“Meditation is not about achieving anything at all. It is peace itself. It is the actualization of wisdom, the ultimate truth of the oneness of all things.“
“Great is the matter of birth and death. All is impermanent, quickly passing. Wake up! Wake up, each one! Don’t waste this life.”
Dogen Zenji 道元禅師, founder of the Soto School of Zen Buddhism (1200-1253).
“There is nothing spooky about mindfulness. It is simply a state of clear, nonjudgmental, and undistracted attention to the content of our consciousness, whether pleasant or unpleasant. Cultivating this quality of mind has been shown to reduce pain, anxiety, and depression, [and] improve cognitive function . . .”.
Sam Harris. (2014). Waking up: A guide to spirituality without religion, 35.
“Mindfulness is the energy that allows us to recognize our habit energy and prevent it from dominating us.”
Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022). In: (1999). The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, 25.
Peter (Daishin) Renner
DiplCouns MEd EdD
I guide weekly meditation groups on zoom from Victoria, BC: everyone’s welcome, regardless of previous experience. Regular participants join from Northern Ireland, Spain, Mexico, Massachusetts, California, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. I also assist twice weekly with ‘Sanity Sits’ with the Dekeling Community of Portland, OR. From time to time I sit with beings near the end of life and officiate at interment of cremains.
My background includes teaching in community and corporate classrooms, graduate studies in counselling, adult education, and educational leadership; residential training at Zen Mountain Monastery and Great Vow Zen Monastery, schooling in end-of-life spiritual care, basic mindfulness training with Jon Kabat-Zinn . . . culminating in hospice work, meditation circles for cancer patients, support groups for caregivers, and volunteering in palliative and elder care.
Over the last 30 years this practice has been nurtured by direct teachings by Satish Kumar, S.N. Goenka, Cynthia Bourgeault, Chozen Bays and Hogen Bays, Norman Fischer, the writing of Carl Rogers, Parker J. Palmer, and Frank Ostaseskias well as online teachings by Jack Kornfield, Ajahn Brahm, Ven Canda, and Lama Lekshe. bow in gratitude for their wisdom and generosity.
My life vow to be of service is grounded in “The Way of the Bodhisattva” by the 8th century monk-scholar Shantideva. Here’s a key verse —
May I be a bridge, a boat, and a ship
For all who wish to cross [the water].
May I be an island for those who seek one
And a lamp for those desiring light.
