Heart Center Community News

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Current teachings + happenings.

Teachings and practices are curated per what is relevant to the community, state of the world, month, season and more. Scroll to read what is current, scroll down to subscribe to receive monthly updates in your inbox. A full archive can be found beneath the current wisdom teachings. Enjoy!

December News

Dear ones,

This year we oriented our study of the spiritual path, through the lens of Zen Buddhism, with the 10 Ox-herding images and their corresponding verses. Zen fully embraces the paradox of enlightenment. There is a felt truth in saying that we are both always already enlightened and in need of effort and dedication to realize our enlightenment. In this way, awakening is seen, on one hand, as the most dynamic and transformative experience, and on the other, as the most ordinary transmission of life.

Instead of trying to untangle these paradoxes intellectually, Zen tends to navigate them through the use of story and image. Brilliant in how the potency of the teachings are given breath to shine through artistic expression. Here we are given the opportunity to chew, swallow and digest that which is beyond logical thinking. The message cuts through to the point: becoming is a naturally unfolding experience. It's verified through our bodies as a deep wash of feels, textures, knowns and unknowns.

In exploring these images and verses month by month together, it gave us context by way of a map that we could orient ourselves on our own paths of awakening. Through satsang - sitting, sharing and practicing - we came to understand firsthand that while there are similarities, and human patterns that we can more universally identify, no two paths are exactly the same and one is not better than the other.

Across many traditions we find examples of these guides or maps. What I've come to appreciate about this particular approach is that while at first glance it appears to be linear, the reader can appreciate the pieces out of sequence which helps us to keep top of mind that one's path is anything but predictable, straight and narrow. Life wanders; it skips around, takes backward steps, falls away, and suddenly reappears without warning.

We came together over 12 months with a desire to go deeper instead of wider. We prioritized vulnerability through shared personal stories, bringing the text to life and into the current state of things. It was honest, awe-inspiring and brilliant. We brought both roots and limbs to the dharma.

T.S. Eliot captures the essence of these texts with these verses: We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time.

The final fruit of enlightenment is us. A simple human life, free of all pretense, all striving, all repression, compulsion, and anxiety. A simple human life, fully present to the wonder of existence. A simple human life that transmits byway of the harmony of one’s whole being. It is the gift we arrive with as children, and the dream we pursue all of our adult lives. I have witnessed in myself and in others the moments where we become again like children. We are no longer teaching anything, and yet everyone around us grows wiser. The dharma emanates through us, as us.

In oneness,

Meg Lucks

El Getsu Endō | "Brilliant Moon, Way of the Circle"

Lay-Ordained Dharma Companion

The Heart Revival Center

PS - one last note to extend utmost gratitude to our community, near and far. To our space-holders and Heart-Center-keepers that make this possible. So grateful! We are approaching our 8th year in the Heart space on Packard - our official birthday is April 22nd, 2026! To keep the momentum of our compassionate community, folks can anticipate seeing some shifts to the day-to-day flow of Heart Center in an effort to create even more efficiency and sustainability. We welcome you all to join in our discussions and good work toward taking Heart into her next phase of evolution!

Past Newsies:

December 2025: Returning to the Marketplace

November 2025: Returning to Source

October 2025: Transcending the Ox

September 2025: Forgetting the Ox

August 2025: Riding the Ox

July 2025: Taming the Ox

June 2025: Catching the Ox

May 2025: Seeing the Ox

April 2025: Finding Traces of the Ox

March 2025: Searching for the Ox

February 2025: The Way Seeking Path

January 2025: Joy as the Path

In January of 2025 we set a broader intention - may our lightness lift the world, as we prioritize our responsibility to one another. In February we direct our attention through that intention. We might ask, do I feel prepared, resourced and supported in this work? Where am I experiencing doubt? How can I rouse faith and determination to gracefully live awake with the unfolding?

This year I am hoping to support your/ our work on the path by coming together to study and practice thoughtfully via a specific teaching series called the 10 Ox-Herding Pictures (scroll down to see them at the close of this letter) and their corresponding ancient poetry. These pictures, from the Zen tradition, serve as a map (one of many) designed to support students on the path of enlightenment. It's also worth noting that within every spiritual tradition there are accounts of seeking and corresponding maps with guideposts that are strikingly similar. We could say that the way seeking path is universal - it's human.

In the case of the Ox-Herding "map", each of the 10 guideposts come alive through an ink drawing and a corresponding short verse that is meant to represent the common struggles and turning points that we encounter as practitioners living in the (conditioned) world. The ox represents what can be called the true self or anattaa (non-self). The ox-herder represents each of us as practitioners. The images tell the story of a practitioner’s journey towards greater connection, peace and the ultimate acceptance of reality. Together the pictures and the verses can broaden our awareness of the nature of the path to awakening with all its challenges (perils) and benefits (pearls).

The pictures and verses follow a specific sequencing, of which we will look at a different set each month, beginning in March. The first week of the month we will look at the picture and verse. During the subsequent weeks of the month, we will explore the teachings in greater detail. On the last week, we invite you to bring and share your personal insights with the community. With hope, the combined teachings, safe space for practice and community interaction will allow us to participate more directly in our evolution, perhaps bringing to light some of our habit patterns and habitual states of mind that keep us stuck. Your freedom and lightness will lift the world for we are the world!

December 2024: Equanimity

November 2024: Empathic Joy

October 2024: Compassion

September 2024: Brahmavihara, Loving Kindness

August 2024: Being Upright

July 2024: Rhythm + Repose

June 2024: Intimacy

May 2024: Vulnerability

April 2024: The Art of Mindfulness

March 2024: The Eightfold Path

February 2024: Enlightened Society

January 2024: This Meaningful Life