Upaya Sangha of Tucson Study Group: The Seven Factors of Awakening

Aug 222025
 

The Seven Factors of Awakening

Lectures by Thanissaro Bhikkhu and Joseph Goldstein

January 12th, 2017 through May 25, 2017

In this five-month course, we will contemplate and discuss lectures offered by Thanissaro Bhikkhu and Joseph Goldstein, two accomplished scholar-practitioners.  This study will be profitable to those who have a solid grounding in basic Buddhist doctrine.   You will be listening to audio presentations and completing a study guide prior to each of our meetings.

The Seven Factors of Awakening are mental factors which, when cultivated, serve as the basis for liberation, the release from greed, aversion, and delusion.  Thanissaro Bhikkhu and Joseph Goldstein draw from their readings of the Pali Canon in addition to reflecting on their own experiences.  It’s hoped that through this study you will get a grasp on how to bring onto the path the Buddha’s instructions from these early texts.

REQUIREMENTS:  A computer with CD player, an email address or a cooperative friend with same

FEE:  $22.00 (the cost of materials, postage, and TCMC space use contribution)

No one will be turned away due to inability to pay.

To Register: Mail a $22.00 check, made payable to Upaya Sangha, to Christine Johnson at 4145 N. Stone Ave., #102; Tucson, AZ 85705-8807. Include, in addition to your name, your postal address & email address & telephone number.

DEADLINE TO REGISTER:  December 29, 2016

WHEN:  10:00 AM to 11:30 AM.  The  2nd  and 4th  Thursdays of January, February, March, April, and May, beginning on Thursday, January 12th.

LOCATION: Tucson Community Meditation Center;  1231 E. Edison  Tucson, AZ.  The Center is one block S. of Grant and 2 houses W. of Mountain Ave.

CONTACT: Christine Johnson;  christine-johnson@cox.net ;  520-207-8718

PARKING:  It is important to the future of TCMC to observe mindful parking by not parking on the same block as the Center and by leaving an empty parking space in front of the homes on the neighboring blocks. Please reserve TCMC driveway parking for people who cannot walk far. Thank you!

Zazenkai – December 30, 2017, 7:45 am – 12:00 pm

Aug 222025
 

Upaya Sangha of Tucson is holding a half-day silent retreat, also called a zazenkai, at Tucson Community Meditation Center (TCMC) on Saturday, December 30. TCMC is located at 1231 E. Edison St., one block south of Grant, just west of Mountain, on the north side of the street. This Zazenkai will start at 7:45 am and will end promptly at noon.

What is Zazenkai?

Zazenkai can be translated as “to come together for meditation.” It offers an opportunity to deepen practice that is less intensive than several day retreats or sesshin. It will consist of alternating sessions of chanting, zazen (seated meditation), and kinhin (walking meditation). Expect zazen sessions to be roughly 30 minutes.

(An opportunity for dokusan, an optional brief private interview focused on practice, will be available with our Sensei.)

No registration is necessary

Plan to arrive promptly by 7:45 am and remain in noble silence throughout the morning. A brief orientation will precede the first practice period. This will cover the necessary details to make the event go smoothly (minor logistics, schedule, information about dokusan, etc.).

What to bring?

TCMC has chairs & cushions (zafu/zabuton, seiza benches) available for use. If you wish to have a different setup for meditation, feel free to bring your own from home. You may wish to bring a blanket or scarf to ensure comfort. You may also want to bring a water bottle.

Parking reminder: It’s important to the future of TCMC to observe mindful parking by not parking on the same block as the Center and by leaving an empty parking space in front of the homes on the neighboring blocks. Please reserve TCMC driveway parking for people who cannot walk far.

1st Saturday – June 2nd, 2018

Aug 222025
 

Dear friends,

 

For those joining us this Saturday, June 2nd, for our 1st Saturday of the month Upaya Sangha of Tucson meeting, we will meet from 10:00 am to noon, and our meeting will include brief sutra chanting, sitting meditation (Zazen), participant check-in, announcements, and a brief tea break. After this, Sensei Al will offer a dharma talk entitled “Being with Another’s Suffering: Empathy’s Edge.”

 

If this is your first time to join us, we meet at Tucson Community Meditation Center (TCMC), 1231 E. Edison St., one block south of Grant, just west of Mountain, on the north side of the street. We meet the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month. There are plenty of zafus (meditation cushions) and chairs.

 

Parking reminder: It’s important to the future of TCMC to observe mindful parking by not parking on the same block as the Center and by leaving an empty parking space in front of the homes on the neighboring blocks. Please reserve TCMC driveway parking for people who cannot walk far.

 

Please help us to accommodate our members who are chemically sensitive to fragrances or other scented products. Thank you for not wearing perfume, aftershave, or similar products.

 

Also, please don’t forget to regularly check the Community Page of this Sangha Website for new announcements.

 

Thanks.

 

Roshi Norman Fischer “Continuous Practice” – Day-Long Tucson Zen Program

May 012025
 

Roshi Norman Fischer “Continuous Practice”Day-Long Tucson Zen Program

Saturday, May 17, 2025, 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (with 90 min. lunch break)
doors open at 8:30 am

University of Arizona (UA)
Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine (AWCIM), Cantor Building Auditorium, 1502 E Mabel St., Tucson, AZ

Surface parking is directly to the east of AWCIM, Lot 2147 (1231 N Cherry Ave, free on weekend).  Also, the Highland parking garage is to the West of AWCIM.


Due to the generous sponsorship of the following groups, there is NO FEE to attend.  Also, no registration required.  If you have any questions about the event, send a short note to tucsonupaya@gmail.com.

Sponsors: Upaya Zen Sangha of Tucson; Desert Rain Zen; Zen Desert Sangha; University of Arizona Center for Buddhist Studies; University of Arizona Poetry Center; POG Arts Tucson

Norman Fischer
Roshi Zoketsu Norman Fischer https://everydayzen.org/about/norman-fischer/ is a renowned poet and Zen Buddhist priest. For many years he has taught at the San Francisco Zen Center, the oldest and largest of the new Buddhist organizations in the West, where he served as Co-abbot from 1995-2000. He is presently a Senior Dharma Teacher there as well as the founder and spiritual director of the Everyday Zen Foundation, an organization dedicated to adapting Zen Buddhist teachings to Western culture. He is the author of numerous books on Zen, including What Is Zen: Plain Talk for a Beginner’s Mind, and When You Greet Me I Bow: Notes and Reflections from a Life in Zen (both by Shambhala Press) and many poetry collections. For more on his poetry and dharma publications, visit Norman Fischer Books.

Life, Part Two — Study Group

May 112022
 

Upaya Sangha of Tucson is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a four-session study group, focusing on reading and discussion of David Chernikoff’s new book, Life, Part Two: Seven Keys to Awakening with Purpose and Joy as You Age (2021, Boulder, CO: Shambhala Publications). The study group will meet from 10:00 – 11:30 am on Wednesdays, May 18, June 1, June 15, June 29. Meetings will be facilitated by Sensei Al Genkai Kaszniak, Ph.D. and Mary Ellen Beaurain, MSW.

The book is available from Shambhala Publications https://www.shambhala.com/authors/af/david-chernikoff.html, Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Life-Part-Two-AwakeningPurpose/dp/1611808618, other book sellers, or by request from your local library.

In order to participate in the study group meetings, please register by sending an email to tucsonupayasangha@gmail.com, with “Life, Part Two” in the subject line. There is no registration fee. Once registered, you will be emailed the Zoom link for the meetings, as well as a study guide, reading schedule, and discussion questions.

Winter-Spring 2022 Study Group: “Awareness” in Three Dharma Traditions

Nov 182021
 


Roshi Joan Halifax


Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Ajahn_Amaro

Upaya Sangha of Tucson Winter-Spring 2022 Study Group
“Awareness” in Three Dharma Traditions

January through May, 2022

From the early Buddhist teachings, on through later commentarial traditions, and into the present, what liberating awareness is and is not, is pointed out through a multiplicity of means. We will discuss “awareness” as taught by multiple practitioners representing three dharma lineages: Zen; Mahamudra; Theravada.

You will be completing a study guide in advance of each meeting. The talks will be provided to you in three formats: audio-video (via web links); audio (via web links); print (delivered by postal mail). Zen: Roshi Joan Halifax, Roshi Enkyo O’Hara, Sensei Kaz Tanahashi, Professor Steven Heine, Sensei Al Kaszniak. Mahamudra: Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Theravadin: Bhikkhu Analayo, Ajahn Amaro.

LOCATION: Whether we will meet at TCMC, masked with amplification, or meet via Zoom, is still undecided. If one of those venues is a deal breaker for you, please note this with your registration. If the unwanted venue is the one we choose, your check will be returned, with our regrets.

WHEN: 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM. Beginning on Thursday, January 13th, meeting the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of January through May.

REQUIREMENTS: A computer with an internet connection and an email address or a  cooperative friend with same.

FEE: $30.00 (the cost of materials, postage, and possible TCMC space use contribution). No one will be turned away due to inability to pay.

TO REGISTER: Mail a $30.00 check, made payable to Upaya Sangha, to Christine Johnson at 3900 N Sabino Canyon Rd., #3513, Tucson, AZ 85750-2137. With your check, include 1) your postal address 2) email address 3) telephone number.

DEADLINE TO REGISTER: Monday, December 27, 2o21

Monday to Friday Morning Online Zazen (Sitting Meditation) Sessions

Jul 062021
 

Upaya Sangha of Tucson is now offering Monday through Friday online morning (6:30– 7:00am) group Zazen (sitting meditation) sessions via Zoom. Rev. Lynda Jinchi Zwinger, is generously volunteering to host and guide these sessions. Saturday mornings are regular weekly sangha meetings, and Sunday is a “personal practice day,” with no online meditation session. Click on the Web address below to join any of these Monday through Friday sessions. Also note that Upaya Zen Center provides free online streaming daily meditation sessions https://www.upaya.org/events/

 

 

Daily Upaya Sangha Zazen Schedule

6:30-7:000 am Morning Sit
 As always, you are welcome to join (and leave) at any time.

Winter-Spring 2021 Study Group: The Island: An Anthology of the Buddha’s Teachings on Nibbana

Dec 222020
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Ajahn_Amaro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Ajahn_Pasanno

Upaya Sangha of Tucson Winter-Spring 2021 Study Group
The Island:  An Anthology of the Buddha’s Teachings on Nibbana

Ajahn Pasanno & Ajahn Amaro
January through April, 2021

In this eight-week course, we will study selected chapters from The Island: An Anthology of the Buddha’s Teachings on Nibbana with commentary on the text offered by Ajahn Amaro in 2017. We will meet on Zoom, January through April on the 2nd and 4th Thursday mornings, from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM.

In addition to the Pali Canon, the authors draw on the words of contemporary adepts, verses from classical literature, and texts of
Northern Buddhism, making the Buddha’s instructions on liberation accessible to careful readers.

Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Pasanno’s lucid and evocative commentaries are characterized by Ajahn Sumedho as “…pointing to nibbana, pointing out that nibbana is a reality that each one of us can know for ourselves – once we recognize non-attachment, once we realize the reality of non-grasping.”

This course will engage those of you who have a solid grasp of the fundamentals of the dharma. Prior to our meetings, following on your having completed the reading, you will then listen to Ajahn Amaro’s commentary and complete a study guide addressing points both from The Island and the commentary.

Audio of the lectures will be provided to you on a disc or you may listen to the lectures online.

REQUIREMENTS:  A copy of The Island: An Anthology of the Buddha’s Teachings on Nibbana; a computer and email address or a cooperative friend with same.

TO REGISTER: Mail a $25.00 check, made payable to TCMC, to Christine Johnson at 3900 N Sabino Canyon Rd., #3513, Tucson, AZ 85750-2137.

Include, in addition to your name, your postal address, email address & telephone number.

DEADLINE TO REGISTER:  January 1, 2021

WHEN:  10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
The 2nd and 4th Thursdays of: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., 2021.

REQUESTED DONATION: $25.00 which is to be offered to TCMC to offset ongoing operating expenses. No one will be turned away due to inability to pay.

CONTACT: Christine Johnson;  johnson-manz@comcast.net;  520-207-8718

Guest Teacher – Roshi Norman Fischer, December 12, 2020

Nov 272020
 

Dear Friends,

We will be holding a special Upaya Sangha of Tucson Meeting from 10:00 am – noon on Saturday, December 12th, with Roshi Norman Fischer as our guest teacher. This sangha meeting will be held online, via Zoom. If you are already on the sangha listserv, you will be sent a reminder of this meeting, containing the Zoom connection information. If you are not on our listserv, and would like to receive the reminders, please go to the “Contact Us” page of this website to send a request to be added to the listserv.

Also, please don’t forget to regularly check the Community Page of this Sangha Website for new announcements.

Thanks.

Fall-Winter, 2020 Study Group: Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong

Jul 152020
 

Norman Fischer

Norman Fischer

Upaya Sangha of Tucson
Fall-Winter, 2020 Study Group

Training in Compassion:
Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong

by Norman Fischer
www.normanfischer.org

Norman Fischer offers both Illuminating commentary and pithy counsel on bringing greed, aversion and ignorance to the path through ‘Lojong’. Lojong, or mind training, originated with the Bengali practitioner Atiśa Dīpankara Śrījñāna. (982–1054). Fischer’s commentary applies Zen wisdom to this training for anyone who wishes to be focused rather than scattered, generous rather than stingy, and kind rather than thoughtless.

We will be meeting in eight sessions, 10:00 to 11:30 AM, the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of September, October,
November & December via Zoom.

Intending to minimize the impediments of teleconferencing, making this platform work for us, we will be departing from our prior study group format; the discussion will be actively facilitated. The intention is to enjoy fruitful conversations by our each taking responsibility for cultivating the caring communication practices well defned in ‘Insight Dialogue’.

Before our frst meeting on September 3rd listen to Gregory Kramer’s lectures on Insight Dialogue principals (Pause; Relax; Open; Trust Emergence; Listen Deeply; Speak the Truth) at: www.gregorykramer.org/insight-dialogue/


REQUIREMENTS: Copy of Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong; a computer and an email address or friend with same.

WHEN: 1st & 3rd Thursdays of September, October, November, December; 10:00 – 11:30 AM
A Zoom link will be provided prior to each meeting.

COST: $25.00 check, payable to TCMC , which is to go towards TCMC overhead..  No one will be turned away due to inability to pay.

REGISTRATION: Mail a $25.00 check, made payable to TCMC, to Christine Johnson at 3900 N Sabino Canyon., #3513; Tucson, AZ 85750. Include, in addition to your name, your email address & telephone number.

DEADLINE: Friday, August 14, 2020

CONTACT: Christine Johnson; johnson-manz@comcast.net; 520-207-8718 (no text), 520-245-0296 (voice/no text).

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