September 14-15th, 2013 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai - JUKAI COMMENCES

TODAY'S JUKAI MARKS THE STARTLESS-START OF OUR SEWING AND PRECEPT REFLECTIONS FOR OUR JUKAI (UNDERTAKING THE PRECEPTS) IN JANUARY.

I also would like to dedicate today's Zazenkai, and all our Jukai Preparations, to our members Gina and Rafael's dear mothers, who left this visible world this week, and to all our members who have suffered loss or illness recently.


Hello All,

Please 'sit-a-long' with our weekly FRIDAY/SATURDAY 'LIVE FROM TREELEAF' 90 minute ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE from 9am Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 8pm, Los Angeles 5pm (Friday night), London 1am and Paris 2am (early Saturday morning)

... and to be visible at the following link during those times and sit-a-long-able any time thereafter ...

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

http://youtu.be/LJOaKt1rKhc

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:

00:00 – 00:15 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA in English) and Dedication
00:15 – 00:45 ZAZEN
00:45 – 00:55 KINHIN
00:55 – 01:25 ZAZEN
01:25 – 01:30 FOUR VOWS & VERSE OF ATONEMENT

As you can see, our Zazenkai consists of chanting the 'Heart Sutra' in English (the words are at the link below), some full floor prostrations in sets of three (please follow along with me ... or a simple Gassho can be substituted if you wish), followed by our Dedication, Zazen twice for about 30 minutes each, with 10 minutes of Kinhin in between, and we end the sitting with 'The Verse of Atonement' and 'The Four Vows'.

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

Chant Book (PDF)

or

Chant Book (SHORT VERSION HTML)

So, please join us as soon as you can, and we will keep a Zafu open for you.

Remember, when we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' 'then' ... we are sitting all together!


Gassho, Jundo gassho1

I will be there live. :)

Gassho
Shingen

I'll be there Sunday morning.

_/\_
Ade

I'll be there live [happy]

Gassho,

Kyonin

I graduate tonight from my almost-year-long course of yoga teacher training. So, I will miss the live Zazenkai. I will sit the replay as soon as I get home, and be back live again next Friday. Deep bows to all.

Gassho,
William

i'll be sitting invisibly

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by William Anderson

I graduate tonight from my almost-year-long course of yoga teacher training. So, I will miss the live Zazenkai. I will sit the replay as soon as I get home, and be back live again next Friday. Deep bows to all.

Gassho,
William

---

Congratulations William!

Maybe I can ask you to sometime record a simple Youtube Yoga lesson (for non-Yoga folks like me) that we can use to loosen up midway through our 2-Day Rohatsu Retreat in December?

Gassho, J

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jundo

Congratulations William!

Maybe I can ask you to sometime record a simple Youtube Yoga lesson (for non-Yoga folks like me) that we can use to loosen up midway through our 2-Day Rohatsu Retreat in December?

Gassho, J

---

I second that ... Congrats William! :)

Gassho
Shingen

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jundo

Congratulations William!

Maybe I can ask you to sometime record a simple Youtube Yoga lesson (for non-Yoga folks like me) that we can use to loosen up midway through our 2-Day Rohatsu Retreat in December?

Gassho, J

---

I would be honored and happy to do this. I do not presently have a YouTube account, but I will open one. I will speak with you later about the length of the lesson you are looking for and design something appropriate.

Gassho,
William

Congrats William! I'll be sitting either Saturday or Sunday morning (Eastern/NYC time)

Gassho,

Risho

I will attempt a live sitting, if the Google Hangouts app works on my phone the way it's supposed to.

And congrats William.

Hoping to sit Sunday evening.

Gassho to all and happy sitting! ;-)


Shugen

I will not be there live tonight, but traveling out in the islands as part of my service project. I will be sitting (I am taking my robes!) and will hold those who are dear to us (and those who have left the visible world) in my heart.

Congratulations William!

Deep bows
Yugen

I'll sit with the recorded version on Sunday.

Congratulations William, that is a wonderful accomplishment!

Gassho,
Kelly/Jinmei

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yugen

I will not be there live tonight, but traveling out in the islands as part of my service project. I will be sitting (I am taking my robes!) and will hold those who are dear to us (and those who have left the visible world) in my heart.

Deep bows
Yugen

---

Enjoy your travels to the islands Yugen ... will keep a zafu warm for you. :)

Gassho
Shingen

Hi all,

I will not be there tonight as my brother is coming into town who I only see about twice a year, so the family and I are going to spend some quality time with him and his girlfriend.

And congrats William! BTW, if you have a Google account then you already automatically have a YouTube account!

I hope you all have a great sit.

Gassho,
Dosho

I'm planning to join later. The weather is so awesome here, I have to go and store some sunshine in my cells for the long winter!!

I will be with you on Monday morning.

Gassho. gassho1

Great William, good work :) Will be there live

Gassho

Sitting here, then.


Gassho,
E

Congrats to William!

Will be doing recorded version.

Gassho,
Heishu

I had to adjust my schedule. Will sit late tonight.

I'm here, a little late, but here.
Gassho
Andrew

Congratulations William!

I am joining you all in sit time... Now.. ?
[gassholook]
C

Thank you, Jundo and all.

Great job, Kyonin!

Thank you Jundo and great job Kyonin! :) Much metta to you Gina, Raf, and your familes.

Have a great weekend everyone. :)

Gassho
Shingen

Managed to make it live on the feed. Thank you Jundo, Kyonin and all.
Very nice Kyonin!

Gassho,
Heishu

Thanks to everyone for the refreshing experience.
I hope the best for all who are going through a tough time.

Gassho
Andrew

Thank you all...metta..Gassho

Sent from Tapatalk 2

Thank you all for your practice. Thanks Jundo, and Kyonin. Metta to Rafael and Gina.
[gassholook]
C

We had a fellow sitting today from an Islamic culture who was a bit concerned about how our Rituals fit into his religion, so during the Ceremony and such I was trying to explain things and make him comfortable. You may notice that I did not have the Buddha Statue in the Altar today. I told him it is just a reminder, wood, and that the empty space is fine (as in a Mosque). In fact, what he feels in his heart is most vital, and it was fine for him to Pray to Allah during our Chanting.

Gassho, J

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jundo

We had a fellow sitting today from an Islamic culture who was a bit concerned about how our Rituals fit into his religion, so during the Ceremony and such I was trying to explain things and make him comfortable. You may notice that I did not have the Buddha Statue in the Altar today. I told him it is just a reminder, wood, and that the empty space is fine (as in a Mosque). In fact, what he feels in his heart is most vital, and it was fine for him to Pray to Allah during our Chanting.

Gassho, J

---

Very nice ... nice to see him there, even knowing he was feeling concerned. :)

Gassho
Shingen

Thank you all to those who sat and will sit. And my congratulations William look forward to the lesson.
Gassho
David

Thank you Jundo, Kyonin and all that sat and will sit. Metta to all that have lost someone close.

Gassho
Matt

Thank you all for sitting.

To all beginning Jukai studies, good luck!


Gassho,

Kyonin

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jundo

We had a fellow sitting today from an Islamic culture who was a bit concerned about how our Rituals fit into his religion, so during the Ceremony and such I was trying to explain things and make him comfortable. You may notice that I did not have the Buddha Statue in the Altar today. I told him it is just a reminder, wood, and that the empty space is fine (as in a Mosque). In fact, what he feels in his heart is most vital, and it was fine for him to Pray to Allah during our Chanting.

Gassho, J

---

Hope he liked to sit with us.

There's a sit for everyone at the Treeleaf Zen Café :)

Gassho,

Kyonin

Gina's nephew rocks!

He was in gassho and dancing to the Heart Sutra!

He put a huge smile on my face!

Gina, please say hi to him :)

Gassho,

Kyonin

Sat this very late last night/very early this morning. Thanks to all who sat and will sit. Gassho, William

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kyonin

Gina's nephew rocks!

He was in gassho and dancing to the Heart Sutra!

He put a huge smile on my face!

Gina, please say hi to him :)

Gassho,

Kyonin

---

Yes, he was sure sweet ... :)

Gassho
Shingen

[grouphug]

Great to sit with you, thanks for your practice!
Well done, Kyonin, and congrats William!

Gassho,

Timo

Gassho all.

Thanks everyone!

Congratulations William!!!!

_/\_
Ade

Thank you Kyonin and everyone!

Gina, Raf, I'm so sorry for your loss; much metta to you and all of us suffering.

Gassho,

Risho

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jundo

We had a fellow sitting today from an Islamic culture who was a bit concerned about how our Rituals fit into his religion, so during the Ceremony and such I was trying to explain things and make him comfortable. You may notice that I did not have the Buddha Statue in the Altar today. I told him it is just a reminder, wood, and that the empty space is fine (as in a Mosque). In fact, what he feels in his heart is most vital, and it was fine for him to Pray to Allah during our Chanting.

Gassho, J

---

I find this interaction inspiring.

Gassho

C

Thanks for the sitting!

Nice to see you again, Gina. I'm sorry for your loss.

Gassho,

Jen

Thank you all! Gina, Raf sorry for your loss, tons of metta for you and your loved ones. It was great to see our guests practicing with us. Have a great week! Gassho

Thank you Jundo and all who sat or will sit. Condolences to Gina and Rafael. Congratulations to Kyonin, good job of chanting [claps]

gassho,

Thank you Jundo, thank you all for this sitting
Gassho
Gi-shu George

I forgot to post, but I sat this zazenkai with everyone on Tuesday. It was the first time I've sat a zazenkai in a while. It was great to do it and to see everyone. It was refreshing. I sort of wanted to hear what Jundo was saying to the new guy, just because those things for new folks are often the most helpful for us never-old-always-new-guys/gals too.

Thanks everyone.

Gassho