Feb. 28th/March 1st, 2014 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

ATTENTION! G+, for some reason, only recorded our first 30 minutes. Oh well. We are all together nontheless. The talk was on seeing through life's disasatisfactions, so the fact that the talk is gone is the perfect Teaching! gassho1 I SUGGEST FOLKS PICK AN "OLDIE BUT TIMELESS GOLDIE" MONTHLY ZAZENKAI FROM SOMETIME IN THE PASTLESS PAST, JUST SIT WITH THAT!

Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 6pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 3pm to 7pm (Friday night), London 11pm to 3am and Paris midnight to 4am (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

NO RECORDING THIS MONTH!

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

Hi Jundo,
I look forward to sitting with you.
Gassho
Myozan

Hi Jundo!

I might be a little late (about 30 minutes), but I'll be there live.

Gassho,

Kyonin

Sadly, I have to miss a live sitting. I am flying to Charlotte in two hours and back to Tallahassee later tonight. I will sit this one tomorrow morning. Have a great Zazenkai everyone.

gassho,
Juki

Same here..out in a business trip and without a camera.... will sit this one saturday morning.

Gassho
Sent from Tapatalk 2

I'll be here.

Gassho,
Dosho

Wonderful for all those who will attend!

By the way, let me mention that the little talk will be dancing with the last few Koans from the Book of Serenity (Cases 32-35) ...

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/forum...TERS-BOOK-CLUB

Gassho, J

Hello,

excellent! Looking forward to a bit of quiet sitting this weekend with all of you!

Gassho,

Hans Chudo Mongen

I will be there live ... look forwarding to sitting with everyone. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Got a busy day today, but will try to be there for at least part of it :)

Gassho,
Joyo

I am going to try, but I might have to run off now and then to feed a hungry baby ;)

Too late for sitting the entire 4 hours live, so I will either attend the first part live and do the rest offline next day or everything next day.
Anyway, will be with you!

Gassho,

Daitetsu

Hello,

Participating.


Gassho,
Myosha

Can't see the hangout at present. Will keep trying.

See you all in a few minutes. ^_^
Gassho,
Sekishi

I just re-sent the invite, maybe that will help.

Gassho
Shingen

Hi,
I've been unable to get in. The link brings me to a black screen. Think I'll turn in and try the recorded version tomorrow. Happy Zazenkai all!
Gassho
Myozan

Well, I can't get back in, but G+ says I'm still there.

Thank you all.

Gassho,
Dosho

Thank you Jundo and everyone, wonderful sit. Great talk as well, always nice to groove to the oldies ie: basics. =)

Gassho
Shingen

ATTENTION! G+, for some reason, only recorded our first 30 minutes. Oh well. We are all together nontheless. The talk was on seeing through life's disasatisfactions, so the fact that the talk is gone is the perfect Teaching! gassho1 I SUGGEST FOLKS PICK AN "OLDIE BUT TIMELESS GOLDIE" MONTHLY ZAZENKAI FROM SOMETIME IN THE PASTLESS PAST, JUST SIT WITH THAT!

Interesting. I guess around that time (30 minutes in) the hangout must stopped working for me too, but I didn't realize it because everyone was still visible on my screen.

There was Jundo, and Shingen, and Dosho all sitting. You were not moving, but hey, you were sitting Zazen. My legs and back got more and more sore, but such is our practice. At some point it was obvious to my body that this was the longest I had ever sat without doing Kinhin. But there was Jundo, and Shingen, and Dosho, still sitting. And if you all could keep sitting that long, than so could I. This went on for a while longer until I could not take it any more. I pulled up the clock on my computer and it was well over an hour into Zazen. I figured at that point that something must be broken, so I disconnected and reconnected. Sure enough, some folks were gone, but Joyo and Kyonin had joined. And you were all still sitting -- I missed first Kinhin! [scared]

Thank you all for your practice, and thank you Google+ for showing me a new side to Zazen!

Gassho,
Sekishi

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sekishi

Interesting. I guess around that time (30 minutes in) the hangout must stopped working for me too, but I didn't realize it because everyone was still visible on my screen.

There was Jundo, and Shingen, and Dosho all sitting. You were not moving, but hey, you were sitting Zazen. My legs and back got more and more sore, but such is our practice. At some point it was obvious to my body that this was the longest I had ever sat without doing Kinhin. But there was Jundo, and Shingen, and Dosho, still sitting. And if you all could keep sitting that long, than so could I. This went on for a while longer until I could not take it any more. I pulled up the clock on my computer and it was well over an hour into Zazen. I figured at that point that something must be broken, so I disconnected and reconnected. Sure enough, some folks were gone, but Joyo and Kyonin had joined. And you were all still sitting -- I missed first Kinhin! [scared]

Thank you all for your practice, and thank you Google+ for showing me a new side to Zazen!

Gassho,
Sekishi

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:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sekishi

There was Jundo, and Shingen, and Dosho all sitting.

---

Sshhh, don't tell anyone ... but those were cardboard cutouts - we ducked out for ice cream. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shingen

Sshhh, don't tell anyone ... but those were cardboard cutouts - we ducked out for ice cream. =)

Gassho
Shingen

---

:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shingen

Sshhh, don't tell anyone ... but those were cardboard cutouts - we ducked out for ice cream. =)

---

Huh. Normally I think I'd be jealous about not being included in this yummy outing, but I'm betting that now that your oryoki stuff is all sticky and yucky with ice cream and chocolate sauce -- it wasn't really worth it. :p

Gassho and sprinkles,
Sekishi

Thank you all who sat and will sit.

It was a lovely zazenkai and the talk was powerful. Thank you, Jundo.

Gassho,

Kyonin

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kyonin

It was a lovely zazenkai and the talk was powerful. Thank you, Jundo.

---

Agreed. All silly aside, it was a wonderful Zazenkai, and the talk was very timely for me. I don't think I expressed myself particularly well with my question tonight, but lately practice has felt more "unified" for me, Zazen, Metta, bowing, the meal chant, oryoki -- the physical acts themselves help us manifest a kind of wisdom in action. They help us enact the Buddha way, and to unify our minds and bodies and all beings. In one sense, perhaps part of the path to realizing emptiness / fullness / Shunyata and practice "thinking non-thinking" is to also to do non-doing (Shikantaza), bow to all sentient beings, and to wash our bowls.

Deep bows to you all.
Sekishi

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sekishi

Agreed. All silly aside, it was a wonderful Zazenkai, and the talk was very timely for me. I don't think I expressed myself particularly well with my question tonight

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I agree ... coming back to the basics is always a good thing. =)

And I disagree ... I very much appreciate and understood your question/statement/reflection. =)

Gassho
Shingen

Well that was interesting! Saturday is pretty full for me so got up early to sit straight through and there I was sitting away and no bell to end the first sitting!!!! Thinking the fault my end I tried then to find the video on G+ but no avail. I then came here and found Jundo's post, so just carried on sitting. But I guess the zazenkai did continue but wasn't recorded is that right? If so, Jundo, is there anyway of getting hold of your talk on the Book of Serenity as I would be interested in hearing it.

Whatever, I thank you all for your practice it is always inspiring to see you guys sitting for the four hours. Deep Bows to all who sit around the world.

In Gassho
Taiko

Hi Taikyo,

The talk has faded into the air.

However, no worries. I pretty much always repeat myself sooner rather than later. A broken record.

Gassho, J

Thank you everyone and Jundo for the clearly audible dharma talk,
Gassho
Myoku

Hello everyone, well I only participated in 2 hrs of zazenkai, but it was wonderful!! Jundo, your talk may have felt like a stuck record to you, but not to me. It was so good. In fact, after I put my kids to bed, just felt so relaxed after all that sitting, kinhin, and dharma talk, I slept for about 9 hrs last night lol!! Thank you everyone, so nice to practice this together :)

Gassho,
Joyo

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shingen

Sshhh, don't tell anyone ... but those were cardboard cutouts - we ducked out for ice cream. =)

Gassho
Shingen

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lol!!! Is that where you all where, why didn't you bring some back for the rest of us? :)

Gassho,
Joyo

Planning to sit an oldie-but-goodie tonight. :) Gassho, Matt J