Living Into Life and Death

an online session with
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

With so much going on in our chaotic and troubling worlds, and the constant presence of loss and death, how can we stay present? How can we find balance and keep intimacy with the basic elements of life, without numbing ourselves, denying, and avoiding?

We want to be in life with our hearts open, present to the natural cycles of life. Yet, its impermanence challenges our innate desire for comfort and security. All traditions have teachings about life and death. Zen Buddhist wisdom offers tools for being fully alive in life while staying present to the inevitability of death for ourselves and what we love.

 About this program, Shugen Arnold says:

All things are change, all things are fleeting in their impermanence. While we know our lives are finite, and while every living thing must die, when we turn away from this simple, natural reality we make it harder both to live and die. How do we live our lives while the world around us is both rich and wonderful and yet full of death and loss. 

In this gathering – and through teachings, discussions and simple meditation practices – we will explore some of Buddhism’s basic teachings of life and death and how these can help us to live within impermanence and our strong emotions of fear, sadness, and grief. In doing this, we can encounter an unexpected joy and lightness as we become more intimate with the basic realities of our mortal lives.

The conversation will be facilitated by Shugen Arnold’s sister, Sacred Fire member Alison Arnold.

Let me respectfully remind you, life and death are of supreme importance.

Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost, each of us should strive to awaken.

Take heed, do not squander your life. 

¾Evening verse chanted in Zen monasteries

Participants in the program will:

—Gain tools for staying present to the paradoxes of life and death.
—Understand you are not alone in the struggle to not succumb to dissociation, or distraction, in facing life’s challenges.

—Build your heart and mind’s capacities to stay open to the realities of our mortal lives.

— Learn the signals to allow access to your emotions, even through discomfort

—Gain and integrate the compassion that comes from new wisdom about yourself and others