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A quiet place for practice and study of
Contemplation,
Zen & Engaged Service
silence, presence, service, solitude, prayer, sanctuary
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The geese do not wish to leave
their reflection behind; The water has no mind to retain their image.
{or} Coming, going, the waterfowl / Leaves not a trace, / Nor does
it need a guide. (Dogen Zenji, 1200-1253)
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Contemplation is…a terrible breaking
and burning of idols, a purification in the sanctuary, so that no
graven thing may occupy the place that God has commanded to be left
empty: the center, the existential altar which simply “is.” (Thomas
Merton, 1915-1968)
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All praise be yours, my Lord,
through those who grant pardon / For love of you; through those
who endure / sickness and trial. // Happy are those who endure in
peace, / By you, Most High, they will be crowned. (St. Francis of
Assisi, 1181-1226)
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MEETINGBROOK
Meetingbrook consists of two locations -- the Bookshop &
Bakery at the harbor intown Camden, and the Dogen
& Francis Hermitage at Ragged Mountain in Camden four miles
out at the Snow Bowl.
The name "Meetingbrook" comes from the spot up
from our farmhouse and barn where a mountain brook that had separated
into two around an island of land returns to itself before continuing
its flow.
Two remarkable individuals -- Dogen (1200-1253) a Buddhist
Zen Master of Japan, and Francis (1181-1226) a Christian Contemplative
Saint of Assisi -- serve as models of integration, wise simplicity, and
compassionate service.
Morning Silent Sittings: At
the hermitage we have Silent Sittings seven (7) mornings a week,
6:05am-6:45am.
Morning Psalms or Heart Sutra & walking meditation usually follow. The
Hermitage is located just past Snow Bowl, white gate, red farm house
with
attached barn, “64 Meetingbrook” on mailbox. For sittings use house door:
enter in silence, sit in silence, leave in silence. Bell begins &
ends sitting. All welcome.
Sunday Evening Practice: At
the hermitage Sunday Evening Practice consists of 40 minute silent
sitting, followed by walking meditation, then chanting, a short reading,
soup and bread eaten in mindfulness, and chanting. This practice
happens
from 6pm-8pm. All welcome.
All events at Meetingbrook are free,
open, and informal.
Background:
The Hermitage began as a personal place of practice shortly after moving
to Camden in 1992. When we opened the Bookshop & Bakery (29June1996)
we began morning silent sittings at the shop. These continued there for
three years, when (17-19March1999) they moved to the Barnestown
Road property, now Dogen & Francis Hermitage. In July/98 the Hermitage
was established as a non-profit organization in Maine, and in Sept/99
the Internal revenue Service of Department of the Treasury approved Meetingbrook
Hermitage as a 501(c)(3) tax deductible, tax-exempt organization. In
Dec/98 we took initial promises of Contemplation, Conversation, and Correspondence,
engaging in a new form of lay monastic practice. Encouraged by the ideas
found in the Hebrew Prophets, Buddhist, and Christian Writings,
we quietly inquire into what it means to be (m.o.n.o.) monastics of no
other.
Barnestown Road: After many discussions
with friends of Meetingbrook, the
decision was taken to start where we are, to remain at 64 Barnestown Rd.,
draw plans of design and implementation to utilize our barn, rebuild addition
between house and barn, build chapel/zendo and solitude huts, and begin
quietly. Our neighbor’s property of 2.7acres has been discussed with her
and she is willing to give us first option to purchase. If and when we
are able to raise that money, we will move toward adding that to our existing
2.6acres, both contiguous to Ragged Mtn. and Snow Bowl, across from Bald
Mtn. That land would serve to further invite others into silence, solitude
and sanctuary. We wait to see how this will come about.
We invite you to join us in the
ongoing creation of Meetingbrook Dogen & Francis
Hermitage. First and foremost the invitation is to find for yourself
the inner hermitage of your heart, and dwell there prayerfully and mindfully;
and then to carry that practice into the marketplace of community and
neighborhood.
We invite you into a new forum for the
practice of Contemplative Prayer and Zen Meditation. This forum, (for
us) this place coming to be at Ragged Mountain’s Snow Bowl near Hosmer
Pond, will encourage the side by side practice of these two rich Christian
and Buddhist traditions: (1) Contemplative Prayer, and, (2) Zen Meditation.
Both practice silent sitting, a listening heart, stilling the mind, aware
movement, and simple receptive attention. Both engage the practitioner
in direct intuitive looking. Both practices invite the individual to look
deeply and listen carefully to the Sacred and the Ordinary in their lives.
This way of life is a quiet way. By embodying the practice of presence,
compassionate attention, and direct immediate experience, we face a silent
and sacred sharing of Christ-mind & Buddha-mind, Christ-life &
Buddha-life. This practice integrates persons, divine presence, all sentient
beings, whole nature, & creation itself.
Meetingbrook Dogen & Francis
Hermitage intends to serve a loosely knit association of individuals
who travel the meditative & contemplative road from dependence to
independence to interdependence in their spiritual lives. Providing a
forum and place for solitaries, hermits, seekers & contemplatives,
the hermitage invites anyone interested in silence, simplicity, stillness,
or times of solitude to deepen their spiritual life in their own locations,
and, by day visits, writing, overnight stays, individual and group sitting,
listening & learning -- to experience Meetingbrook.
We ask your help in creating this forum
and place. The Hermitage is to be a resource for practitioners
who walk the pilgrimage between two worlds and are open to awakening spirit
and truth in root tradition and new creation.
We look toward two expressions for the Hermitage, water based & land
based, barn & boat. With the capacity for visiting at Camden Harbor,
sailing Penobscot Bay and hiking the trails of Ragged and Bald mountains,
the Hermitage will provide an opportunity to step apart and enter nature
and one's soul. Silence, prayer, or reflective conversation would prevail
in both places emphasizing eco-spirituality, personal meditation, retreat,
or silent mindfulness. Both resources are for solitude, silence, &
sanctuary.
Meetingbrook Hermitage,
barn and boat, serves as a community resource for individuals to deepen
their current spiritual life & explore anew the direction of their
spiritual journey. We will depend on free-will donations by those participating,
and the generosity of other benefactors. Our interest is to assist and
encourage the availability of meditative and contemplative opportunities.
As lay contemplatives interested in monastic
spirituality East/West, we are rooted in catholic contemplative tradition
& conjoin Judeo-Christian prayer and Buddhist Zen meditation. We continue
the study, practice, and engaged service flowing from them.
Think of us. Come visit. Let us hold each other in heart, thought, &
prayer! In Peace,
Saskia Huising & Bill Halpin
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