Norman Fischer

Based on Norman's book "Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong,” the theme of this afternoon workshop is training the heart to reduce self-centeredness (which is so painful!) and increase  compassion.We will practice guided meditations, contemplate teachings, and engage in discussion and imaginative exercises designed to bring the material home to the particularity of our lives today.

About Norman Fischer
Norman Fischer is a Zen Buddhist priest. A former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, he is the founder and teacher of the Everyday Zen Foundation, a network of spiritual communities and projects. He is also co-founder, with the late Rabbi Alan Lew, of Makor Or, a Jewish meditation center in San Francisco. A graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Fischer began publishing poetry in the late 1970’s as part of a San Francisco Bay Area group of experimental writers. His books include Turn Left In Order To Go Right (O Books, 1989), Precisely The Point Being Made (O Books/Chax Press 1993), Jerusalem Moonlight (Clear Glass Publications, 1995), Success (Singing Horse Press, 2000), Slowly but Dearly (Chax Press, 2004), I Was Blown Back (Singing Horse Press 2005), Questions/Places/Voices/Seasons (Singing Horse 2009), Conflict (Chax 2012),  The Strugglers (Singing Horse, 2013), and Escape This Crazy Life of Tears: Japan 2010 (Tinfish Press, 2014).  His translation of the Hebrew psalms, Opening to You, published by Viking Compass in 2002, is widely read in both Jewish and Christian circles. His most recent prose works are Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer’s Odyssey to Navigate Life’s Perils and Pitfalls (Simon and Schuster 2008) and Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong (Shambhala 2013). Forthcoming from University of Alabama Press is Experience: Essays on Thinking, Writing, Language and Religion, and from Shambhala What Is Zen: Plain Talk for a Beginner’s Mind.  He lives in Muir Beach California with his wife Kathie, a biology teacher and expert scuba diver. They have two grown sons who live in Brooklyn. For more information about Norman Fischer, poetry, essays, talks, downloads, schedules see www.everydayzen.org.