Retreat Schedule: Monday-Thursday, Oct 6-9
Full fathom five thy father lies;
of his bones are coral made
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade
But suffer a sea-‐change,
Into something rich and strange
Sea nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding dong…
–Wm Shakespeare, The Tempest as quoted by Michael Taussig in “Pearls,” Simryn Gill
“I didn’t know I couldn’t do it, so I did it.”
Bre Pettis, MakerBot CEO, as quoted in The
Evergreen State College Magazine
[W]hen I no longer strive to make myself real through things, I find myself “actualized”
by them, says Dogen. What we fear as nothingness is not really nothingness, for that is
the perspective of a sense-‐of-‐self anxious about losing its grip on itself. Letting go of
myself and merging with that nothingness leads to something else: when consciousness
stops trying to catch its own tail, I become nothing, and discover that I am everything -‐-‐
or, more precisely, that I can be anything.
–Dogen as interpreted by David Loy in “Indra’s Postmodern Net”
Monday
9:15 Arrive and pack vans: TESC, front of C Lot
9:30 Depart TESC. Bring and eat sack lunch during drive. Up to 30 minute stop for
field study based on a gracious walk through the first floor lobbies of the Tulalip
Resort Casino, (10200 Quil Ceda Blvd, Marysville. Visit the Resort Casino, which is north of the
regular casino complex) . Pay attention to the making of meaning from these materials:
water, cedar, light, bone, shells, and plastic.
1:00 Arrive Environmental Learning Center, Mini Camp Recreation Center, Cornet
Bay, Deception Pass State Park (41020 SR 20, Oak Harbor, WA 98277; Tel 360 675 3767).
Select cabin, unpack, set up kitchen and rec hall.
1:30 Welcome and orientation
2-‐3:30 Nature Meditation with David Loy (http://www.davidloy.org/)
4-‐5:30 Seminar on Michael Taussig’s “Pearls” from Simryn Gill (PDF on program website
https://sites.evergreen.edu/making/)
6-‐7:00 Dinner
7:30-‐8:00 “The Pearls of Indra’s Net,” Café conversations facilitated by program
faculty
8-‐9:00 Guest lecture by David Loy
9-‐9:30 Zazen practice
Tuesday
7:30-‐8:30 Zazen Practice
8:30-‐9:30 Breakfast
9:30-‐10:00 Koan Practice: “Where do ideas come from? From what do ideas arise?”
10-‐12:00 Maker Workshop: Eyes to Pearls, Words to Beads (Bring a book of high
symbolic meaning and low economic value for bead making)
12-‐1:00 Lunch
1-‐4:30 Maker Workshop Cont.
4:30-‐5:30 Nature Meditation
5:30-‐6:30 Dinner
7-‐9:00 “Makers of Sea-‐Change Rich and Strange: Conversations with David Loy and
Chuck Pettis,” ELC Lodge with TESC’s program Between Land and Sea: Observations
on Biological and Cultural Change and TESC Alumni.
9-‐9:30 Zazen Practice
Wednesday
7:30-‐8:30 Zazen Practice
8:30-‐9:30 Breakfast and pack lunch
10:00 Depart for south Whidbey Island workshops at Earth Sanctuary and Tahoma
One Drop Zen Center. Bring sack lunch. (EA: 2059 Newman Rd; Zen: 6499 Wahl Rd)
5:00 Depart south Whidbey Island for Deception Pass or stay for evening talk by
David Loy at Tahoma One Drop Zen Center (10 students only). Preparatory reading
for optional evening talk: “Why Buddhism and the Modern World Need Each Other”
(Under “Articles” at http://www.davidloy.org/articles.html )
6:30-‐7:30 Dinner
7:30-‐9:30 Film Screening: Scholars’ Commentary on Julie Taymor’s The Tempest
9:30 Campfire
Thursday
7:30-‐8:30 Zazen Practice
8:30-‐9:30 Breakfast and pack lunch
9:30-‐10 Pack, load vans, clean
10-‐11:00 Depart and drive to Tulalip Tribes Hibulb Cultural Center (6410 23rd Ave NE,
Tulalip, WA 98271; Tel 360 716 2600)
11-‐1:00 Hibulb Cultural Center. Field study: nets of transformation, mirroring and
making re: jewels of ideas, texts, images, objects
1-‐3:00 Drive from Hibulb Cultural Center to TESC
3:00 Arrive TESC, front of C Lot: unpack, clean, and return vans
Recommended Thursday Evening Event:
7:30 Ruth Ozeki at the SPSCC Artist and Lecture Series, $8, Minnaert Center, Main
Stage http://www.spscc.ctc.edu/news/2014/09/09/ruth-‐ozeki-‐to-‐lead-‐off-‐2014-‐
15-‐spscc-‐artist-‐and-‐lecture-‐series
We plan to use Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being in our program winter
quarter.