To Zen or Not to Zen….That is the Question

I had an eerie feeling as we twisted and turned up the gravel road to the top of the mountain where the Southern Dharma Center is tucked away.  We were arriving for a five day silent retreat. So we thought.    Actually, we had no idea what we had signed up for.

But climbing up this isolated road, for some reason, I was already thinking about an escape plan.

Little did I know that this experience was about doing zazen (Japanese sitting meditation) for over eight hours a day. (Check out this video on zazen meditation). (more…)