Don’t you know the poems of Han-shan?
They’re better for you than scripture-reading.
Cut them out and paste them on a screen,
Then you can gaze at them from time to time.
– Han Shan (China, 9th Century)
Course Details
How can reading and writing poetry illuminate and uplift our Dharma practice? How does Dharma practice give rise to expressions of poetry? How can both poetry and Zen offer new and refreshed ways of seeing the world around us?
Poetry has been a means of expression for Zen practitioners for centuries, as well as a way of teaching the Dharma. In a tradition that aspires to go beyond the words and norms of ordinary language, the forms and eloquence of poetry have helped generations of Zen students to illuminate the path of practice.
Over this six-week course, we will encounter the ancient poetry of Buddhist practitioners in China and Japan, as well as the work of contemporary poets from around the world today.
During each class, we will read poetry along themes of Nature, Perception, Not-Knowing, the Everyday, and we will also experiment with writing through structured exercises. Additional reading and optional writing assignments will be offered between classes, and participants of the class will have the opportunity to share their work with the class if they so wish.
This class is suitable for those approaching the reading and writing of poetry for the first time, as well as for people more familiar with reading and writing poetry, who might already have a writing practice in place.
Anyone hoping to establish or re-ignite a regular poetry-writing practice in conjunction with their meditation practice, might find this course a useful starting point.
The winds have died, but flowers go on falling;
birds call, but silence penetrates each song.
The Mystery! Unknowable, unlearnable.
The virtue of Kannon.
— Taigu Ryokan (Japan, 1758–1831)
That great calm being,
this clutter of soup pots and books—
Already the first branch-tips brush at the window.
Softly, calmly, immensity taps at your life.
—from “Tree” by Jane Hirshfield (USA, b. 1953)
Status
Enrollment is now open.
Course dates:
Nov 16
Nov 23
Nov 30
Dec 7
Dec 14
Dec 21
Course timing:
Mondays:
9am – 11am (PT)
12pm – 2pm (ET)
5pm – 7pm (UK and Ireland)
6pm – 8pm (Central Europe)
Pricing
See San Francisco Zen Center sign up page for fee information
Group size
Open
How to Sign Up
Sign up through the San Francisco Zen Center’s website
Instructor
Koji Vanessa Able is a priest and novice teacher in the Soto Zen tradition. She is the leader of the online Introduction to Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at the Sati Center and teaches the Anukampa Practice Program alongside Gil Fronsdal. For many years, Vanessa wrote for the New York Times, Esquire and National Geographic Traveler magazines, as well as working as the Editor in Chief for Time Out Istanbul magazine. She now continues to connect with her love of poetry and prose through the website The Dewdrop, which she founded in 2018. Vanessa is the author of the book Never Mind the Bullocks. She lives in southern France with her family where she facilitates Zen practice at Matsu Do Zendo.