddhists in San Francisco who would be interested in getting together at the Faithful Fools Zendo at 230 Hyde Street (between Turk and Eddie) on Sunday afternoons. I have been given the key to use that Zendo and so I have a two hour program set up so that people can practice and discuss the Dharma together. The program is modular so anyone who wants to can drop in for some or all of it. It works like this:

3 to 3:40 pm - Zazen, no frills, just sit down and look at the wall for a while.

3:45 - 4:30 pm - Informal Dharma discussion. This is pretty much a friendly chat between anyone who happens to be present. We try to focus on topics relevant to practice and Buddhism and daily life.

4:30 - 5 pm - Chanting meditation. This is recitation of passages from the Lotus Sutra (usually in Sino-Japanese to the rhythm of a wooden fish drum) and the Odaimoku (which means Sacred Title and is the chanting of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo).

Oh, and as for who I am, I am Michael McCormick. My Dharma name is Ryuei, which I use as my online handle. Offline I am just "Michael." My background is in Nichiren Buddhism, Won Buddhism, Soto Zen, and my own study of the Pali Canon and Mahayana sutras over the last 20 years.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei