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Thread: November 15th-16th, 2013 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

  1. #1

    November 15th-16th, 2013 Treeleaf Weekly Zazenkai

    Re-MINDer: DAYLIGHT SAVINGS HAS ENDED. CHECK CURRENT START TIMES.

    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 7pm, Los Angeles 4pm (Friday night), London midnight and Paris 1am (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




    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
    Last edited by Jundo; 11-16-2013 at 12:01 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  2. #2
    Joyo
    Guest
    Thank you for posting, Jundo. I plan on coming.

    Gassho,
    Treena

  3. #3
    Let me mention that I may change the statue on the Altar this time to something else ... or nothing else ... not sure what. Let me explain ...

    I may have a strange idea of what is "Buddha", and what is "sacred" and ways to appreciate Buddha ... and it is unusual from what you may find in more traditional temples in Asia when one thinks of a gold and lovely "Buddha Statue".

    Sometimes, when I do a ceremony, I place on the Altar anything that strikes my heart ... As a personal Practice, often (not always) when I lead a ceremony or sitting for a group, I replace the Buddha statue on the altar with whatever comes to mind ... sometimes a car tire, a dirty diaper, a smiling child's picture, a trash can, a flower, a Crucifix, a rock (or even a space without any thing at all). Other times, I just bow to the Statue that is there. Once, after 9-11, I replaced the statue with 3 photos ... Mother Theresa, George Bush and Osama bin Laden. That really upset some folks in the group.

    But, you know, what isn't the Buddha? And for me, if you think I degradate or insult the Buddha by replacing him(her) with a trash can, or that I raise up the trash can in praise, you miss the point I think. All of life is sacred, all the "Buddha" when seen as such.
    You may wish to appoint a special "Buddha Statue" for today in your room at home. It can be, but need not be, something particularly beautiful or traditionally "sacred" in appearance ...

    A story ...

    During the Tang Dynasty, on a cold winter night, a big snow storm hit the city and the temple where Dan Xia served as a Monk got snowed in. Cut off from outside traffic, the coal delivery man could not get to the Zen Monastery. Soon it ran out of heating fuel after a few days and everybody was shivering in the cold. The monks could not even cook their meals.
    Dan Xia began to remove the wooden Buddha Statues from the display and put them into the fireplace.
    "What are you doing?" the monks were shocked to see that the holy Buddha Statues were being burnt inside the fire place. "You are burning our holy religious artifacts! You are insulting the Buddha!"
    "Are these statues alive and do they have any Buddha nature?" asked Master Dan Xia.
    "Of course not," replied the monks. "They are made of wood. They cannot have Buddha Nature."
    "OK. Then they are just pieces of firewood and therefore can be used as heating fuel," said Master Dan Xia. "Can you pass me another piece of firewood please? I need some warmth."
    The next day, the snow storm had gone and Dan Xia went into town and brought back some replacement Buddha Statues. After putting them on the displays, he began to kneel down and burn incense sticks to them.
    "Are you worshiping firewood?" ask the monks who are confused for what he was doing.
    "No. I am treating these statues as holy artifacts and am honouring the Buddha." replied Dan Xia.

    Gassho, J
    Last edited by Jundo; 11-15-2013 at 05:02 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  4. #4
    Mp
    Guest
    Thank you Jundo, count me in.

    Gassho
    Shingen

  5. #5
    I'll be there.

    And I'll look for some nice Buddha for my microscopic altar.

    I love that story, by the way.

    Gassho,

    Kyonin
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  6. #6
    I will be there live, as well.

    gassho,
    william
    "First you have to give up." Tyler Durden

  7. #7
    I'll be watching the livestream.
    Shinzan

  8. #8
    Hello,

    Together.

    Special statue this morning/evening/moment is an 8" dragonwood Amida Buddha revealed by an apprentice carved in Bali. The statue faces a garden and is silver-wooded from exposure, cracked from alternate heat and cold and perfectly filthy.


    Gassho,
    Edward
    "Recognize suffering, remove suffering." - Shakyamuni Buddha when asked, "Uhm . . .what?"

  9. #9
    Will try to make it live if work allows.... my Buddha today will be the thing most cherished by my dogs....a tennis ball....sometimes I wish I could get so happy with something as they are when playing with one of those....

    Gassho
    Thank you for your practice

  10. #10
    I'll be here.

    Gassho,
    Dosho

  11. #11
    Joyo
    Guest
    I put a picture of my dad on my alter for zazenkai tonight, as well as picture of my beloved horse, Banker, who died when I was 21.

    Gassho,
    Treena

  12. #12
    Thank you all for your practice.

    ( and to the birds pecking)

    Gassho
    C

  13. #13
    That was a wonderful Zazenkai. Thanks to all who sat live or who will sit later. Gassho, William
    "First you have to give up." Tyler Durden

  14. #14
    Mp
    Guest
    Wonderful stuff, thank you everyone. Have a great weekend.

    Gassho
    Shingen

  15. #15
    Treeleaf Priest / Engineer Sekishi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Virginia, USA
    Thank you all for your practice. Have a great week - may you be at peace.
    Sekishi | 石志 | He/him | Better with a grain of salt, but best ignored entirely.

  16. #16
    Yugen
    Guest
    Deep bows to all - thank you

    Yugen

  17. #17
    Thanks to all.

    Land, sea and air. . .indeed.


    Gassho,
    Edward
    "Recognize suffering, remove suffering." - Shakyamuni Buddha when asked, "Uhm . . .what?"

  18. #18

  19. #19
    Thanks everyone!

    Gassho,
    Dosho

  20. #20
    I see it Clark has put up Janis Joplin's song " Mercedes Benz" which is the one Jundo mentioned The first line goes "Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?" So I suppose she could be calling on Lord Buddha!!!!!
    Have a nice weekend everyone and thank you all who sat and will sit.
    Gassho
    Taikyo

  21. #21
    Thank you Jundo, Yugen and everyone that sat and will sit. Have a great weekend.

    Gassho
    Matt

  22. #22
    Thank you all who sat and will sit.

    Enjoy a wonderful weekend

    Gassho,

    Kyonin
    Hondō Kyōnin
    奔道 協忍

  23. #23
    _/\_

    Sent from my Note 2 using Tapatalk4
    合掌,生開
    gassho, Shokai

    仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

    "Open to life in a benevolent way"

    https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/

  24. #24
    Gassho and thank you everyone for this lovely zazenkai,
    have a wonderful weekend,
    Myoku

  25. #25
    Kantai
    Guest
    Thanks everyone!
    Here`s whats on my Butsudan this week:
    Attachment 1399
    Gassho
    Ed

  26. #26
    Just finished with the recording (was too sleepy to do the live thing this time...).
    All the best to you all and thank you!

    Gassho,

    Timo
    no thing needs to be added

  27. #27
    Thank you all for this practice
    Gassho
    Gishu-George
    Gi Shu -George

  28. #28
    A good sit, and an interesting new old song that fits.

    “Mercedes Benz” is a lonely blues tune about the illusory happiness promised (but rarely delivered) by the pursuit of worldly goods, a hippie-era rejection of the consumerist ideals that Joplin saw growing up as a self-described “middle-class white chick” in Port Arthur, Texas. She had come to California in the early ’60s and quickly earned a place as one of the leading musical lights in a generation that shared her utopian anti-materialism. When Joplin sang, in the second and third verses of “Mercedes Benz,” for “a color TV” and “a night on the town,” she knew all too well that neither would bring her peace. “It’s the want of something that gives you the blues,” she once said. “It’s not what isn’t, it’s what you wish was that makes unhappiness.”
    http://performingsongwriter.com/jani...mercedes-benz/

    Gassho, Stacy

  29. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by Stacy View Post
    A good sit, and an interesting new old song that fits.



    http://performingsongwriter.com/jani...mercedes-benz/

    Gassho, Stacy
    Unfortunately, Janis did not seem to heed her own Wisdom before her youthful heroine OD.

    Gassho, J
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  30. #30
    I know i mentioned this before (two or three years ago ) but, the first funeral I attended upon our return to Canada was for Lorrie who had met head on with a Ford 150 on her way home after three or four hours in the local pub. needless to say, it was a closed casket since Lorrie's car had been totaled. Being a young lady with lots of friends the funeral was massive. I can still see the horrified look on the pastor's face when an unplanned change in the service occurred, A family member stood up, produced a huge ghetto blaster and announced the next hymn to be one of Lorrie's favorites. Yep, you guessed it, "Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." Thank you Buddha.

    ghassho, Shokai
    合掌,生開
    gassho, Shokai

    仁道 生開 / Jindo Shokai

    "Open to life in a benevolent way"

    https://sarushinzendo.wordpress.com/

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