Zen teacher John Tarrant recently taught a retreat at the Garrison Institute on koans—teaching stories traditionally reserved for advanced Zen students—and creativity. Before the retreat started, Tarrant spoke with Garrison Institute Retreats Director Jane Kolleeny about how creative pursuits can support our contemplative practices. Tarrant is the author of Bring Me the Rhinoceros and The Light Inside the Dark and…
On November 3-6, 2016, the Garrison Institute and the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care (NYZCCC) are hosting the third Buddhist Contemplative Care Symposium. This groundbreaking gathering encourages leading researchers, physicians, nurses, social workers, spiritual care providers and patient advocates to learn the tools and gain the insight to provide the most effective palliative and end-of-life care possible. The…
I have a little theory about enlightenment. If you were all alone in an alternate universe (population: you), you could get enlightened quickly, if you set your intention. Your life would be greatly simplified. There would be no border disputes, no angry divorces, no revenge narratives starring Clint Eastwood. Facebook would be extremely boring, with a total of 0 friends…
Every Tuesday in June through September, Friends of the High Line offers a meditation class on the High Line in New York City from 8am to 9am. This morning’s class was led by John McIlwain, Director of the Garrison Institute’s Climate, Mind and Behavior program. “Every tradition emphasizes the importance of practicing meditation on a daily basis,” McIlwain said. “But…
The Mind & Life Institute continues the tradition of hosting its signature program, the annual Mind and Life Summer Research Institute (MLSRI) at the Garrison Institute every year in mid-June. Over the course of a week, a community coalesces. In a rich and intimate retreat-like setting, together we dive deeply into a theme related to contemplative studies. With a broad…
Join John Tarrant at “Imagine a Doorway: The Creative Life and Meditation,” on September 16-18. Click here for info and to register. Every creature alive has an interest in getting out of the cage, prison, or golden palace where their idea of themselves was formed and meditation is essentially an escape art. My earliest memories are of learning how to…
The Franciscan contemplative Richard Rohr wrote that “contemplation is a long, loving look at what really is.” This orientation is powerfully countercultural. Forces – human, cultural, technological – make it difficult to adopt this contemplative stance; one must often stand outside of cultural norms to do so. The first challenge is with the word “long.” Rohr means sustained, deep, and…
The 2016 Mind and Life Summer Research Institute started on Saturday at the Garrison Institute and this year’s theme is People, Place, and Practice: Putting Contemplative Studies into Context. From mindandlife.org: As we are well aware, practices that were once embedded within traditional religious cultures are now being widely disseminated across a variety of globalized, largely secular settings. Contextual factors…