Our New Style Ceremonies/URGENTLY NEED YOUR SUGGESTIONS - Replacing "Heart Sutra" Etc

[Jundo]

Dear All,

The new school year starts here in Japan at the start of April, Spring is in the air, and new people will be coming to join our Zen Sittings here in Tsukuba and online. As most of you know, I have spoken of a new direction for Treeleaf beyond the robes and incense and chants in arcane language. In fact, one perennial complaint I receive is about the Heart Sutra and some of the other old chants we struggle with around here in our ceremonies and Zazenkai. It is really a problem.

Even when in English, folks do not understand ... and even I must honestly confess that I don't really understand what's going on there lots of the time in every single line of the Heart Sutra. I mean, "Bodhi! Svaha!" leaves me sometimes feeling "What the WhaHuh!?", what was that all about? And the so-called "Identity of Relative amd Absolute often leaves me relatively and absolutely in the lurch (Really, "Fire is hot, water is wet?" Never knew that, thanks for the information!) My foot ain't tappin', and that "Fiddler On The Roof" melody is just too Jewish even for this Rabbi!

So, I would like to propose that we ditch the traditional, and replace the old tired tunes most of the time (heck, all of the time!?) with some pop ditties that carry much the same (more or less) messages. We can drag the old chants out of the closet once a year or so for the holidays or something if some of the old dudes stuck in 'squaresville' (hipster slang) want, then put them back in and get back to some fun.

I would like your suggestions for songs to replace our tired, worn out chants!

Instead of the Heart Sutra, how about this for our upcoming Zazenkai this weekend? It will also allow us to honor someone who passed from this world recently who has been a major influence on the Buddhist Practice of so many of us (certainly in my life) ... long time meditator, Mr. Spock ... and it's got the word "Heart" in the title too!

I mean, which is actually the MORE POSITIVE AND UPLIFTING MESSAGE??? ... This:

Sen/sa/tions/, per/cep/tions/, for/ma/tions/ and/ con/scious/ness/ are/ al/so/ like/ this/.

O/ Sha/ri/pu/tra/, all/ things/ are/ ex/pres/sions/ of/ emp/ti/ness/

or THIS!!:

Take a good look around
And if you're feeling down
Put a little love in your heart
I hope when you decide
Kindness will be your guide
Put a little love in your heart

I was very tickled to read a recent interview with Paul McCartney in which he said that the idea for the following song really came to him years before when with the Maharishi. I think it is obvious when you really listen to the lyrics that he and Stevie are singing about, well, the Absolute & Relative like the Harmony of a Piano!

There is good and bad in everyone
We learn to live, and we learn to give
Each other what we need to survive together alive

Ebony and ivory live together in perfect harmony
Side by side on my piano keyboard, oh Lord [Buddha], why don't we?

Really, give it a close listen (I have to admit, this idea came to me while feeling the effects of laughing gas for recent dental surgery, but it's true man!) ...

One more addition to our repertoire that I think will come to be cherished by many folks here is this version of the Rolling Stones classic "Satisfaction" ... but sung by Britney Spears! Why did I pick the Britney Version? First, I was so thrilled to hear about her recent Ordination at San Francisco Zen Center (here is a picture from the Ceremony) ...

Also, I think that listening to this is the very meaning of "Suffering", Dukkha!! If someone can learn to find inner Peace while listening to this over and over, they can be liberated from any hell!

Everyone, listen to this 5 times, back to back, and report to us the positive effects (I have yet to make it through once myself):

I an open to other suggestions to, so post the pop hits you would like to see replace our old tired Sutras. To celebrate this first day of the month, April showers bring may flowers?

Gassho, Jundo

Leonard Nimoy, long time Zen Practitioner, on his Seiza Bench

[Jundo]

Something to clear my ears after Britney ...

Happy First of April, Everyone!

[Kyotai]

Someone at work filled my water bottle with sugar..
And now this. One of my fav days of the year!

Gassho, Kyotai
Sat today

[Josan]

arrgghhh!!!! I fell for it (not the ordination of Britney though) Thanks Kyotai, otherwise I would have spent the rest of the day contemplating these very radical changes
Gassho,
David
sattoday

[Byokan]

Hi All,

I am 100% for these changes, I think it’s time to mix it up a little.

I think we can replace this:
No/ eye/, ear/, nose/, tongue/, bo/dy/, mind/;
No/ sight/, sound/, smell/, taste/, touch/, nor/ ob/ject/ of/ mind/;
No/ realm/ of/ sight/, no/ realm/ of/ con/scious/ness/;

With this ode to non-attachment and lovingkindness, which could have been written by Shitou in his grass hut:

If I could make a wish
I think I'd pass
Can't think of anything I need
No cigarettes, no sleep, no light, no sound
Nothing to eat, no books to read
Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe
And to love you:




And why have this:
Far/ be/yond/ all/ de/lu/sion/, Nir/va/na/ is/ al/rea/dy/ here/.

When you can actually have Nirvana! Get rid of that depressing Verse of Atonement and replace it with All Apologies:

Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault
I'll take all the blame
Aqua seafoam shame
...All in all is all we are



Ok Jundo, you had me going, right up to Britney's ordination!

Gassho
Lisa
sat today

[Jika]

I was honestly contemplating that some months ago I indeed thought a zazenkai to look and sound very foolish, and now abandoning the heart sutra and sandokan are ripping my heart!
Thank you for the teaching.
Proven a fool

What about "Love is in the Air"?

Gassho,
Danny
#sattoday

[Jinyo]

Ha ! Ha! - this made me laugh - completely fooled 'till I got to Britney

Having said that I think some contemporary versions would be great ( I liked the one Will made a while back) - mix the old and the new - nice way to go.

Gassho

Willow

sat today

[Tb]

Hi.

Happy 1st everyone.

Here's my favourite youtubemusicclipofalltimes:


Thank you for your practice.

Mtfbwy
Fugen

[Koshin]

Oops Jundo, you did it again and I fell for it again :P

Thank you

Gassho

[Myosha]

Hello,

Thank you for the lesson.

BTW for the entrepreneurs: still have franchise availability for Dogens' Donuts!
(Motto - " lf you're non-attached to emptiness, get 'attached' to Dogens' Donuts!" They're incomprehensible good/not good.)

Always right next door to "Enlightenment Hut". (Now with 24-hour drive-thru.)^^


Gassho
Myosha sat today

[Entai]

I fell for it until the Brittney part! Well played.

Gassho, Entai
#SatToday

[KellyRok]

Wait...that was a joke? I thought maybe we could chant the hokey pokey, "you put your whole-self in, you take your non-self out..."

Love it Jundo, and you had me for a little while!


Kelly/Jinmei

[Troy]

Uggghhhh! JUNDO!!! Lol


..sat2day• (I will sit a little later)

[Mp]

LOL ... Happy April 1st ... oh our Jundo, he is such a prankster!

Gassho
Shingen

SatToday

[lorax]

He did it again! After almost seven years hanging around Jundo, he gets me every year! Must be trying to read the Forum before my first cup of coffee. I was thinking, well I remember when the Catholic Church abandoned the Latin Mass and it survived, guess Treeleaf will. What a way to start this beautiful spring morning.

SAT TODAY

[Risho]

Dude, I fell for it! I was so crabby today -- this is precisely what I needed. hahaahah

Thank you so much, you have no idea.

Gassho,

Risho
-sattoday

[Joyo]

lol!! I told my husband I was getting a sex change this morning, he did not believe me.

Jundo, excellent suggestion, so glad you are open to ideas. Here's a few I'd love to see, and I would be more than happy to chant at zazenkai....





Or this one, you know, do realize that there is no birth or death fellow sangha-mates, we just stayin' alive folks.........




Gassho,
Joyo
didn't sit today, decided it was well worth my time to smoke some weed instead

[Sekishi]

Ha ! Ha! - this made me laugh - completely fooled 'till I got to Britney

Britney is a Buddha just like you and I.

Gassho,
Sekishi
#SatTheFool

[Nindo]

I think we should all get over our stiff roby holiness and own up to our greed and desires:



Gassho
Nindo
sattoday

PS Every year, guys, EVERY YEAR!!! How can you still fall for it???

[Yugen]

Hello,

Thank you for the lesson.

BTW for the entrepreneurs: still have franchise availability for Dogens' Donuts!
(Motto - " lf you're non-attached to emptiness, get 'attached' to Dogens' Donuts!" They're incomprehensible good/not good.)

Always right next door to "Enlightenment Hut". (Now with 24-hour drive-thru.)^^


Gassho
Myosha sat today

Experience emptiness with Dogen's Donuts Donut Holes!

Happy 1st

Deep bows
Yugen


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Nindo]

Here's my favourite youtubemusicclipofalltimes:

Nice. Tacet is good advice for many occasions.

Gassho
Nindo
sattoday

[Jishin]

Gassho, Jishin, #SatToday

[Jika]

OK, as instructed I did the Britney practice and report back.

She's got some very good dancers in her crew, doesn't she?
Guessing from the dancing the Heart Sutra recorded versions, some of our unsui have the same talent.
So that's settled, but who would be doing the Britney part??

Gassho,
Danny
#needsFugen'svideonow

[Sekishi]

Experience emptiness with Dogen's Donuts Donut Holes!

[Nenka]

Well, I think it's time we dropped this whole "right speech" thing and embraced something with a little more NSFW language!



. . . well, perhaps not . . .

Gassho

Jen

Bat Today

[Rich]

I thought it was a great idea. Been passing off song lyrics here for a long time.

Sat today

[Joyo]

Nenka, that is just hilarious!!!

Gassho,
Joyo
smokin' some weed today

oops, I forgot, April Fool's is only until noon, so then, I did sit today, promise no weed, never

[Kyonin]

This morning I promised to myself I would not fall for phony headlines and would not believe anything from the sites I like. I was doing a good job until now...

I TOTALLY FELL FOR THIS!!

As I read I was thinking what is wrong with the Heart Sutra? What's wrong with our practice? Until I got to Britney Spears. I laughed hard!

Thanks Jundo!

Gassho

Kyonin
#SatToday and feeling like a fool

[Entai]

Nenka, Thank you for that! Loved it!

And Joyo, I'm sure it was only sage.

Gassho with a smirk,
Entai
#SatToday #LaughedToday

[Ongen]

Just brilliant for me too Britney's ordination brought some sense in my thinking finally although I do remember a zazenkai where you replaced the heart sutra with a housebeat from youtube. In a way it's not an entirely bonkers idea really.

Gassho Ongen
Sat today


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Shinzan]

Jundo, you got me too with Britney!!!!!. Hardeharhar.

Nenka, thanks for the rap. I'm so down with that, sista........!!



_/st\_ Shinzan

[Nengyo]

I've been working 12 hour shifts at night and I've completely lost track of the day or time...At least that's what I'm blaming for my completely falling for this. Nice one Jundo!

[odiedoodie]

I was initially quite shocked, and surprised.
Excellent, Jundo!!!

[Luciana]

Excellent, indeed!

On a more serious note, this reminded me of some of the liturgy of Nalandabodhi, a Tibetan Buddhist sangha headquartered in Seattle. They have a book of songs written by various Tibetan eminences, and set to music by sangha members. Some of them are quite nice, in a Tibetan Buddhist way. Here's an example:



World, we live and die on your lap.
On you we experience all our woes and joys.
You are our ancestral home of old.
Forever we cherish and adore you.

We wish to transform you into the pure realm of our dreams.
We wish to transform you into a land for all creatures,
Equal for all and free of prejudice.
We wish to transform you into a loving, warm, and gentle goddess.

Our hope in you is so ever resolute.
So please be the ground on which we all may live
So all these wishes may come true,
So all these wishes may come true.

Do not show us the dark side of your character,
Where nature's calamities reign.

In every section of our world's land
May there thrive a fertile field of peace and joy,
Rich with the leaves and fruits of happiness,
Filled with the many sweet scents of freedom.
May we fulfill our countless and boundless wishes.

Composed by His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa,
Ogyen Drodul Trinley Dorje.
©2005 by His Holiness Ogyen Drodul Trinley Dorje, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa. Translated under the guidance of The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche by Tyler Dewar. Musical arrangement by Christopher Stagg and Tyler Dewar.

L.
_/\_

st