Practicing Meditation Through Sacred Texts and Prayers

I was introduced to the dharma when I was already a rabbi and a student of Jewish prayer and sacred text. From the beginning, when I received instructions or wisdom teachings from the Buddha dharma, I found myself doing a simulcast into the language that I knew so well, Jewish prayer and Torah. Over the years I have experimented with framing meditation instructions, dharma teachings, guided meditation and movement using verses, whole psalms and liturgical poems. I have found that the ancient Jewish texts come alive and can be seen through the lens of the dharma. I have discovered that moving text into a contemplative-practice mode allows the words and ideas that might be obscure, ignored or abstract to be received as a repository of deep meaning and awakening.  This workshop will offer a sample of these experiments. I will share some of my writing and framing and invite the participants to take the words into their own experience for the sake of settling the mind and body and engaging in a contemplative inquiry.