Week 8: Zazen and Zen Buddhism

On Wednesday a friend and I went to the Cedar Rapids Zen Center to attend their monthly introduction to zazen and Zen Buddhism session. While the Zen Center does have weekly Sunday morning activities, I thought it would be a good idea to go to something geared more towards beginners as I know very little about Zen.

Cedar Rapids Zen Center
Source

Buddhism, which began approximately 2,400 years ago in India, is the world's fourth largest religion. There are several different schools of Buddhism, each with their own practices and beliefs. The Cedar Rapids Zen Center follows Soto Zen Buddhism, founded in Japan in the 13th century. I'm not terribly familiar with Zen, so I don't feel comfortable giving a rundown of beliefs. I do know that they have the Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path in common with other Buddhists.

The Four Noble Truths

1. Life is characterized by dukkha (suffering, dissatisfaction)
2. Attachment/desire/ignorance is the cause of dukkha
3. It is possible to be liberated from dukkha
4. The Noble Eightfold Path is the path to end dukkha

The Noble Eightfold Path (taken from the Cedar Rapids Zen Center website)

1. Right View
2. Right Thinking
3. Right Speech
4. Rich Action
5. Rich Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Midfulness
8. Right Concentration

The Zen Center

The Cedar Rapids Zen Center is run out of a house in the Wellington Heights area of town. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the resident teacher may live there. A Buddha statue was our clue that we had found the right place. 

Directly inside was a small area for shoes and coats, as well as a bookshelf and a little bit of seating. There were already three other people there besides the teacher and ourselves. After some light talk, everyone introduced themselves and the teacher (Zuiko), explained that she was an ordained clergyperson. Her head was shaved and she was wearing dark robes. 

Before we went into the zendo (meditation room), we stayed in the small area for a short "pre-introduction" on zazen (zen meditation). Zuiko explained that it was best not to wear distracting or loud clothing as a courtesy to others, and we went over the different postures and positions to take as we enter the zendo. Everyone enters on the same side and walks the same direction around the zendo. At the entrance, you place your palms together in front of you and bow to the room. As you walk in the room your left hand is held in a fist holding your left thumb and your right hand covering your left. You again bow to your seat when you get to it, as well as bow to the people across from you and when you leave the zendo.

Zafu on a Zabuton, Source

The Zendo

We made our way into the zendo, each of us bowing at the entrance, and Zuiko directed us to our seats. There were about 8 spaces to meditate around the edge of the room. Most of them consisted of a zabutan (a large flat square cushion) with a zafu (a thick round cushion) on top of it. One space had a chair instead of a zafu, in case someone preferred to sit in a chair to meditate. 

After we bowed towards our seats and each other we all sat down as Zuiko taught us the proper way to sit while meditating. Basically, you want to sit in such a way that your knees are below your bottom. Ideally, you sit on the zafu while your knees touch the floor in front of you. This forms a sort of tripod with the zafu and your knees. It tilts your lower body forward and gives you stability what you sit. Some people place their knees to the side of the zafu instead, kind of like they're kneeling, and others use a tiny bench or chair. 

We also learned how to hold our hands while sitting. You hold your right hand underneath your left in front of your stomach and let the tips of your thumbs touch so you make an oval. Additionally, your eyes should remain open during zazen, as part of the purpose is to remain fully present in the moment. While it's ok if thoughts come during zazen, you should let them go instead of dwell on them. Every time thoughts come forward we should return to feeling our breathing instead. 

Zazen

We all got the chance to practice zazen for 20 minutes.  Zuiko rang a bell three times to announce the start. Instead of facing forward, you turn towards the wall to avoid distractions. I would say I did alright for the first 10 minutes or so. After that, restlessness set in and it became harder to let my thoughts go. I also had to move around quite a bit to keep my leg from falling asleep. We were told such movement was ok. 

It definitely got tough after a while. I'm not used to not being able to tell how much time has passed. Staring at nothing but a wall (or a curtain covering a doorway in my case) really doesn't help. I couldn't tell if 5 or 15 minutes had passed. It got kind of disorienting. Also, someone starting screaming at a family member in the yard of the house next door, which obviously added a level of distraction. It became hard to keep my eyes open as well. I'll admit that I did peek at my watch 17 minutes in.

At the same time, it was definitely nice. I wouldn't necessarily call it peaceful. I'm too used to outside stimuli for the stillness and nothingness to be peaceful yet, put it was still something that I would practice on a regular basis, if for a shorter period of time at first.

The bell was rung two more times to signify the end of the zazen session. We actually ended up going for 25 minutes instead of 20. We all turned back towards each other and shared our thoughts and questions. I mentioned that I had had trouble keeping my eyes open, and Zuiko said that that was why we had gone for 25 minutes instead of 20. She had closed her eyes close to the end and had accidentally fallen asleep.

She spent some time after that sharing with us a little bit about Buddhism. She relayed a story of how the Buddha spent several years in the forest learning under different teachers for 6 years, but never found what he was looking for. Finally, he remembered a childhood experience when his father left him under a tree with no toys or anything to distract or entertain him. After the restlessness and annoyance of having nothing to do passed, he eventually sat there completely present and in the moment. 

Finally, she shared with us a little bit about the activities of the Zen Center. There noon and weeknight sitting sessions, a book study, all day sittings, and more in depth intro classes. They also meet on Sunday mornings for a 40 minutes zazen session, a talk, working meditation, and tea. She also gave us several brochures and a book list before we left and encouraged us to learn more about Buddhism.

Final Thoughts

This is probably one of the best things I have done so far. Everything I had done so far had been related to Christianity in one way or another. This is the first time I had to go into something knowing I really didn't know anything about it. Zuiko was incredibly nice and accommodating of our questions. It was also nice to be surrounded by people who also were there for the first time and to learn along with them. Normally I'm the only "outsider," so it was great to be with others in the same boat. I'm planning on ordering a zafu for myself to start practicing short periods of zazen. 

Week Seven: Grace Episcopal Church

On June 10th I attended an Episcopal church for the first time. Grace Episcopal is an adorable small church in downtown Cedar Rapids.

The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, an association of churches in communion with the Church of England. It's hard for me to get a good grasp on what Episcopalians believe. Some seem to have beliefs that are nearly identical to Catholics while others seem to be more Protestant or evangelical in nature. They accept the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian creeds, and the Protestant canon of the Bible (although I think some may make use in the Deuterocanon?). Historically the Thirty-Nine Articles were used, but I have no idea how closely those are followed by each of the churches in the Anglican Communion today or how uniform the interpretation of them is. If any Anglican or Episcopalian reads this and has corrections or wants to share their own experiences please be my guest.

Grace Episcopal Church

Grace Episcopal is downtown, kitty corner from the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple. (ETA) Grace has a medical lending closet, which fulfills a vital need in the Cedar Rapids community. People in the community can borrow things like wheelchairs when emergencies occur. I remember my mother making use of the closet when she hurt her leg. I really appreciate how they serve a need not usually met by other churches or organizations.

I didn't see a sign anywhere that said which door to go through, so I just went straight through the front red doors. This is the first church I've been to that didn't have a greeter of some sort, although there could have been someone I didn't see at a different door. 

The church itself had a lot of lovely elements, but due to its size everything seemed close together and somewhat constricting. Although you can't see it in the picture, there were some pews removed from the left to make room for an organ. A few things stood out to me-

• In the front left of the church there was a statue of Mary, but I noticed that there were curtains that were pulled to cover statue. I know some communities have the tradition of veiling statues and other images during all or part of Lent, so maybe that's why the curtain was there? It was odd to see a built in curtain for a statue.
• What looked like small brown cubbies were on the back wall of the left and right of the sanctuary, many with names engraved on them. I'm nearly positive it's a columbarium. I've never seen one in a sanctuary before, but upon reflection it seems like the perfect place for one. 
• One of my pet peeves is having the national flag in the church. I suppose it makes sense to have one when the church itself is associated with a specific nationality, but it still rubs me the wrong way.
• Finally, the chairs for the presider and the deacon were against the wall facing towards the altar, which I appreciated. Nearly every Catholic church I've been in has the presider facing towards the congregation, which I always felt puts too much focus on the priest and detracts from actual worship.

The Service

Apologies if this is long. Liturgical services have a lot of parts which make describing them quickly difficult. 

Coming from a Catholic background, many of the prayers and motions of the liturgy felt familiar. A few of the prayers were so close to the version I have memorized that I would get too confident in reciting them without reading, only to flub when coming to a point when the versions differ.

The service was led by a female priest and deacon, with an acolyte assisting, and I counted about 35 people in the congregation. The priest reminded everyone that for the summer they would be using services from different parts of the Anglican Communion (this week from the Church of Nigeria), so everyone should pay close attention as some things may be slightly different to what they were used to.

As in most modern Catholic churches, there were four readings from Scripture. It appears they were using the Revised Common Lectionary, which on many Sundays is identical to the lectionary that Catholics use.

The first reading was from Genesis, detailing how Adam and Eve hid from God after eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The psalm was recited antiphonally instead of as a responsorial, which is what I'm used to. I actually liked this better as it reminded me of the Liturgy of the Hours. I didn't pay close enough attention to remember the Epistle reading, but it looks like it was from 2 Corinthians. 

Before the deacon read the Gospel, he processed with it behind the acolyte into the middle of the nave (place with the pews where the congregation sits). He read the Gospel standing there amidst the congregation. I thought that showed a nice bit of symbolism.

The Sermon

The sermon was fine, nothing really enlightening or even inspiring. It was based off of the Gospel reading and the pictured quote from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, which I actually quite like. It was basically a sermon on loving your neighbor. Don't get me wrong, it would be great if all Christians actually lived out the command to love their neighbor. Speaking from my own experience, the subject is preached on and taught about a lot but generally not done well. It's essentially feels like we're just constantly telling be people to be nice without telling them what that means or what it looks like. Very easy to tune out a sermon like this when you feel like you've heard it a hundred times before. Maybe it would have been different if she had gone into how we should love people we have political disagreements with, etc., but I don't recall her actually doing that.

Following the sermon was the Nicene creed and the intercessions. My goodness there were a lot of intercessions. I've been to churches where there were regularly around 10 intercessions, which felt like too many, but there were at least 20 here.

Around this time I started to notice that people didn't seem to know what they were supposed to be doing at any one time. People tended to take whatever posture they wanted to in the pews unless the presider specifically said to sit or stand. Only about a quarter of the people knelt for the communion prayer when the booklet said to. I remember there being a point when part of the congregation stood and the others sat. It was very strange. It could be that the liturgy from the Church of Nigeria was just different enough to throw people off from what they were used to, but I really have no idea.

Before the Eucharistic prayer there was a sign of peace, which was definitely the highlight of the service. I'm pretty sure I ended up shaking everyone's hand. Everyone got up and moved around and some had small conversations. Honestly, it was kind of nice to have fellowship as a formal part of the service. 

The announcements actually followed the sign of peace, which was shocking to me. The presider gave some announcements, and the deacon shared that he would be ordained soon and invited everyone to come to the cathedral to take part. Members of the congregation were then invited to share any announcements they had. Even though the placing of the announcements felt odd, it's definitely a way to make sure everyone actually hears them.

Communion

The Eucharist Prayer was similar to the Catholic prayers I was used to. Ushers let each row now when they could go up to kneel at the altar rail. The priest went down the rail giving people the bread, saying "The Body of Christ in the bread" with the deacon following with the wine. One thing that was very interesting to me was that although everyone knelt at the altar rail to receive communion, it looked like they were still receiving in the hand instead of on the tongue.

Also, the communion hymn was the only hymn sung that familiar to me (It Is Well with My Soul). Unfortunately, both the three loudest singers and the pianist failed to notice that half the hymn was printed on the back of the paper, which made for some very choppy verses and a confused congregation.

The Lord's Prayer/Our Father was said after communion, followed by a few more prayers and a closing hymn. Not much happened after the service. One person stopped to thank me for coming, but that was pretty much it. 

Final Thoughts

This service felt very "meh." No one really seemed to know what was going on, which was odd. I could tell that this was a very tight knit community, which is admirable. The worship booklet had birthdays and anniversaries listed in it, and everyone seemed pretty warm and welcoming to each other. I kind of felt like an outsider looking in, which I suppose I was. Don't get me wrong, people were very pleasant to me during the sign of peace and no one was hostile or looked like they didn't want me there. Maybe I've just been spoiled by the last several churches I've gone to which actively seem to seek out and welcome newcomers and visitors.

Week 6: Peoples Church Unitarian Universalist

Peoples Church UU

This past Sunday (June 3rd) I joined the congregation at Peoples Church in Cedar Rapids for their Sunday service. Peoples Church is part of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), a very unique religious organization. The UUA was founded with the merger of two liberal Christian denominations- The Universalist Church of America and the American Unitarian Association.

Although the UUA has its roots in Christianity, it is not a Christian religion. The UUA has no creed or single set of beliefs that members must adhere to. Personally, I would describe it as a group of people coming together to explore the meaning of life and existence, create safe and supportive spiritual communities regardless of belief, and be a force for good in the world.

Instead of a shared set of beliefs, Unitarian Universalists have a shared set of Principles (taken from the UUA website)-

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person
2. Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth in our congregations
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part

They also draw upon six "Sources," which include: Jewish and Christian teachings, personal experience, wisdom from all religions, Humanist teachings and ideas, and Earth-centered traditions.

All of this means that within any single UU congregation you could find a Christian, atheist, Buddhist, agnostic, pagan, etc.

Unitarian Universalism also strongly oriented towards social justice and service. More on this later.

Peoples Church UU

Old "First Universalist
Church," demolished in
2011*

Peoples used to be located in downtown Cedar Rapids, but after the 2008 flood they sold the building and moved to a residential area on the north west side of town. It's definitely not an area that I would have ever looked for a church. I remember their old building downtown and it definitely gave them more visibility in the community.

One of the first things you see when you enter is a nametag wall. This is one of my favorite things to see a church do and I wish more congregations did it. Especially when someone is new to a community, learning and remembering the names of people you usually only see once a week can be incredibly difficult. Nametags help to breakdown one of the barriers to building a community. 

Symbol associated with UU

As I entered an usher asked me if I was new and invited me to make a disposable nametag. She also let me take several brochures and gave me the order of service. 

The sanctuary itself was small. There was a chalice at the front enclosed by two connecting circles, one of the symbols of UU. The front wall had different colors of fabric hanging from the ceiling in a rainbow pattern. There were two lovely upholstered chairs and a piano in the front as well.

I counted only about 50 people in the congregation. It sounds like during the school year they have a religious education program that runs concurrent to the main service, so I would guess that there are more people during the school year  than the summer. 

Before the service began a woman who was helping to lead worship came to the front to welcome everyone and give announcements. One of the announcements that stood out to me was that there would be a meeting after the service for people who were helping with the Peoples Church table at Cedar Rapids' Juneteenth celebration. They would be discussing how they could be present at the celebration without coming off as "privileged white people." Apparently they've been reading some books on white privilege throughout the year and were going to discuss how they could put what they learned into practice. I really appreciated their awareness and sensitivity surrounding the celebration, as well as their willingness to participate in the event. I'm curious if other churches are joining in the celebration.

The Service

The service started with a couple playing traditional Irish music on their violins. If you know me you know I love traditional Irish music, and they were fantastic. I was having a hard time staying still in the pew and not tapping my hands or feet. So. Good.

After that the minister read a call to worship. They were having a Flower Communion/Ceremony this Sunday, so everything was more or less centered around flowers. After the call to worship the chalice was lit.

Following that was a hymn called "Oh, Give Us Pleasure in the Flowers Today." I don't think this hymn was suited well to a congregation singing without a choir. A small pet peeve of mine is when congregations are invited to sing a song that is difficult to sing, either because the music is difficult or the notes are hard to hit. A lot of people (myself included) did that whisper-singing thing that people do when they can't sing the song. Basically, lips were moving with a tiny bit of sound coming out. Thankfully, this was the only song where that happened. 

There was an affirmation in the program (which read like a mission statement) that everyone read, followed by a responsive reading, similar to a responsorial psalm. The response was "May our lives bloom like the flowers."

They then did a "Story for All Ages." A gentleman came forward to read a story called Miss Rumphius, which I had never heard before. It was a really cute story that fit well with the theme of the day, and the man reading it read it very well. He has a very good story telling voice. It did feel kind of long though. My guess is that it's intended to help engage children, but the kids I noticed weren't really paying attention. It probably would be a good idea to project pictures on the wall or even invite the children up to the front and have the story teller show them the pictures in the book after each page.

Following that was an offering and more violin music (traditional Scottish this time). It sounded like any extra money they were receiving that week would go to ACLU Iowa. 

There were two poems read following this- I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth and Hearts Like Wildflowers by Nikita Gill. The minister offered a reflection after this focusing on flowers and beauty. She was a fantastic speaker and it was very uplifting.

During the offering they had invited people to write down their concerns or joys. Those were used to help the minister lead the Prayers of the People. She also invited people to spontaneously share their concerns and joys. This was punctuated with the congregation singing verses from How Could Anyone that were projected onto the wall. The two components together honestly made it kind of an emotional moment, which is probably what they were going for. 

A "Flower Ceremony" followed. The minister gave a brief history of the ceremony. It is a Unitarian tradition started by Norbert Čapek, the founder of the Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia and who was killed in a gas chamber in Dachau in WWII. The Flower Communion is supposed to emphasize the unique people coming together to form a larger group. The idea is that everyone brings a flower, which are put together in vases, and leaves with a different flower than the one they came with. It's a very neat idea.

I was a bit worried I wouldn't be able to take part since I didn't bring a flower. The usher noticed my hesitance and assured me I could join in. It really was kind of like going up for communion. I chose a lovely yellow flower to take with me (which promptly wilted when I left it in my hot car). We were also invited to light a small candle on our way back to our seats.   

De Colores was the final hymn sung before the chalice was extinguished and the violinists played one more song and the minister gave a benediction. 

Final Thoughts

This was a very positive and uplifting experience and I honestly had a great time. I think it's great that people have a place they can go to for spiritual growth when their beliefs don't line up with more traditional beliefs, or even when they have no beliefs at all. I really appreciate just how active the UUA and local congregations are in advancing social justice. The only thing I'm bummed about is that the UUA is officially pro-choice. I'm pretty much in agreement with all of their social positions accept this one, and it stinks that they officially reject one of my most important convictions. 

Regardless, my experience at their worship was amazing. I went in wondering if it was possible to have a whole serving centered around flowers, but they did it and they did it well. Nothing seemed out of place despite the many different parts of their service. You can tell when people practice and genuinely care about the worship they are leading. I would love to go back when I have the chance.

*Source: By RifeIdeas - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14589741