May 2nd-3rd, 2014 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

THE READINGS [from Masters Rinzai and Thich Nhat Hanh] FOR THE TALK ARE BELOW IN THIS THREAD.

Dear All,

Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 7pm to 11pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 8pm (Friday night), London midnight to 4am and Paris 1am to 5am (early Saturday morning)) ...

... to be visible at the following link during those times and any time thereafter ...

LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST at GOOGLE+ IS HERE:
CLICK ON THE TAB ON LOWER RIGHT FOR 'FULL SCREEN

http://youtu.be/2-qLFt3F3rg

FOR THOSE NOT ALREADY MEMBERS OF THE CIRCLE WHO WISH TO JOIN TO SIT LIVE WITH A CAMERA, INSTRUCTIONS are posted AT THIS LINK. WE ARE NOW LIMITED TO 10 INDIVIDUALS WITH CAMERAS, BUT ANY NUMBER CAN WATCH LIVE 'ONE WAY' AND SIT-A-LONG VIA THE ABOVE SCREEN. IF JOINING WITH CAMERA, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR MICROPHONE IS MUTED:

The Sitting Schedule is as follows;

00:00 - 00:50 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA / SANDOKAI IN ENGLISH) & ZAZEN
00:50 - 01:00 KINHIN
01:00 - 01:30 ZAZEN
01:30 - 01:50 KINHIN

01:50 - 02:30 DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN
02:30 - 02:40 KINHIN

02:40 - 03:15 ZAZEN
03:15 - 03:30 KINHIN
03:30 - 04:00 METTA CHANT & ZAZEN, VERSE OF ATONEMENT, FOUR VOWS, & CLOSING


Our Zazenkai consists of our chanting the 'Heart Sutra' and the 'Identity of Relative and Absolute (Sandokai)' in English (please download our Chant Book at the link below), some full floor prostrations (please follow along with me ... or a simple Gassho can be substituted if you wish), a little talk by me ... and we close with the 'Metta Chant', followed at the end with the 'Verse of Atonement' and 'The Four Vows'. Oh, and lots and lots of Zazen and walkin' Kinhin in between!

Please download and print out the Chants we will recite at the following link (PDF):

Chant Book (PDF)

or

Chant Book (SHORT VERSION HTML)

I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU POSITION YOUR ZAFU ON THE FLOOR IN A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE NOT STARING DIRECTLY AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN, BUT CAN GLANCE OVER AND SEE THE SCREEN WHEN NECESSARY. YOUR ZAFU SHOULD ALSO BE IN A POSITION WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE COMPUTER SCREEN WHILE STANDING IN FRONT OF THE ZAFU FOR THE CEREMONIES, AND HAVE ROOM FOR BOWING AND KINHIN.

ALSO, REMEMBER TO SET YOUR COMPUTER (& SCREEN SAVER) SO THAT IT DOES NOT SHUT OFF DURING THE 4 HOURS.

I hope you will join us ... an open Zafu is waiting. When we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' 'then' ... we are sitting all together!


Gassho, Jundo

Our Talk dances Book of Equanimity Case 38: Rinzai's "True Person"

Rinzai instructed his assembly and said,
"There is one true person of no rank, always coming out and going in
through the gates of your face [i.e., sense organs such as eyes, nose, ears, tongue, etc.].
Beginners who have not yet witnessed that, look! look!"
Then a monk came out and asked,
"What is the one true person of no rank?"
Rinzai descended from the rostrum and grabbed him. The monk hesitated.
Rinzai pushed him away and said,
"The true person of no rank -- what a shit-stick you are!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rinzai said …

Followers of the Way,
mind is without form and pervades the ten directions:
In the eye it is called seeing,
in the ear it is called hearing.
In the nose it smells odors,
in the mouth it holds converse.
In the hands it grasps and seizes,
in the feet it runs and carries.
Fundamentally, it is one pure radiance;
divided, it becomes harmoniously united spheres of sense.
Since the mind is nonexistent,
wherever you go, you are free.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thich Nhat Hanh has some nice writing on the “Person of No Rank”, which he calls the “Businessless Person” …

So to wake people up, Master Linji [Japanese, Rinzai] invented new terms and new ways of saying things that would respond to the needs of his time. For example, Master Linji invented the term “businessless person,” the person who has nowhere to go and nothing to do. This was his ideal example of what a person could be. In Theravada Buddhism, the ideal person was the arhat, someone who practiced to attain his own enlightenment. In Mahayana Buddhism, the ideal person was the bodhisattva, a compassionate being who, on the path of enlightenment, helped others.
According to Master Linji, the businessless person is someone who doesn’t run after enlightenment or grasp at anything, even if that thing is the Buddha. This person has simply stopped. She is no longer caught by anything, even theories or teachings. The businessless person is the true person inside each one of us. This is the essential teaching of Master Linji.
When we learn to stop and be truly alive in the present moment, we are in touch with what’s going on within and around us. We aren’t carried away by the past, the future, our thinking, ideas, emotions, and projects. Often we think that our ideas about things are the reality of that thing. Our notion of the Buddha may just be an idea and may be far from reality. Buddha is not a reality that exists outside of us, but is our own true nature. The Buddha outside ourselves was a human being who was born, lived, and died. For us to seek such a Buddha would be to seek a shadow, a ghost Buddha, and at some point our idea of Buddha would become an obstacle for us.
Master Linji said that when we meet the ghost Buddha, we should cut off his head. Whether we’re looking inside our outside ourselves, we need to cut off the head of whatever we meet, and abandon the views and ideas we have about things, including our ideas about Buddhism and Buddhist teachings. Buddhist teachings are not exalted words and scriptures existing outside us on a high shelf in the temple, but are medicine for our ills. Buddhist teachings are skillful means to cure our ignorance, craving, and anger, as well as our habit of seeking things outside and not having confidence in ourselves.
Insight can’t be found in sutras, commentaries, verbal expression, or —isms. Liberation and awakened understanding can’t be found by devoting ourselves to the study of the Buddhist scriptures. This is like trying to find fresh water in dry bones. Returning to the present moment, using our clear mind which exists right here and now, we can be in touch with liberation and enlightenment, as well as with the Buddha and the patriarchs as living realities right in this moment. The person who has nothing to do is sovereign unto herself. She doesn’t need to put on airs or leave any trace behind. The true person is an active participant, engaged in her environment while remaining unoppressed by it. Although all phenomena are going through the various appearances of birth, abiding, changing, and dying, the true person doesn’t become a victim of sadness, happiness, love, or hate. She lives in awareness as an ordinary person, whether standing, walking, lying down, or sitting. She doesn’t act a part, even the part of a great Zen master. This is what Master Linji means by “being sovereign wherever you are and using that place as your seat of awakening.”
We may wonder, “If a person has no direction, isn’t yearning to realize an ideal, doesn’t have an aim in life, then who will help living beings be liberated, who will rescue those who are drowning in the ocean of suffering?” A Buddha is a person who has no more business to do and isn’t looking for anything. In doing nothing, in simply stopping, we can live freely and true to ourselves and our liberation will contribute to the liberation of all beings.

From Nothing to Do, Nowhere to Go (2007) by Thich Nhat Hanh.

I will be there live, but only for the first half. I have to pick up my brother, who is flying in to town tonight. I will sit the second half tomorrow morning.

Gassho,
Juki

I will be there live as well. =)

Gassho
Shingen

I will try my best to be there live.

Gassho,
Joyo

Will sit with you on a 6 hour drive, going to a family event in other State :)

Gassho

I'll be here with bells on. :)

Gassho,
Dosho

I'll be there live!

Gassho,

Kyonin

I'll be sitting live.

Gassho Daizan

Hi all,
As usual I will sit over the weekend, as the start time is midnight here. Have a great sit everyone.
Gassho
Myozan

PS: Is it May already!

I will be working, unable to join live, but joining anyway.

Gassho

Participating


Gassho,
Myosha

Will have to sit this one over the weekend as we have house-guests this evening.

Thank you all for your practice. Deep bows.

Ok, thanks Jundo. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Will do. Thank you!

Gassho,
Juki

Understood. Thanks, Jundo.

I'm traveling and cannot attend, I'll watch and take part afterwards...

Gassho

Roland

Standing by...

Thank you Jundo!
Gassho!
Jon T

Wonderful sit ... thank you Jundo and all of no rank! =)

... don't know where to begin, is the best place to start ...

Have a great weekend everyone.

Gassho
Shingen of no rank

Thank you everyone.

Gassho Daizan

Hello,

Thanks to s/he of no rank.

Zazen.


Gassho,
Myosha

Thanks everyone.

I'm not sure my wife will go along with the "person of no rank" thing. ;)

Gassho,
Dosho

Thank you everyone, wonderful sit and appreciate the talk Jundo. My cat joined in for a lot of the time, demanding that I give him attention lol!!

Gasho,
Joyo

Thank to you 'person of no rank' that have sat, are sitting and will sit from a 'person of no rank' . Thank you Dosho (great voice, you make great kokyo)
Thank you Jundo for the teisho, beautiful and gentle as always.
Gassho
Taikyo

Thank you all for sitting.

The person of no rank is one and the same.

Gassho,

Kyonin

Thank you. Just finished this one.

Gassho,
Juki

Thank you everyone for sitting and practicing. I found this on E-Bay, It is ranked highly.

Attachment 1761

Gassho
Clark

Thank you everyone,
in deep gratitude,
Gassho
Myoku

Will be sitting this one tonight. Gassho, Matt J

The person of no rank ranks like a wet shit-stick![scared] Hmmm...

Thank you for this Zazenkai.

Gassho
Person of no rank

Thank you Jundo, thank you all
Gi Shu-George
Gassho

That was a nice Zazenkai, loved the dharma talk, Jundo!
Thanks a lot for your practice everyone.

Gassho,

Daitetsu

Thank you. The person-of-no-rank is a beautiful teaching.

gassho2
Andy

Thank you so much. A beautiful lesson

Gassho
Sent from Tapatalk 2

Just wonderful. Deep gratitude to you all!

Gassho,
Lisa