Zen Meditation and Christian Mysticism – Honora Zen Monastery – Zen Master – Zen Retreat – Switzerland
Zen & Christian Mysticism - From Heart to Heart!
Grüezi and welcome to your return to God, to the Father in Heaven! Whoever thinks correctly, the mind will surely lead him to God. The very small, unconventional, authentic and private Honora Zen Monastery in Switzerland is a place of stillness and abundance, allowing us to re-examine life and death wholeheartedly. Patriarchal Zen and Christian Mysticism unite to live a truly meaningful, responsible, and symbolic life.
Life & Death is the great matter, be awake because everything is transient and passes quickly, time waits for no one. A thousand paths lead to the gateless barrier; once through and you are free from life and death.
Our family tradition is to find “Church in one’s own mind and God in one’s self.” A traditional teaching of self-cultivation, long forgotten by many in the East (Zen) and long lost in the West (Mysticism). The living Word that heals my soul! The Turning-Word, the Logos!
The Phoenix must die, so it can rise again!
Dear Son, Dear Daughter;
Many are called a few are chosen! It is not the path of convenience but the path of Sacrifice, Courage and Loyalty. The Father doesn't want words, but actions and evidence. It's about strength of character and not personality. Zen eliminates confusion and is not a way to teach. It's about the breakthrough from the I to the SELF!
Zen Monastery & Mysticism - Church in one's own Mind and God in one's Self!
After ten years of training in zen monasteries in Japan and Korea, the Honora Zen monastery (Latin for honorable) was founded by Zen Father Master Reding in the happy year of 2016. It is intended to be a place of inner fullness and silence for those seeking the divine spark within the self. In the search for completeness and meaning, the Zen monastery is a refuge for all determined people. We have high standards and make no compromises on the truth.
Zen Meditation & Christian Mysticism - Religious Experience in a Fatherless Time!
Zen: Religious experience and mysticism in a fatherless time. It is the living core of every religion, in which the only thing that matters is practice - religious experience, realization. And here in the West, religious experience has the language of Christianity and in the east the language of Buddhism. This way we can find our father again and free him from the belly of the beast. It's not about proof of God but about experiences of God! The Logos - The Word that awakens my soul!
Meditation does not serve to develop the ego and cultivate the personality, but to reveal the divine self. In it, it is not knowledge that is sought and attained, but certainty and divine wisdom.
In the East they are called Zen-Masters and in the West they are called Mystics. The saints and sages who seek the living word that heals the soul.
It is about the experience of a divine reality (Catholic) or absolute reality (Buddhist) and the efforts to achieve such an experience, the Unio Mystica or Mystical Wedding.
Symbolic Language - Living Symbol
The tragedy of our culture is fatherlessnes. That so many people no longer believe in symbolic language. And so they try to satisfy a spiritual longing with something physical, which never works. There is no saturation point for a spiritual longing with physical means. Until that symbol is alive as a living symbol, it cannot do its work of bringing us into our wholeness. Without symbolic language, our soul can no longer express itself, live out its life and communicate. We atrophy and our religious needs cannot be satisfied.
Without the love of the Father we are lost and aimless!
Fatherless Society - Feminization of Society
We must break dependence on the symbolic mother in order to become men and fathers. All major transitions in life were accompanied by "rites of passage" in all societies, transition rituals designed to help people take the step over the threshold. The most well-known ritual, studied primarily by ethnologists, is the initiation ritual, in which young men are initiated into the secrets of tribal law and the secrets of sexuality.
Initiation Ritual for Men - Breaking Dependence on the Mother
They must leave their mothers and their homes, are withdrawn into the bush, symbolically devoured by a maternal monster and then initiated into the secret law of the tribe and religious traditions. When a young man has gone through this transition ritual, he is then a full member of the tribe; he is a man. In many tribes, those who are afraid or for some reason not initiated are said to be "he is not initiated, he is an animal," meaning that he has remained completely unconscious - he has not really taken the step to becoming a human being.
The Blessing of the father strengthens the houses of the children, but the curse of the mother uproots the foundations of the families.
Koan & Logos - Breakthrough from the I to the Self
The LOGOS, the unmoved mover, the living word, the sword of wisdom, which brings to life and kills at the same time. The word that awakens my soul to life. Zen meditation with paradoxical questions (Koan, Hwadu) aims at a breakthrough of a consciousness limited by the I-form into the non-I-like self. An experience of religious transformation and a mystical experience, with its preliminary stages consisting of “letting go” and “emptying images and ideas”.
For only the paradox can even come close to grasping the fullness of life, while clarity and the lack of contradiction are one-sided and therefore unsuitable to express the incomprehensible.
Meditation - Humility & Voluntary Sacrifice - Respect
As soon as one has the courage to the wholeness of the soul (voluntary sacrifice), life and death will take on a meditative and religious character. The center of one's own life becomes more and more conscious and attentive. However, in the search for wholeness we often get off track and pursue the goal of perfection. Perfection is the tyranny of the mind that should be avoided at all costs. In this regard, the feminine (anima, chaos) helps the spirit to constantly practice humility.
Meditation is not a training of thought and consciousness with the aim of making the unconscious conscious. In the realm of the unconscious, neither self-knowledge nor Christ-knowledge is possible. To do this, one must penetrate beyond the unconscious and superconscious to the core of the human being: to the divine self.
Meditation Stay - The Fire Phoenix
MEDITATION is very difficult in a fatherless and respect-less time. We are aimless, divided, not loyal and are feeling lost. Meditating means first penetrating your own shadow and then diving into the deep, chaotic and dark source. Take a deep breath and think the unthinkable. Sit like a mountain and penetrate into the depths of the deep so that your true self awakens. Then the fire phoenix can rise again from the ashes with its thousand-colored plumage.
Welcome to the meditation stay at the monastery: Days, weeks or months...
Monthly Zen Retreat - Encouragement
The Zen retreat (meditation week) takes place every first week of the month. It is very important for the Zen student to practice the strenuous practices of the predecessors. Nevertheless, today many ignorant brothers and sisters ignore such an important matter; They forget the efforts of their predecessors, waste valuable time and are just proud to stay in the monastery. What a sad thing! You who practice in my monastery, study diligently!
The Mountain Week - Through Death to Life!
Seven days count as one! Mountain Week takes place twice a year to commemorate the enlightenment of the saints and sages. During this week we will not lie down and devote all activities to meditation. Concentrate carefully until the doubt that has arisen is broken so that you can jump out of the cave of life and death and experience the spirit that those before you have experienced. If you can achieve this, you will enjoy your own emancipation and be able to thank the saints and wise men for this gift of excellent teaching. How can we spend our lives without experiencing this excitement? Study hard! Study hard!
Meditation in the Cemetery - Living & Dying
Public meditation takes place in the cemetery twice a year (spring and autumn). The cemetery offers a striking contrast between life and death to meditate on the true self. The cemetery is a place where many people feel a meditative or even spiritual atmosphere.
Counseling - From Heart to Heart
Understanding our role in the world means recognizing the attainment of wisdom as our goal and setting out to achieve it. Zen Father Master Reding is available to give you life advice. If I know where I want to go, I can find out where I stand. How can a frog in a well know the vastness of the blue ocean? How can a baby fox understand the lion's roar? If we take refuge in the truth, we will be able to have a righteous life.
Ritual & Ceremony - Prosperity & Meaning
Ceremonies mark an important phase of life or an event so that one can consciously enter into the new responsibility with the change. Baptism (welcome), coming of age, parenthood, wedding, blessing, vow renewal ceremony, midlife and funeral. As you are born into the new responsibility, you transcend the past, the present and the future. They transcend both time and space.
Online Meditation - The Battlefield of Wisdom
Welcome to Zen Father Master Reding’s online meditation. Every Monday at 8:00 p.m. (45 minutes). Sometimes we sit, sometimes we listen to the master, either way, it's always together. Give up jealousy and meditate. With an absent mind, not thinking about the approach of death, caught up in such senseless actions, returning empty-handed would now be complete delusion. What is needed is to recognize the truth in meditation. So why not practice the truth right now?
Zen Pilgrimage - Step by Step
The two-day Zen pilgrimage in Switzerland takes place twice a year (spring and autumn). Step by step towards the goal. The four big elements break apart. The eye and its visual object move away from each other. Do you know where they are going? After discovering your destination, you reach the jeweled palace. Do you have any of these gems in your own home? Faced with these six thieves, you'll need the courage of a frontline soldier.
Almsround - Homeless & Homeowner are in Harmony
Almsgiving or begging is an important part of the maintenance of the Honora Zen Monastery and exchange with the community. Not everyone has the determination to completely sacrifice their life and death to the search for wisdom and truth, so it is a great opportunity to thank the monks and nuns for their efforts.
Return to God - God literally means "I AM HERE!"
What the saints and wise men in West and East have sought and expressed since time immemorial is this absolute “I AM HERE”. The now, the moment, it's the feeling of being in the right place at the right time. We always want to know where we belong. But in a fatherless time we are aimless, divided and alienated from our own true selves and are lost. The search for the true self without rank and name begins in this I-AM-HERE.
ZEN WARNINGS - Nothing is free!
Following rules and regulations means binding yourself without rope. Acting spontaneously and without restrictions is diabolical and heretical. Paying attention only to the interior to purify it and disappear into silence is the false Zen of silent glow. Anyone who arbitrarily ignores causal connections falls into a deep pitfall. To abide in absolute clarity without darkness is to carry a yoke of chains. To think of good or evil is to be in heaven and hell. To harbor ideas about God and the Way is to sit trapped in two iron mountains.
To immediately become aware of the emerging consciousness is to waste your mental power. Simply practicing concentration while sitting quietly (Zazen) is the work of the devil. Anyone who strives forward misses the core of the matter. Anyone who goes backwards spoils the path. He who neither moves forward nor backward is a breathing corpse. Well, tell me what you want to do? Make every effort to achieve complete enlightenment in this life! And don't stay stuck in your misfortune forever!
Dear Honora Zen Monastery,
I wanted to thank you for the meditation week! I had no idea what to expect and that was the whole point. I'm glad that even though I asked what's next, you just answered "step by step". I'm not used to waking up at 4am, but it's incredible how you get used to things. The hike in the snow was challenging, but I'm proud I managed it. I now understand what you said about physical exhaustion helping to meditate better and be more in tune with yourself. Stacking the wood was also a long process, but satisfying after seeing the result. The extraordinary experience of this meditation week also has a lot to do with your overall commitment, from the 1-1 conversation we had on the first evening and all the different conversations on the hikes, plus during the break.
Please keep doing what you're doing; It brings so much to people who are willing to do the work to understand themselves better. Learning to accept the inevitable and be aware of our own death. I remember we talked about the different stages of life, which really resonated with me. The phoenix must die; die properly to be reborn into something new and powerful. The dying process can be agonizing, letting go of the old self, but it is the only path to enlightenment of the new stage of life. So now I am back to “normal” life, but I will not forget this experience.
All the best
Nicolas
Dear Zen Master Father Reding,
I would like to thank you (family with children) once again for allowing me to experience the educational week of meditation. A lot of things were new to me, and it was all the more important that I had to/was able to leave my comfort zone. Unfortunately, these days, people give up all too often and far too soon, but it is always worth fighting and persevering.
You went through and experienced that yourself in the Honora Zen monastery, but never gave up. I think your attitude towards family is brilliant, although unfortunately today you almost only see the opposite. Thank you very much for everything and for being a role model.
Stefan
Properties for the Monastery
The balancing act between running a monastery and family life is not always easy to master. The Honora Zen Monastery is therefore looking for an additional home so that both can be carried out more easily.
Looking for a Good, Loyal and Faithful Soul
We are looking for a good, loyal, trustworthy and faithful soul for the Zen monastery and the family