When Buddhism entered China around the first century, it entwined with Taoism and Confucianism, together they weaved the fabrics of Chinese culture and the texture of everyday life.  Along with a reverence for nature, Buddhist insights of impermanence and equanimity flowed into Chinese poetry, giving voice to renunciation and quiet joy. Across centuries, poets from all walks of life—court officials and recluses, the successful and the dispossessed—turned to Buddhist wisdom to navigate uncertainty and flow of life. Some found grace after loss; others withdrew from fame and power, discovering contentment in simplicity and the ordinary rhythms of life. Their poems speak not only of mountains and moonlight, but of resilience, equanimity, and inner freedom—questions as alive today as they were a thousand years ago. What do these poems offer us today? How do we find peace and joy in a noisy world? Besides achievement and success, what kind of life leads to contentment?  In this evening of reflection, we will read Buddhist-inspired poetry across dynasties and poets, meditate, and let insights arise.  Lin Wang Gordon, …

In the classical teachings on mindfulness, we are instructed to contemplate the four elements—earth, fire, water, and air—as a foundation of our spiritual practice. Not confined to Buddhism, elements are acknowledged and celebrated in practically every wisdom tradition on Earth. As basic metaphors for reality, they point to the profound unity of all life having emerged from the same source. It’s elemental! This oft-overlooked method of experiencing the inherent interconnection of everything can be cultivated by anyone. Through simple embodied awareness, we quickly learn to sense the quality and meaning of each element within and around us: earth as a sense of stability, water as fluid and transmutable, fire as the truth of impermanence, and air as our ephemeral interconnectedness to all of life. Adding in the fifth element of ether, we can consciously invite the sense of wonder and awe that arises when we open to the mystery of being alive. In this retreat, you will engage in: Awaken the embodied wisdom of your elemental connection to the web of life. This workshop is …