Sensei doshin mj nelson & Nomali Perera
POSTPONED! March 28th, 2009
Saturday, April 18th, 2009

9am – 5:30pm
$55 ($45 for members)
Please pay by check or cash only at the door

• What is the opposite of death?  Is it life, birth, rebirth, or …?
• Why is it that everyone knows they are going to die, and no one believes it?
• How many times must we die before we surrender our suffering, and choose to be fully alive?

A brush with death and dying unexpectedly creates a sudden opening where the possibility of deep spiritual transformation can occur.  The routine and rhythm is broken in the comfortable, mundane fabric of life.  We are thrust directly into the face of the unknown.  All that we have learned and think we know is of little use in the face of vast unknowable mystery.  We find ourselves standing, stark naked and alone in absolute poverty.

In this modern and post-modern culture, we are sheltered and insulated from experiences of death and dying.  This separation of dying from living creates an artificial diversion in the normal flow of life itself.  Birth, sickness and death are hidden away where they won’t disturb us, where they won’t lead us into the darkness beyond the comfort of all that we have been taught to believe.  We have been robbed of the very things which enable us to experience and appreciate our aliveness.

However, the truth is also that we have already died many deaths.  So, how about we explore the many deaths and the fresh re-births we have already experienced in this life time as we evolve from one stage of development to the next – transcending and including – dying to everything we know, then the “not knowing”, and then we are reborn into the next stage of our life?  And, through this exploration, let us deepen our understanding and embracing of the deep truth of who we are so that when death finally comes, we are ready.

If you dare to venture into this wilderness, you might find yourself questioning the very ground on which you have chosen to stand.  You might stumble into the empty darkness and find an opening of unspeakable Light, awe and mystery.  You might awaken something deep within you, that longs for timeless joy and grace.  You might leave with a new Integral Perspective of Death and Rebirth as you evolve from one level to the next in this life you are living.

You will be asked to:

• Leave your beliefs in a basket at the door and open your heart
• Share your heartfelt experiences of death and dying
• Look and identify what it is that you value most
• Find and then face your deepest fears
• Die before you die and open your life in awe to deep mystery and grace

You will leave with:

• A deeper appreciation for who you are – Pure Awareness – through State experiences
• A new understanding of the  attachments that cause your suffering
• An integral perspective of the deathlike transformations between Stages/Levels
• An integral understanding of the Rebirth of Spirit at each Stage of life

Please bring your own organic lunch (having lunch together will be a part of the day’s retreat)

Rev. doshin mj nelson is a poet, writer, speaker, workshop facilitator, Zen teacher and priest of no rank.  He is the founder of Integral Zen, Inc. a Colorado branch of the Hollow Bones Zen Order and co-founder of the Poetry of Dying Project, an organization that provides support for those who have been deeply affected by a brush with dying, as well as those who choose to look into the mirror of death and then re-examine the quality and direction of their own lives.  To reach him: doshin@integralzen.org.

Nomali Perera is a founding member of Boulder Integral.  A native of Sri Lanka, she has a BA in Contemplative Psychology & Religious Studies from Naropa University, an MA in Nonprofit Management from Regis University, Denver, and is a certified Integral Coach from Integral Coaching Canada.  Nomali has also worked at Ken Wilber’s Integral Institute.  She can be reached at nomali@boulderintegral.org.

“Experiences of death and dying provide priceless opportunities – gateless gates – that open the heart to profound silence and grace”.  – Sensei doshin nelson

Friday, May 22, 2009 (Open to all)
6:30pm – 8:00pm
$15 ($10 for members)

Saturday, May 23 & Sunday, May 24
9am – 5pm both days (although we prefer participation in full weekend, you may, if you wish, be there only for one of the days)
$189 ($149 for members)  Payment by check and cash only at the door.

There is no pre-registration, but RSVP is REQUIRED to ensure your seat. Please send your RSVP by noon, 5/20 to nomali@boulderintegral.org with “RSVP: Mondo Zen” on the subject line.

Mondo Zen: Revealing the True Nature of Mind through Integral Zen Dialogue

Dear Friends,

Coming up soon is a rare opportunity to work closely with two of our favourite integral teachers, Jun Po Denis Kelly, Roshi and doshin mj nelson, Sensei over a whole weekend! Every so occasionally, we all need to get our lazy butts kicked by a hardcore Zen session. Please read more event details below, and we hope you will dare yourself to join!

On Friday 5/22, there will be an Integral Panel Discussion that is Open to All.  Each panelist will share their own perspective and integral view of Mondo Zen.   Join Jeff Salzman, Robert Richards, doshin nelson sensei and JunPo Denis Kelly, Roshi for an enlightening, entertaining and liberating evening. For the main dish, we highly encourage attending the full weekend.

Event Description

Rinzai Zen is known for its rigorous practice in attaining penetrating insights into our own True Nature. Even for those who live in monasteries, it can take years to integrate these insights. Come experience a taste of the True Nature of Mind in a single evening! Enter into a group Zen dialogue with JunPo Roshi and experience Ego Deconstruction which opens you to more creative and fearless perspectives. Taste what Ken Wilber in Integral Spirituality calls Turiya – the Freedom of Radical Emptiness. Learn how “your angst is your liberation” – and embody in your life what Ken calls Turiyatita and Radical Fullness.

The penetrating and enlightening Integral protocols of Mondo Zen will be led by Jun Po Denis Kelly, Roshi, first dharma heir of Eido Shimano Roshi. Jun Po is Abbot of Hollow Bones Zen. He has returned to the roots of Rinzai Zen and revitalized the Koan practice in a way that is truly Integral, unique and graspable for western minds like ours. Spend a fruitful and humorous evening with Jun Po Roshi and experience Mondo Zen. Join us to learn more about Jun Po’s innovative, Integrally Informed and Integrally Embodied approach to Zen that enriches and deepens any spiritual practice. Come – and One Taste!

Mondo Zen is not just American Zen, it is integrally informed and integrally embodied Zen.

Mondo Zen catalyzes high level, Upper Left Quadrant cognitive, emotional and spiritual stages and states of awareness. These high levels are reinforced through Upper Right Quadrant neuro-linguistic training. Because of this Integral UL/UR strategy, the possibility emerges for your stage development to evolve as you practice taking the perspective of freedom-vast, pure awakened heart/mind rather than the old hysterical/historical perspective of your constricted egocentric view.

Mondo Zen further encourages the embodiment and enactment of UR speech and behaviors – as well as inter-subjective and environmental enactments (LL/LR Quadrants). The ultimate Mondo Zen realization is non-dual awareness (Turiyatita), spontaneously enacted through all aspects of your being.

Mondo Zen transcends and includes all levels. It is not a religion, but a practice for living an integrally Transformative Life. Mondo Zen engages body, mind, shadow and spirit. If your spirituality is Christianity, Mondo Zen will enrich and deepen your love. Whether you’re a Christian or a Hindu, warrior in men’s work, a woman of power creating a new world, a contemplative individual, a social or environmental activist, an executive, or an Integral scholar, Mondo Zen will enhance your awareness, clarity, energy and humor – with more penetrating insight and effectiveness.

Imagine you as this, abiding as this, being in the world as this, evolving and involving as this.

This is FREEDOM. This is Mondo Zen.

And here is an alternative description with less “integral jargon,” because we welcome those who are new to Integral Theory!

At long last, we are finally awakening and translating Zen into American culture. Mondo Zen is one of these developments, these awakenings.

Zen is not just living anthropology, just some Japanese cultural concentration practice, robes and Buddha statues. Zen is the awakened state of mind represented by the marriage of compassion (unconditional caring, respect and regard) and wisdom (great fearless clarity) expressed in the ordinary actions of our daily life. Mondo Zen’s Five Element training allows us to realize – and exist continually – in deep clear mind and in heartfelt, fearless psychological stability.

Through concentration/meditation practices and philosophical dialectic dialog conversations, we experience who we truly are spiritually. We experience the freedom of realization of our ordinary deep clear mind. We learn the real nature and function of our emotions. We find our exit strategy from unnecessary suffering – and finally an end to psychotherapy. We clarify and reorganize our understanding of our minds – and through expression of this new understanding in thought and action, we liberate ourselves from many confusions.

Mondo Zen practice begins with a two hour provocative, humorous, dialectic dialog adventure – your investigation into – and sharing of – new, transformational states of mind of exquisite quality. Buddha taught that the first thing we must do to awaken to the truth is change our mind. This dialog practice gives us a change in mind. Then, when you’re tested by the continuous and exciting challenges in the normal events and actions of your daily life, your new heart and mind is spontaneously expressed and enacted – and experienced as being vastly preferable to your old self. Through this training, your center shifts from ego contraction and suffering into spirit openness. Through this training you learn that what you thought was your angst is in fact is your liberation.

Imagine waking up each and every morning, looking out through the eyes of your soul filled with gratitude and excitement for the gift of another day. Imagine feeling deep caring, respect and regard – with the great fearless clarity of a Samurai. Imagine living as the source of infinite creativity – with the Power to enact it.

Imagine being FREE. This is Mondo Zen!
Check out www.hollowbones.org and www.mondozen.org and locally in Denver: www.integralzen.org.

Boulder Integral Center
www.boulderintegral.org

2805 Broadway (NW corner of Broadway and Balsam)
(Limited parking – carpooling is encouraged)
Boulder, CO, 80304
303.541.1540

Check out pictures from our other events with JunPo Roshi here

Thursday, November 13th, 7-9pm
Suggested Donation: $10

Revealing the True Nature of Mind through Integral Zen Dialogue

Rinzai Zen is known for its rigorous practice in attaining penetrating insights into our own True Nature. Even for those who live in monasteries, it can take years to integrate these insights. Come experience a taste of the True Nature of Mind in a single evening! Enter into a group Zen dialogue with Jun Po Roshi and experience Ego Deconstruction which opens you to more creative and fearless perspectives. Taste what Ken Wilber in Integral Spirituality calls Turiya — the Freedom of Radical Emptiness. Learn how “your angst is your liberation” — and embody in your life what Ken calls Turiyatita and Radical Fullness.

The penetrating and enlightening protocols of Mondo Zen will be demonstrated by Jun Po Denis Kelly, Roshi, first dharma heir of Eido Shimano Roshi. Jun Po is Abbot of Hollow Bones Zen. He has returned to the roots of Rinzai Zen and revitalized the Koan practice in a way that is truly Integral, unique and graspable for western minds like ours. Spend a fruitful and humorous evening with Jun Po Roshi and experience Mondo Zen. Join us to learn more about Jun Po’s innovative, Integrally Informed and Integrally Embodied approach to Zen that enriches and deepens any spiritual practice. Come — and One Taste for yourself!

Find out more about JunPo Roshi.