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Thread: October 6th, 2012- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

  1. #1

    October 6th, 2012- OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

    DUE TO SOUND and OTHER TECHNICAL 'NON-PROBLEMS', OUR CHANTING SERVICE IS AFTER FIRST ZAZEN SITTING TODAY.

    THE THEME OF TODAY'S ZAZENKAI TALK WILL BE BASED ON MASTER DOGEN'S SHOBOGENZO-SHOJI (LIFE-&-DEATH), TEXT 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




    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!
    Last edited by Jundo; 10-06-2012 at 04:25 PM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  2. #2
    I'll be here.

    Gassho, kojip.

  3. #3
    I'll be there live

    Gassho,

    Kyonin
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  4. #4
    Count me in.

    Gassho,
    Dosho

  5. #5
    Another month already? Time REALLY does go swiftly by!
    As usual, will sit the recorded version.
    Happy live sitting everyone.
    Gassho
    Myozan

  6. #6
    Mp
    Guest
    I will be there live.

    Gassho
    Michael

  7. #7
    Nindo
    Guest
    I'll try to join later live. I'm still at work at 5pm Friday.

  8. #8
    THE THEME OF TODAY'S ZAZENKAI TALK WILL BE BASED ON MASTER DOGEN'S SHOBOGENZO-SHOJI (LIFE-&-DEATH).

    [Shobogenzo Ninety-two]
    Shōji
    Life and Death


    (Translation by Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Chodo Cross)

    Because in life and death there is buddha, there is no life and death.
    Again, we can say: Because in life and death there is no “buddha,” we are
    not deluded in life and death. [This] meaning was expressed by Masters Kassan and
    Jōzan.** [These] are the words of the two Zen masters; they are the words of
    people who had got the truth, and so they were decidedly not laid down in
    vain. A person who wishes to get free from life and death should just illuminate
    this truth. If a person looks for buddha outside of life and death, that
    is like pointing a cart north and making for [the south country of] Etsu, or
    like facing south and hoping to see the North Star. It is to be amassing more
    and more causes of life and death, and to have utterly lost the way of liberation.
    When we understand that only life and death itself is nirvana, there is
    nothing to hate as life and death and nothing to aspire to as nirvana. Then,
    for the first time, the means exist to get free from life and death. To understand
    that we move from birth to death is a mistake. Birth is a state at one
    moment; it already has a past and will have a future. For this reason, it is said
    in the Buddha-Dharma that appearance is just nonappearance. Extinction
    also is a state at one moment; it too has a past and a future. This is why it is
    said that disappearance is just non-disappearance. In the time called “life,”
    there is nothing besides life. In the time called “death,” there is nothing besides
    death. Thus, when life comes it is just life, and when death comes it is just
    death; do not say, confronting them, that you will serve [be a slave to] them, and do not
    wish for them.

    This life and death is just the sacred life of buddha. If we hate it
    and want to get rid of it, that is just wanting to lose the sacred life of buddha.
    If we stick in it, if we attach to life and death, this also is to lose the sacred
    life of buddha. We confine ourselves to the condition of buddha. When we
    are without dislike and without longing, then for the first time we enter the
    mind of buddha. But do not consider it with mind and do not say it with
    words! When we just let go of our own body and our own mind and throw
    them into the house of buddha, they are set into action from the side of
    buddha; then when we continue to obey this, without exerting any force and
    without expending any mind, we get free from life and death and become
    buddha. Who would wish to linger in mind?

    There is a very easy way to become buddha. Not committing wrongs;
    being without attachment to life and death; showing deep compassion for
    all living beings, venerating those above and pitying those below; being free
    of the mind that dislikes the ten thousand things and free of the mind that
    desires them; the mind being without thought and without grief: this is called
    buddha. Look for nothing else.


    Shōbōgenzō Shōji
    Year not recorded.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  9. #9
    I'm in

    Gassho
    Thank you for your practice

  10. #10
    I will have to sit later and in chunks. Celebrating the wife's birthday this weekend and will be out and about.

  11. #11
    I have accidently locked myself out of hangout!
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  12. #12
    Treeleaf Engineer Seimyo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Yuba City, California, USA
    Will be sitting this tomorrow. Thank you all.

    Gassho,
    Chris

  13. #13
    Thank you.

    Gassho, kojip.

  14. #14
    Yugen
    Guest
    Thank you all for a marvelous Zazenkai! Thank you to all who practice.

    Deep bows,
    Yugen

  15. #15
    Thanks everyone!

    Gassho,
    Dosho

  16. #16
    Mp
    Guest
    Thank you everyone, it was wonderful. Have a great weekend.

    Gassho
    Michael

  17. #17
    Got kicked twice and my webcam crashed, anyway, great Zazenkai

    Gassho
    Thank you for your practice

  18. #18
    Nindo
    Guest
    Thanks and bows to all. Sound did not come on for me after the first sit - was waiting for Dosho's bell! Since I sat right through half of the service, I went and did my own chanting, from the start!

  19. #19
    Mp
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Nindo View Post
    Thanks and bows to all. Sound did not come on for me after the first sit - was waiting for Dosho's bell! Since I sat right through half of the service, I went and did my own chanting, from the start!
    Its all good Nindo, it was great to have you there.

    Gassho
    Michael

  20. #20
    Due to recent illness and now a flareup of back problem, will have to do this in pieces. Am with you and thank you.
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  21. #21
    Thank you to all who sat/will sit.

    Gassho,

    Kyonin
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  22. #22
    I agree with Michael. It was great to have you live!

    Gassho,

    Kyonin

    Quote Originally Posted by Nindo View Post
    Thanks and bows to all. Sound did not come on for me after the first sit - was waiting for Dosho's bell! Since I sat right through half of the service, I went and did my own chanting, from the start!
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  23. #23
    Yugen
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Rich View Post
    Due to recent illness and now a flareup of back problem, will have to do this in pieces. Am with you and thank you.
    Rich, hope your condition improves. I had a flu recently and did my "sitting" lying down. Also resat a Zazenkai in pieces. It's interesting how different conditions present opportunities to experience our practice outside of routine or fixed positions and schedules. It's all practice. Be well, and thanks for being here and practicing with us. Your presence means a lot.

    Deep bows
    Yugen

  24. #24
    Nindo
    Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Kyonin View Post
    I agree with Michael. It was great to have you live!

    Gassho,

    Kyonin
    Thanks guys
    Good to see you too.
    Will try to be there more often!

  25. #25
    Sorry for the sound and technical "non-problems" today. I pushed the two buttons I am not supposed to push. Also, next time, I will remember to get close to the microphone for talks. AFTER 5 YEARS OF THESE ZAZENKAI, I THINK I AM FINALLY GETTING THE HANG OF IT!

    Gassho, Jundo
    Last edited by Jundo; 10-07-2012 at 01:32 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  26. #26
    It's interesting to note the mind/body's reaction when the unexpected routine change. However sitting is sitting and it is always a pleasure to sit with you all, even recorded as I do. Gassho to such reminders.

    Sent from my BlackBerry 9790 using Tapatalk
    Heisoku 平 息
    Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. (Basho)

  27. #27

  28. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Nindo View Post
    Thanks and bows to all. Sound did not come on for me after the first sit - was waiting for Dosho's bell! Since I sat right through half of the service, I went and did my own chanting, from the start!
    I noticed you still facing the wall well after we had moved on to other things.. and thought "Wow! Nindo is a real trooper!"

    Gassho.

  29. #29
    Thanks everyone!

    _/\_

    Ade

  30. #30
    Treeleaf Unsui Shugen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Redding California USA
    Gassho to all.
    Meido Shugen
    明道 修眼

  31. #31
    Thanks once again for this! Only just managed to get it in. Had a really busy weekend so sat this morning
    gassho
    bob

  32. #32
    Thank you all for this sitting.
    Gassho. George-Gishu

  33. #33

  34. #34
    All the pieces came together nicely, thank you.
    _/_
    Rich
    MUHYO
    無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...

    https://instagram.com/notmovingmind

  35. #35
    Thank you for this Zazenkai


    Gassho, Kaishin / Matt
    Thanks,
    Kaishin (開心, Open Heart)
    Please take this layman's words with a grain of salt.

  36. #36
    Well, as usual I have had to break this into bite-sized segments. I've sat three out of four so far, listened to the talk (good talk btw ) so just one more zazen to go.


    Raf

  37. #37
    Thank you everyone,
    Gassho
    Myoku

  38. #38
    Sat last Thursday, thank you for your practice.

    Gassho,
    Shujin

  39. #39

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