Ready To Go

At right is your humble scribe and all his gear. Note how light he travels. Counterclockwise from the bottom left are (1) the laptop bag, a traveling office with everything he needs to stay connected to blog readers and the folks at home; (2) the camera bag, containing both the DSLR with which most of the still photos will be shot, and the tiny video camera (not pictured) for dharma talks and such; finally, (3) the suitcase, which is crammed with Power Bars and clean underwear. (Just kidding about the Power Bars.)

VIDEO: With what mind will you travel to Europe?

This link comes from Barry Briggs' blog, Ox Herding (highly recommended). ZM Dae Kwang's comments are very appropriate to the upcoming trip, especially the statement, "Meditation is no different than your everyday life, moment to moment."

Keeping moment-to-moment mind is tricky in the midst of preparations for (and excitement about) the trip, which is now just four days away.

Itinerary

Here is a "bare bones" outline of ZMBH's itinerary. All dharmas are empty, so everything is subject to change.

Wed., June 1

Depart Boston for NYC
Depart NYC for Barcelona

Thurs., June 2

Arrive Barcelona, resting, sightseeing (optimistic!)
Evening practice at the ZC
Dinner with the sangha

 Fri., June 3

Sightseeing in Barcelona
Public Dharma talk 8:00 PM

Sat., June 4

Flight from Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca
Public Dharma talk 8:30 PM

Sun. June 5

Morning practice with Kong An Interviews
Sightseeing during the day
Sunset at Valdemossa (gorgeous--Google it!)

Mon. June 6

Depart Mallorca
Arrive Warsaw--lunch, sightseeing in Warsaw Old Town
Public Dharma talk 7 PM at Head Temple Do Am Sah

Tues., June 7

Morning practice at Do Am Sah
Departure in afternoon to Lodz
Mid-afternoon dinner with Lodz sangha, sightseeing to follow
Public Dharma talk 6 PM at Lodz ZC
Late supper with sangha at Lodz ZC

 Wed., June 8

Morning practice with Kong An interviews
Breakfast with sangha
Sitting practice
Departure to Krakow

Thurs., June 9

[Morning schedule in Krakow TBA]
Evening flight to Berlin

Fri., June 10-Sun., June 12

Yong Maeng Jong Jin
(will end in time to make evening flight to Vienna on Sunday)

Sun., June 12

Arrive Vienna 

Mon., June 13

1-day YMJJ

Tues., June 14

Morning together action & sightseeing
Afternoon departure from Vienna
Arrive in Brno (Czech Republic)
Evening Dharma talk 
Garden Party with Brno sangha!

 Wed., June 15

Morning together action & sightseeing
Afternoon train to Bratislava (Slovakia)
Public Dharma talk 7 PM

Thurs., June 16

Morning together action & sightseeing
Afternoon depart by train for Sturovo (Slovakia)
Evening--begin 3-day YMJJ at Won Kwang Sa temple

Fri. June 17-Sun., June 19

YMJJ

Mon., June 20

Drive to Budapest airport
Depart Budapest for Israel
Afternoon arrive Tel Aviv
Drive to Haifa
Practice & Dharma talk at Haifa Zen Group

Tues., June 21

Sightseeing
Evening practice and Dharma talk at Ramat Gan ZC

Wed., June 22-Thurs., June 23

[Schedule TBA]

Fri., June 24

PM departure from Tel Aviv
Arrive Boston sometime after that, exhausted but happy!

"Together Action In Today's World"

That is the official title of ZMBH's tour.

Title? Does a trip need a title?

Well, more like a theme. The three (or four, or five--not sure how many) of us who are coming along will travel together, practice together, stay together (more or less--accommodations are still in "don't know" mode). Jo Potter will join us in Barcelona on June 3.

We will be meeting literally hundreds of people, both new Zen students and seasoned practitioners. Many of them will not be able to speak our language, nor we theirs. Some of our ancestors actually fought wars against some of theirs.


From the official web site of the 2011 Whole World is a Single Flower Conference:

Two thousand five hundred years ago on Vulture Peak in India, the Buddha picked up a lotus flower and demonstrated universal truth. 

At the end of World War II, Zen Master Man Gong took a petal from the leaf of the Korean national flower, dipped it in ink, and wrote a rough calligraphy that read: "The Whole World is a Single Flower."

This means equality, harmony and peace. It means that you and I, the sun and moon, earth and sky, air and water, are fundamentally not separate or different. We each have the same root.

It was the great hope of Zen Master Man Gong that all human beings return to this common root, our original substance, and from the root, a single beautiful world flower of equality, harmony, and peace might again appear.

Zen Master Seung Sahn founded the Whole World is a Single Flower (WWSF) conference as a way to bring people from many different countries and traditions together in the spirit of unity and harmony.

How appropriate that this trip should take place in the months leading up to the 2008 WWSF conference (beginning October 16).

VIDEO: Getting Ready to Leave

Map of the cities on the tour

Here are the cities we will be visiting on the tour. Click where it says "ZMBH European Tour" in blue (below) to embiggenate!


View ZMBH European Tour in a larger map