Cultivating Spiritual Fortitude
Led By: Upayadhi
Saturday, May 20th, 2023
10 am - 1 pm EST
In person at New York Zendo Shobo-ji
223 East 67th Street
New York, NY 10065
Event Description:
We’re so grateful to be able to gather and have fun in person once again, so we’ve been organizing monthly weekend practice days in NYC as a chance to come together and practice in community. For this May NYC practice day, the theme will be Cultivating Spiritual Fortitude.
May is the month we celebrate the Buddha’s birth and awakening, a time to reflect upon the significance of these events for our world, and in the intimacy of our own lives. On this practice day, through meditation, a Dharma talk, embodied practice and ritual, we will bring attention to the Buddha’s teachings on fear, and draw courage from how he dealt with adversity and self-doubt. We will consider the role of radical imagination in our relationships to the historical Buddha and to our own Buddha-potential, as individuals and as a society…. Join us! –– and feel free to bring your fears along, for what promises to be a grounding and compassionate morning of practice in community.
Join us at the New York Zendo (223 E 67th St, New York, NY 10065) for a morning of meditation, discussion, ritual, and connecting with community, followed by lunch @ Le Botaniste UES, which serves 100% organic, plant-based food. You can find it at 833 Lexington Avenue (between 63rd & 64th St). After that, we’ll head to the Asian Art Collection at the Met.
This event is OPEN TO ALL—all are welcome. Join us as early as 9:40 am.
About the Leader:
Upayadhi began her journey in the Buddhadharma in 2004 at the London Buddhist Center in Bethnal Green. Over the years she has trained in a range of Buddhist contexts and traditions, but remains firmly rooted in the Triratna Buddhist Order, to which she was ordained in 2018. Professionally, her background is in leadership development, executive education and coaching. Following the wake-up call of the 2016 elections, Upayadhi entered Union Theological Seminary in New York, where as a seminarian she studied Buddhism and Interreligious Engagement. Her scholarship has focused on the 20th-century Dalit leader Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and his radical Buddhist imagination, which she places in conversation with Womanist and Black liberation theologies. She co-founded Awareness is Revolutionary, a collective of Buddhists committing to cultivating Beloved Community and accelerating racial literacy within a Dharmic framework. Upayadhi also teaches in secular contexts as a Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher, and has practiced as an interfaith chaplain in healthcare settings.
Registration:
Please complete the Google Form below.
Payment:
Suggested donation of $25-40.