UUC's Zen Group gathers in person and on Zoom each Tuesday and Friday from 10-noon to meditate, meet with Zen Teachers, and explore a Dharma text together. The group began its new book on Friday, choosing a text that addresses a world torn apart in the personal, social and ecological realms. Drop-in attendance is welcome.

Rubén Hábito, Filipino teacher, scholar, former Jesuit priest, and a prominent figure in the Buddhist-Christian dialogue, is the author of Healing Breath: Zen for Christians and Buddhists in a Wounded World. He approaches social activism as an urgent and healing practice, and offers Zen as a healing power.

Hábito calls us to engagement, starting with understanding and healing our own wounds before we can begin to address the ravages of war and far-reaching policies of violence. We are invited to learn not just more about Zen, but also how it resonates with Christ's teachings of healing and peace—a perspective that may seem at odds with the extremist version of Christianity that is so devastatingly prominent in the U.S. at present. 

As Janine Larsen, resident Zen priest and UUC Covenanted Community Minister notes, "Sincere interfaith dialogue can open paths of peace. May this book help us to see how our paths intertwine, that we may invite healing with every breath."

For more information on the UUC Zen group and its many opportunities to learn about the practice of Zen Buddhism and make connections with others interested in compassionate action for self and others, visit uuchurch.org/zen or come to any the Zoom or in-person practice times.