Treeleaf Coffee House - Updates and Secretary Notes

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for December 18th, 2016:

- Silence.

Gassho,
Sekishi

#sattoday

[Mp]

Hello everyone,

Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for December 18th, 2016:

- Silence.

Gassho,
Sekishi

#sattoday

Sometimes this is the best teaching. =)

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for January 1st, 2017:

- Joya-no-Kane (we did our own version today with whatever bells / noisemakers were available)
- Binge watching and vacation
- Untold History vs. The Crown
- Top Gear
- Confirmation bias
- Spider silk in hell (and pretas)
- The ant force multiplier
- Ants and relativistic velocity
- Music genres
- A Trap Christmas
- Rural living and practice
- Local sitting groups
- Home automation
- Raspberry Pi
- High fidelity
- Cryptocurrency

Gassho,
Sekishi

#sattoday


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[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for January 8th, 2017:

- Robe verse followed by the verse of atonement and the four vows
- Silence for 30 minutes.

Gassho,
Sekishi

#sattoday

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for January 15st, 2017:

- Robe verse followed by the verse of atonement and the four vows
- Bells from the "dollar store"
- Tokugawa and Meiji era history
- Admiral Perry
- Taxes and expats
- Golden Monkey Oolong
- "Snapshots of Their Lives"
- Hangouts changing?
- API, a pi, a pie!
- The Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra
- Twelve steps (and different forms)
- Atonement and finding gratitude - two sides of a coin
- Age and practice
- Linux and Gimp
- Making water better...
- Bigotry comes in many forms
- Politics is good practice
- "Nan's Never-Fail Mayonnaise"

Gassho,
Sekishi #sattoday

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for January 22nd, 2017:

- Robe verse followed by the verse of atonement and the four vows
- The legend of Bodhidharma
- Gabapentin
- Cats
- Looking directly in vs. looking away
- NAMI Connection
- CRM is what?
- On being a whole person
- The ipad and the crushed cup
- The fist of equanimity
- Hotel, hospital, dinner
- Make pain the practice
- Dysentery Dharma
- Alarm! A baby is born.
- A ten minute standup routine on childbirth
- Paging Dr. Scooter (250cc)
- Raspberry Pi
- ER Scheduling
- "Patient abandonment"
- Golden Shield?
- GeoGuessr: https://www.geoguessr.com/
- Clock speed vs. core count
- Pay to Play
- The Dark Knight
- Project Gutenberg

Gassho,
Sekishi #sattoday

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for January 29nd, 2017:

- Robe verse followed by the verse of atonement and the four vows
- Exercising through pain
- "Computer glasses" != Google Glass
- The Heart Sutra translated by Red Pine: https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Sutra-R.../dp/1593760825
- Does Walmart own Firefox? (no, they do not)
- Rakusu bags
- Rakusu colors
- Distracted driving in Texas (vs. Virginia vs. Maryland)
- On being visibly liberal
- Calendars on the wall, calendars on computers
- "Wait until you can actually do something."
- "When you are going through hell, keep going" like firewalking...
- But what about Ojizo?
- How to sell a house (hint: hardwood floors)
- Smoking in cars, smoking in living rooms, smoking in lungs
- Three nice pickups in the driveway? Texas and Geoguessr
- "The Shipwreck" is a volcanic plug
- Wall Drug - Free Ice water! http://www.walldrug.com/
- Dorris Day and Rock Hudson - Pillow Talk / Lover Come Back / Send Me No Flowers
- "This will pass."
- Hypostomus plecostomus, cichlidae, and corydoradinae
- X-ray specs? Meh. Sea-monkeys? Ok. Pen telescope? Not bad. Tippy the Turtle? DONE!
- Chrome and anti-virus
- The "Internet of Things" and botnets
- Zen and the Art of Volkswagen maintenance
- Where? "At the gettin' place."
- After a nap...
- Willie Sutton knows why.
- Dreaming of sludgy double-jumps (or - how to fly by falling and missing the Earth)

Gassho,
Sekishi #sattoday

[Mp]

Hey there folks,

Here are the notes from our Treeleaf Coffee House meeting on Feb 5th, 2017

Life and family - the challenges we can face with both
Our practice and making time
Practice is both sitting and engaging with the world
Superbowl
Surgery and recovery
Spock and the Buddha's hand mudras
Our jobs - what we do for a living
Other religions being open and accepting of other religions
The Six Realms of Samara - literal or figurative?
Mental health awareness
Not being defined by labels

Thank you for coming together, sharing, caring, and growing. =)

Here is Buddha and Spock ...

img051.jpg

or

Leonard%u00252BNimoy%u00252BSpock%u00252BStar%u00252BTrek%u00252BVulcan%u00252BSalute%u00252BHan.png

or

obama-vulcan-jpg_160657.jpg

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Sekishi]

Thank you Shingen.

Deep bows,
Sekishi #sattoday


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[Jakuden]

Love it! I have no doubt that Mr. Spock planted some pre-Zen seeds in my brain. Peace and long life
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday


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[Jundo]

I have to say something about Mr. Spock's salute and its historical origins (By the way, I am rewatching the original series now in anticipation of the new series coming). The Salute is actually an old Jewish thing that Leonard Nimoy borrowed ... known as the COHEN PRIEST BLESSING.



Small bit of trivia ...

Cohen =

"Kohen" (alt. "Cohen") - (pl. "Kohanim" or "Cohanim") - Priest;

The Kohen is a descendant of Aharon, the High Priest, the brother of Moshe. His task is to work in the Temple, be involved with the offering of sacrifices, and with Blessing the Congregation of Israel. A Kohen (or kohain; Hebrew: כֹּהֵן‎, "priest", pl. כֹּהֲנִים‎ kohanim)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohen

Question: What is a Kohen?

Answer: Temple Priests

In the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, Kohanim (plural for Kohen) were priests responsible for worship ceremonies, such as leading services, offering sacrifices, burning incense and more. To maintain a high degree of purity, Kohanim observed certain prohibitions concerning marriage and contact with the deceased.

The High Priest

The High Priest, called HaKohen HaGadol, was the head of all the priests. He conducted services in the Temple on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. And he was the only person allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, the holiest place in the Temple.

So, sometimes I like to think that I took up the old family calling ... without the cow and goat sacrifices.

Yes, some of my seeming ancestors were possibly the "bad guys" in the Jesus story, who turned him in to the Romans ... for which I am very sorry. Truly.



The Vulcan greeting is based upon a blessing gesture used by the kohanim during the worship service... Leonard Nimoy drew upon his own Jewish background to suggest the now-familiar salute.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_salute

Headstone commonly seen in many Jewish cemetaries.



All that and $1 will get me a black coffee at McDonalds.

Gassho, Live Long and Prosper, Jundo

[Mp]

That is pretty cool Jundo ... are you an ancestor of Spock? =)

Oh no ... I just thought, I know Jundo doesn't use a Keisaku stick, but you might have these powers ...

spock.jpg

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Jishin]

From familytreedna.com:

Is my direct paternal (Y-chromosome DNA) line Cohanim?

Because the Jewish populations of the world have suffered many trials and population upheavals, it is not possible to say definitively that one person is genetically Cohanim while another is not. However, scientific papers over the last decade have shown that many men with a family tradition of being Cohanim belong to the same genetic Y-chromosome lineage. This is the Cohanim Modal Haplotype (CMH). In popular culture, it is sometimes misnamed the Kohanim Gene.

I am pretty sure Jundo is the real deal. It's in his genes.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

[Jundo]

I am pretty sure Jundo is the real deal. It's in his genes.

Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_

Ah, yes, the famous Cohen Jeans ...


http://thejeansblog.com/new-denim-br...b-cohen-jeans/

They might not be in me, but I can be in them.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Zenmei]

Ah, yes, the famous Cohen Jeans ...


http://thejeansblog.com/new-denim-br...b-cohen-jeans/

They might not be in me, but I can be in them.

Gassho, J

SatToday

I love this place.

Gassho, Zenmei
#sat

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for February 12th, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Silence for 45 minutes

Gassho,
Sekishi

#sattoday

[Jundo]

Hello everyone,

Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for February 12th, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Silence for 45 minutes

Gassho,
Sekishi

#sattoday

Oh, best Coffeehouse yet!

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jika]

Thank you, Sekishi.


Gassho
Jika
st

[Jiken]

Gassho,

Jiken

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for February 19th, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Ango
- Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta
- The Zen of no beliefs
- Scarlet fever
- Keeping a quiet mind
- Ikkyu: "Attention Attention Attention!"
- Psych wards and loved ones
- Art Spiegelman's "Maus": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus
- 75th anniversary of Japanese internment
- Do we need more supervillians? At least they are easy to recognize...
- Geopolitics and religious desecration
- National anthems: as they were, as they are, and ones that have not yet come to pass
- Practice management software
- Kids these days (and their mobile soundboards)
- All the bells, bells, bells, BELLS!
- Zazenkai recordings
- The effects of Treeleaf on mobile data plans
- A meditation on jet engines and clean houses
- Old dog new carpet, new dog old carpet
- Subscribe and save - Science Diet
- Before enlightenment, do your taxes. After enlightenment, DO YOUR TAXES.
- LIFO vs. FIFO
- Keeping your living will up to date
- The three "P"s of medicine (patients, politics, and paperwork)
- The socio-economics of chicken nuggets
- The "paperless" office
- Square roots and lookup tables
- Backups ... in the cloud!

Ikkyu on Attention:
Screenshot from 2017-02-19 Ikkyu Attention Attention Attention.jpg

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for March 5th, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Make sure you have a living will AND a will will
- Work acting as a splint ("Idle hands are the devil's handiwork")
- "Idle Hands" (film) - a "stoner black comedy body horror": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138510/
- On being a bachelor
- Why don't cats get gray as they age?
- Kevin Smith on why God is likely a woman
- "The Shack" (book and now film): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872518/
- Audiobooks
- Cat apps, and apps for your cat
- Cats and doors...
- Thich Nhat Hanh and the Heart Sutra: https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Underst.../dp/1888375922
- S.N. Goenka
- Korean Zen and staring at feet
- Making up stories!
- Sit with what is - "like a cow chewing his cud"
- Seeking atonement
- Sewing the Kesa for a tree: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...sa-Buddha-tree
- Day planner, digital planner
- The vows cannot be broken, so do your best not to break them
- Realms of heaven and hell, right here in the middle of the turmoil
- The verse of atonement -- what are we atoning for?
- Dharani (Kshitigarbha / Ojizo Dharani, the Great Dharani, etc.)
- Statues abound!
- A plasma cosmic belly on Hotei
- 7 Billion Buddhas...
- Oryoki and knots
- Alton Brown's way to cook Irish oats: http://altonbrown.com/morning-steel-cut-oatmeal-recipe/

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Jakuden]

I wish I could attend these, but Sunday afternoon is family time (plus the $&@% $$$ data modem). Funny to read the recaps though, thanks
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday


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[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for March 19th, 2017:

- A punk-rock Kesa
- Sewing talk
- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- OK management, back to school!
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC)
- It is all good (mal)practice
- "When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras.": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_(medicine)
- The "roots" of gardening (teehee)
- Zombie Roomie (webcomic): http://zombieroomie.com
- "Hi, I'm Phil from Punxsutawney."
- Gandalf and the Cone of Shame
- Silver Spring Zendo / One Heart Sangha
- MBSR classes
- Where do you come from?
- "Woo-woo" is all relative
- Sometimes arrogance is baked right in
- Acting like a drill sergent, acting like a chaplain
- The Naming Of Cats by T. S. Eliot (see below).
- The antigens of cat saliva
- Treeleaf on Insight Timer
- "Doctor" means "teacher" in Latin
- The Heart Sutra
- smile.amazon.com
- Sunday sitting
- The three "P's": patients, paperwork, politics
- Misuse of sexuality
- Cameras at the park
- Face It Together: http://www.wefaceittogether.org/
- Addiction, work, and hitting bottom (or moving the bottom up)
- Removing all routes of escape...

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Ryumon]

How does one access this again? I can't find anything in this thread. It might be good to include access info in each recap for those wanting to join.

Gassho,

Kirk

[Mp]

How does one access this again? I can't find anything in this thread. It might be good to include access info in each recap for those wanting to join.

Gassho,

Kirk

Hey Kirk,

This is just the summary of the Coffeehouse, all the information to access it is in this thread. Sekishi will always post it here: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho
Shingen

s@today

[Sekishi]

How does one access this again? I can't find anything in this thread. It might be good to include access info in each recap for those wanting to join.

Hi Kirk (and anyone who has this question),

As Shingen's points out, on Friday or Saturday I post a new announcement and link in the sticky thread 'Please Join Our Weekly "Treeleaf Coffee House"' under Topics About All of Life.

I also post an event to the Treeleaf Sangha Google Plus group, and send out an invitation to all members of that group. If you are a member of the Treeleaf Sangha group on Google Plus, you should get a notification, and see it as an upcoming event under the "Events" section. For example (these are past events, but same idea):
Screenshot from 2017-03-20 10:23:43-googleplus-events.jpg

In the future I will also include a link to the Coffee House thread in my weekly secretary notes (good idea!).

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Ryumon]

Thank.

I don't use Google Plus any more, so I wouldn't see the notifications. I do follow the Treeleaf group on Facebook though...

Gassho,

Kirk

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for March 26th, 2017:

- Calendars
- Manitoba
- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Now entering: "Bonus Years"
- Regrets, I've had a few... ("My Way" by Frank Sinatra):


- Jukai and Dharma names
- Van Gogh and bipolar disorder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincen...ogh%27s_health
- "Lust for Life" by Irving Stone
- James Michner (Hawaii, Chesapeake, etc.)
- Dr. Who
- Hey app, can you guess my age?
- "Three Pillars of Zen" by Phillip Kapleau
- Google Plus and Hangouts: whats new this week?
- "Liberty's Kids"
- "Old Path White Clouds" by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Crabapple blossoms and Facebook
- Taking photos in public (and taking photos OF the public)
- Sending a flower for a flower
- What was his name? Mahakashyapa!
- The Dogen / Zen movie:


- Dr. Who Dharma: "Like breath on a mirror."
- "We all change, when you think about it, we're all different people; all through our lives, and that's okay, that's good, you've gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be."
- It takes a while...
- Used cameras and factory refurbs
- The Harvard Brain Bank
- Tardive Dyskinesia
- Sweetgrass smudge? I'm trying to work here!
- Intoxicants (in their many forms)
- Soda and energy drinks
- The precepts and bosses
- Kombucha!
- The Coffeehouse - an intoxicant?

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for April 2nd, 2017:

- Housework
- Around and around the DharmaWheel(.net)
- Sojiji and Eihiji
- Dogen and history
- Ordination
- John Daido Lori on VHS
- Vudu and media
- The Charlie Chan films
- Bela Lugosi
- Books
- The Thin Man
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Man_(film)
-- Radio drama version: https://archive.org/details/thinmanotr_201412
- The Last of Shelia

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for April 9nd, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Preparing kids for university
- Empty nests...
- Practice - like brushing your teeth
- Shakuhachi as practice
- Fuke Zen (sect): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuke-sh%C5%AB
- Being social
- Treeleafers in Virginia
- Ordination and Treeleaf
- History and keeping good records
- When every threat is an existential threat.
- Book - "Zen at War": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_at_War
- Buddhism's fluffy reputation in the west
- Institutions and power structures
- Book - "Prisoners of ShangriLa": https://books.google.com/books?id=mjUHF7kQfVAC
- Mental illness and art
- Perceiving via the sixth sense gate is no more a fabrication than any other
- Apophatic (philosophy via the "negative") vs. Cataphatic (philosophy via the "positive")
- Like a polar-bear in a snowstorm

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for April 16nd, 2017:

- Commodore 64's, 1541 drives, and creativity
- Quick Brown Fox
- Attention to detail
- Alan Watts
- Creation grows vs. creation was made
- Some mental experiences are amazing, but you cannot use the data...
- The Vallejo Ferry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vallejo_(ferry)
- Dill pickle ice cream?
- Treeleaf friends
- Proximity breeds familiarity
- Easter as a batchelor
- Local sitting groups
- Video hangouts via: zoom.us
- Skillfull media consumption
- Turning the firehose into a squirtgun: feedly.com
- Aches and pains of social isolation
- Google Plus
- Walking
- Human echo-location: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_echolocation
- Dog stories

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for April 23nd, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Pets and practice
- Cat logic - a lesson in perspective
- Kwan Um
- Rakusu case how-to
- Le Pen, Trump, and the state of US & European politics
- Jeffersonian history and writing
- Cashing in on that sweet sweet Hatfield-McCoy feud money
- Prolactin, neonatal galactorrhea and pseudomenses: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama...bstract/512784
- "Catlateral Damage" - The premier first-person destructive cat simulator.: http://www.catlateraldamage.com/
- Summer is (almost) here and the lawn grows by itself
- Hunters, dogs, and interbeing
- Repainting a dungeon
- 3d print your own 22x22 Rubik's Cube: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1267855/
- Physical beings like physical artifacts
- A Buddha in Vegas
- How to pack for a 10 day trip with only carry-on luggage
- Hurry up and sit (or "how not to get a speeding ticket on the way to a sitting")
- Chinchillas and cat stories

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for April 30nd, 2017:

- The jingle of a dog collar would be good right here
- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Watching Trek in order
- Syndication == "no end customer in mind"
- Swamp Thing - the series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_Thing:_The_Series
- "Avatar with Blue People" vs. the swamp benders:

You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree. ...
Time is an illusion and so is death.
~The "Swampbender" Huu

- Breaking the outer glass on the Trieste
- Jenner and self-testing smallpox inoculation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner
- Licking the pellagra saliva sample
- Corn, grits, and Montezuma's REAL revenge
- Sewing as a lifelong practice
- The subcuticular stitch - Namu Kie Butsu...
- My dog, the unwitting terrorist
- "Nature's Miracle" and bio-enzymatic awesomeness
- Sitting and sewing - no talking! :-P
- Dharma names in different traditions
- Rokugo and Katsura Sunshine:

- Dave Bull's modern ukiyo-e heroes: http://ukiyoeheroes.com/
- He-gassen paintings (historical fart art): http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosh...i04_01029.html
- "Supreme Skills" on NHK World: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/tv/supremeskills/
- The Treeleaf Kombucha Cafe
- Kana vs. romaji
- Supportive housing for homeless veterans
- Alpha dogs, omega dogs
- David Loy's Zazenkai and talk
- Brainstorming the Treeleaf Engaged Center
- A Bodhisattva does not refer to herself as such
- Am I doing enough? Pick a problem and work it!
- The value of a smile or a laugh
- The virtue of short legs
- You never know...
- Gojo Bodhisattva
- Monthly engaged practice?
- People are people, not vending machines
- "Little Kindnesses"

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for May 7th, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- City and country
- GABA analogue
- Chanting and memory
- Right to the heart of the matter...
- The Heart Sutra as expounded by TNH and Red Pine
- Friends and circles within the Sangha
- Sit like a cow...
- The house Norwegian brothers built
- What is retirement all about?
- The pain of fast movement, the pain of slow movement
- "It's neat to be 65!"
- Debt, consolidation, and avoidance
- Big Poetry thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...072-Big-Poetry
- Therapy over the long term
- The gassho -- less intrusive than a handshake and includes all beings!
- The Litter Kwitter: https://litterkwitter.com/
- echo .. Echo .. ECHO!
- Jukai and formalities and joyful noises
- Breaking vows in order to make vows
- Water rockets -- a gateway to larger rockets
- Gliders
- Radio controlled paper airplanes: https://www.poweruptoys.com/products/powerup-v3
- Turning a 1992 Reliant Robin into a space shuttle: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074gf0
- Adam Savage and Tested: http://www.tested.com/
- Adam Savage and Michael Stevens in Brain Candy Live: http://www.braincandylive.com/
- Digital Art
- Mothers and Fathers
- Sailing
- Endings? What endings?
- 360 projections and Google Cardboard: https://vr.google.com/cardboard/
- Sangha in my pocket
- Heart Sutra, memory, and the mokugyo
- "Egg pod" burial? http://www.capsulamundi.it/en/
- Ask a Mortician: https://www.youtube.com/user/OrderoftheGoodDeath
- "My father the Alpo"
- Clandestine cremains
- Small towns

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for May 14th, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- The world is not flat, for if it was the cats would have shoved everything off by now
- Nothing brings us back to the present moment like a locomotive passing by
- Be with what is, even if that is a dog barking in the Zendo for 15 minutes
- Ikea mutants - those who visit but do not buy, those who have never been
- Curbside shopping? Good deals can be found at the end of the semester
- Cloth and clothing: fabric weight vs. airflow
- Puppies! :-) Carpet. :-(
- Media storage
- Butter - helps the powdered cheese stick better
- The Drive-in Theater - A way to singing along to Beauty and the Beast in the privacy of your car
- Mosquito coils - "PICs for punks"
- Throat singing? Nope.
- Sino-Japanese vocabulary and pronunciation
- The dialects of ASL and other signed languages
- (Re)introductions
- Canada, Ned Flanders, and the Devils Lettuce
- "My Winnipeg": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093842/
- That theatrical production in the church basement
- People watching
- A flaneur - A "stroller", "lounger", "saunterer", or "loafer" (from the French noun flâneur), searching for adventure and excitement
- Yoda says ...
- The 1953 watersnoodramp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_flood_of_1953
- The grammar of "teutophile"
- The memorization and cross-pollination of the Heart Sutra
- On training for chaplaincy
- When the cat produces a hairball made from dog hair
- OK Google, when do cats ... lose their baby teeth
- Practice like a weeble, wobble but do not fall down
- Summer retreat
- On saying "yes" but maintaining boundaries
- A proposal: UTC-only for all Treeleaf events (no really, it is a good idea!)
- A blind tiger

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Jakuden]

- The world is not flat, for if it was the cats would have shoved everything off by now

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday

[Meian]

"- The world is not flat, for if it was the cats would have shoved everything off by now"

I have seen this circulating on social media and it still makes me laugh! I have two cats (or rather, they have me) - and this is very true! My dog has no attention span (except for food and the cats!) and even he respects flat surfaces more than my cats do.

I hope some day to attend this get together - I always seem to have family activities going on at the same time. But i read the notes and find them so amusing and interesting, one day maybe I can stop in and say hello ♡

Gassho
Kim
Sat today

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for May 29th, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- (Ack, no meal verse this week?!)
- Zazen
- "Fine, real fine."
- Sesshin
- Nebraska Zen Center
- Mutt Practice
- Gifts from friends
- 30 years of AA
- Astronomy
- Children and parents
- "When laughing, laugh. When crying, cry. When eating a cookie..." [OM NOM NOM]
- Giving advice, listening to advice
- Sit short, sit long, just sit!
- Waiting for something to happen
- Writing and reading poetry on Google Plus
- Sitting groups using Zoom: http://zoom.us/
- Heart Sutra in the car
- Dokusan?
- On being a poet (and looking for an audience)
- On searching for a "higher power"
- Relationships as living breathing things
- What the poet sees
- Impermanence and Shakespeare
- "The wheels of the Dharma bus go round and round (though reality is boundless!)"
- Juzu beads
- On ordering a Facebook photobook
- "Take this Lollipop": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_This_Lollipop
- On building a computer
- Shel Silverstein and "avoidance by incompetence" (why yes, this topic IS Deja Vu...)

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat #lah

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for June 4th, 2017:

- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Poetry big and small
- "Desiree" is a beautiful name
- Verse of atonement (yes, again - we can never have too much atonement)
- The semiotics of the icepack
- How wonderful the bones in the back of the throat
- On getting "unstuck"
- Fugen
- Teachers, teachers EVERYWHERE
- It is all about love
- 1/#'"[carrier lost]
- AA
- "Ocean's 11" (1960 vs. 2001): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean's_11
- Free Wifi in Vegas!
- Ginkgophyta ginkgoopsida ginkgoales...
- The hangesa and wagesa

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showt...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat #lah

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for June 11th, 2017:

- The world is bowing
- How do YOU fold the Rakusu?
- Reviewing Taigu's videos
- On de-linting
- Silk, cotton, and the tree in the courtyard
- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Zazen
- Dharma tracks...
- You go north, I'll go south
- On Kannon and canons
- Trapdoors for old monks with sore legs
- Just sit, then just fall (but try not to please!)
- On waiting for the eldest to rise before standing
- How an echo shuts down the brain
- Wooden mortar or salad bowl as Mokugyu? It is all just words!
- The snipe-bot bodhisattva - showing us our attachments
- Propane tank gong
- On winning millions in the Powerball, but coming to the Coffeehouse anyway
- On having your son returned from the ocean, but without a hat
- Deepening our institutional understanding of the Kesa and sizing
- Measuring this body for the Kesa
- Concrete waits for no woman!
- Tall pants on the bottom shelf, short pands on the top shelf
- Don't panic, but it's The Hitchhiker's Guide...
- On 35 years of marriage
- How to appear twice on the Treeleaf member map
- On visiting the British Museum of Plundered Goods
- Dharma tracks (again)...
- The Ego
- Ownership? Pshaw. Not "my hearing" nor "my thoughts" nor "my body" nor ...
- Partner say "Go read this book about Buddhism" ... Pleeeeeaaase?
- (Good thing) "I did it!" vs. (Mistake) "I did it!"
- Dr. Strange and the "little I"
- Potato practice
- Loren Eiseley on Starfish - "It sure made a difference to that one.": https://www.goodreads.com/author/quo....Loren_Eiseley
- Monty Python and The Universe Song:


-- Or if you prefer - here is a version performed by Stephen Hawking:


- "One raindrop raises the sea.": https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/254...raises-the-sea

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.annmariegarden.org/annmar...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat #lah

[Sekishi]

Hello everyone,

The Treeleaf Coffeehouse secretary report for June 18th, 2017:

- Hiding cat, crouching tiger
- The week
- Robe verse
- Verse of atonement and the four vows
- Meal verse
- Zazen
- Insight Timer idea - Treeleaf ceremonies followed by 15, 20, and 30 minute sittings
- Teaching of an "imperfect" bell
- Dharma "Mancave"
- Simile of the (Australian) shepherd leading the (German) shepherd
- Short delay = brain failure
- No, really! Brain. Failure.: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spee...597426372?mt=8
- Undertaking the precepts with burning yarn (on the skin!)
- Buddhist reading? Just garbage!
- Every patient-doctor interaction should be a teaching.
- On hating reading.
- Tricycle, Lionsroar, and other Buddhist magazines
- The map is not the territory.
- Idea: perma-Hangouts?
- 360 degree cameras
- A kechimyaku goes into a Michaels...
- On the value of aspirational practice
- On form and emptiness (and the balance between them)
- Meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. Meet a ghost, kill the ghost.
- On cube shaped marshmallows
- SNAKISMS - Various philosophical -isms explained with a classic video game: https://www.pippinbarr.com/2017/01/25/snakisms/
- Memory, it is the second thing to go.
- Watch out for the Goldwater Rule yo!
- "Traits" vs. "disorders"
- The Price Equation - a mathematical basis for altruism (with a sad ending): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_R._Price

Want to get to know your fellow Sangha members in an informal setting? Join us for a brief ceremony and casual discussion on practice and life via Google Hangouts every Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm EST. A link to the Hangout is posted sometime the day before in the Coffeehouse thread: http://www.annmariegarden.org/annmar...f-Coffee-House

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat #lah