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Thread: Pocket Zen Liturgy

  1. #1

    Pocket Zen Liturgy

    I know we have a new chant book coming soon so this will need updating shortly, but I wanted to share it with sangha-mates. I like to carry around little pocket reminders/gathas and I created a Zen Liturgy Pocketmod. Just print onto a single sheet of paper and fold according to the instructions.



    You can also head over to Pocketmod and make your own.

    This is one small way I found to permeate my day with practice. I would love to hear about things you guys do, besides zazen of course.

    Attached files

  2. #2

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Great idea Shinkai! I have a folded copy of the Heart Sutra I carry around in my pocket...after it goes through the wash a few times, I end up having to print up a new one. Your methods seems more carefully thought out and will have to give it a try. Thanks!

    Gassho,
    Jisen/BrianW

  3. #3

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Thank you, Shinkai. Very neat and very neat.

    Gassho, J

  4. #4

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Dude, this is awesome. Thanks so much!

    Quote Originally Posted by Shinkai
    I would love to hear about things you guys do, besides zazen of course.
    Yeah. I would too. Cause lately I'm having trouble even doing zazen. My wife bought me a zafu.
    That was a wonderful surprise. No more pillows!!! But then soon after getting it I got to the point
    where I just didn't want to sit anymore. Not just the usual trick of the mind boredom. But a real
    aversion to it. It started seeming like a big waste of time. I know. Now instead of wasting my
    time sitting I usually waste it playing Donkey Kong or watching Family Guy. Not that these aren't
    important parts of the Buddhist path of course :lol: . But I can't seem to get myself back on my butt.

    Before that... I sat in the mornings and again before bed. I tried to be mindful or (better word)
    grateful for my life in little ways. When taking a shower I gave thanks for the water. I might
    say something like "May I flow with the energy of this day." When eating I tried to think of one
    person in my life who was suffering and vow to try to do at least one thing differently that day
    that might make my actions a force for good. Well, all this sounds noble. But for the most part
    I played Donkey Kong and watched Family Guy. I write haiku which keeps me grounded and open
    to the wonder of the moment. I practice noticing resistance in myself to people and situations
    and then try to open myself to "things as it is," as Suzuki would say. But for the most part I
    played Donkey Kong and watched Family Guy. I hope this wasn't too boring. :roll:

    gassho
    ghop

  5. #5

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Shinkai,

    Thank you, this is lovely! It is just what i needed today...reminders of why I practice, and how to do it better.

    Gassho,
    Kelly-Jinmei

  6. #6

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Fantastic, Shinkai! I never thought of using those for liturgy. I recently picked up a copy of Thich Nhat Hahn's Stepping into Freedom which has a bunch of gathas for everything you could possibly think of. I sometimes forget the importance of gathas in our daily life so thank you again for posting this idea.

    As far as everything else, I just try to see through the "you" and "I" of everything. Being home from college for the summer has been a bit of culture shock and often times I will find myself peeved by family and responsibilities I have when I'm not lounging my life away at school. When feeling a bit of "teenager angst" I just try to sit back and sit up (when I'm seething I tend to slouch and furrow my brow, sitting up straight brings back the "zazen-mind") and forget the idea of self and other. Easier said than done, I know, but one drop of water each moment will eventually fill an ocean.

    Gassho
    Taylor

  7. #7

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    THANK YOU!!

    This is why I LOVE TL and it's members.

    Many vows to you, Shinkai!

  8. #8

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Shinkai....is there a way to created one with the Heart Sutra? ops: :wink: :|

  9. #9

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Thanks Shinkai...very neat!

    Gassho,


    Seishin Kyrill

  10. #10

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Quote Originally Posted by chicanobudista
    Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Shinkai....is there a way to created one with the Heart Sutra? ops: :wink: :|
    Sure, here is a Heart Sutra version. The translation is from Jundo's Jukai ceremony booklet.

  11. #11

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Quote Originally Posted by Shinkai

    Sure, here is a Heart Sutra version. The translation is from Jundo's Jukai ceremony booklet.
    tee-hee! THANKS! :mrgreen:

  12. #12

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Quote Originally Posted by Taylor
    Fantastic, Shinkai! I never thought of using those for liturgy. I recently picked up a copy of Thich Nhat Hahn's Stepping into Freedom which has a bunch of gathas for everything you could possibly think of. I sometimes forget the importance of gathas in our daily life so thank you again for posting this idea.
    I really enjoyed this book also! If you haven't already read it, I highly recommend The Dragon Who Never Sleeps: Verses for Zen Buddhist Practice by Robert Aitken. I posted a few of my favorites from the book in this thread. It's my favorite volume of gathas and it inspired me to start writing my own.

  13. #13

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Quote Originally Posted by ghop
    Well, all this sounds noble. But for the most part
    I played Donkey Kong and watched Family Guy. I write haiku which keeps me grounded and open
    to the wonder of the moment. I practice noticing resistance in myself to people and situations
    and then try to open myself to "things as it is," as Suzuki would say. But for the most part I
    played Donkey Kong and watched Family Guy.
    You sound like me, except replace Donkey Kong with Halo 3/Left 4 Dead and replace Family Guy with X-Files/Chuck/Fringe. Sometimes I make myself sit on my zafu while playing video games or watching TV.

    These attachments are why I keep pushing... designing and printing out elaborate reminders, writing little snippets of gathas, saying the verse of atonement over and over again.

  14. #14

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Awesome Shinkai....many bows and high fives!!!

    Gassho,
    Dosho

  15. #15

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Quote Originally Posted by ghop
    My wife bought me a zafu.
    That was a wonderful surprise. No more pillows!!! But then soon after getting it I got to the point
    where I just didn't want to sit anymore. Not just the usual trick of the mind boredom. But a real
    aversion to it. It started seeming like a big waste of time. I know. Now instead of wasting my
    time sitting I usually waste it playing Donkey Kong or watching Family Guy.
    Donkey Kong is just as pointless as Zen practice. In fact, the game is truly pointless, while Zazen is pointless ... but with a point. The video game just has more bells and whistles, flashing lights and noise to distract the mind. If I put buzzers and sirens on the Zafu, and had it automatically award points for how long you sat there, it might have about the same effect. Donkey Kong is the self fooling itself that it is "accomplishing" something (granted, there might be minor improvements in hand eye coordination that we do not attain in Zazen ... although we do in Oryoki). The mind just fights being put "out of a job", and does not know how to drop the achieving, and getting somewhere, and winning points that the game fools the 'self' into thinking it is getting (because, of course, the points and "getting somewhere" are just electronic illusions on a screen).

    Donkey Kong will get you nothing by a few hours' satisfaction ... as the games pass, and the time is killed. Both Zazen and Donkey Kong are an absolute waste of time ... though Zazen will allow one to see absolutely that there is no "time". Zazen will get you freedom in this moment ... as one realizes that there are no points awarded in life, that the obstacles and barrels to jump over are of the mind's own making, as is the ape-self who is chasing us ... as 'jumpman' realizes there is no place to jump ... as the mental rivets are removed and the Koan Kong falls into emptiness ...

    Gassho, J

    PS - On the other hand, "Family Guy" is funny. Maybe you could watch that between sittings though?

  16. #16

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Thanks for this, Shinkai! I carry around the four vows and verse of atonement on a tattered 3x5 card folded in half with the verses hidden inside. Your printed version is a dream! I love to use Thich Nhat Hanh's little gatha book as inspiration - "Present Moment, Wonderful Moment." And I always say the Treeleaf meal chant before eating, no matter how small the meal. The meal chant has become enough of a habit that my husband and I recite it even at restaurants, complete with our hands in gassho. We live in Humboldt County, behind the Redwood Curtain, where it's perpetually 1975, so our little public practice doesn't get much notice

    Gassho,
    Jikyo

  17. #17

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    You and Jenn are fabulous.

    Deep Gassho,

    SZ

  18. #18

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    This is beautiful, and just enough room for a few pen and ink illustrations!
    thank-you,

    Sylvie

  19. #19

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Quote Originally Posted by Silva
    This is beautiful, and just enough room for a few pen and ink illustrations!
    I'm so messy I'm capable to write my shopping list on it :lol:
    But Thanks Shinkai it's really nice and neat! I just printed it :roll:
    And that Pocket Mod thing is very interesting!

    gassho,
    Luis/Jinyu

  20. #20
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    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Shinkai,

    Very nice, thank you!

    Ron

  21. #21

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo
    Both Zazen and Donkey Kong are an absolute waste of time ... though Zazen will allow one to see absolutely that there is no "time". Zazen will get you freedom in this moment ... as one realizes that there are no points awarded in life, that the obstacles and barrels to jump over are of the mind's own making, as is the ape-self who is chasing us ... as 'jumpman' realizes there is no place to jump ... as the mental rivets are removed and the Koan Kong falls into emptiness ...
    Where do you get this stuff? :lol:

    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo
    If I put buzzers and sirens on the Zafu, and had it automatically award points for how long you sat there, it might have about the same effect
    Hey, now there's an idea! :shock:

    You guys are great!

    gassho

  22. #22

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Love the booklet and pocketmod is pretty neat too!

    Gassho Nigel

  23. #23

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Hiyas
    Firstly - AWESOME-SAUCE . I work/whatever @ a university print shop has a ...pfft whatever... and you, Shinkai and Jen too, have done a great job with these booklets. I must admit i still have big messes of papers sewn...yeah i stitched with needle and thread ... some of the Chant books etc. This is much nicer and portable (and presentable!!) Thank you for your efforts!

    Gassho
    Shohei

  24. #24

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    This is totally awesome! Thanks for doing this, Shinkai!

  25. #25

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Awesome, I spend many time on plains and waiting in airports, it is of great benefit for me and it can be put away so easily,

    gassho

    Ensho

  26. #26

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    This is really, really cool! I've started to incorporate liturgy in my daily practice, and this makes it a lot easier to do!

  27. #27

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Bumping this thread for n00bs and those who are looking for a portable way to increase their practice during the upcoming Ango period.

  28. #28

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Oh how I love when gems from before my time here surface! Shinkai this is awesome!! Thank you for sharing and re-sharing this! I printed both the Heart Sutra and the Zen Liturgy and they look and work like a dream!!! Many bows for this _/_

    Gassho,
    John

  29. #29

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Dear Shinkai!

    Thank you so much! It is actually a very useful tool for our practice! I will have mine handy all the time

  30. #30

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo
    Donkey Kong is just as pointless as Zen practice. In fact, the game is truly pointless, while Zazen is pointless ... but with a point. The video game just has more bells and whistles, flashing lights and noise to distract the mind. If I put buzzers and sirens on the Zafu, and had it automatically award points for how long you sat there, it might have about the same effect. Donkey Kong is the self fooling itself that it is "accomplishing" something (granted, there might be minor improvements in hand eye coordination that we do not attain in Zazen ... although we do in Oryoki). The mind just fights being put "out of a job", and does not know how to drop the achieving, and getting somewhere, and winning points that the game fools the 'self' into thinking it is getting (because, of course, the points and "getting somewhere" are just electronic illusions on a screen).

    Donkey Kong will get you nothing by a few hours' satisfaction ... as the games pass, and the time is killed. Both Zazen and Donkey Kong are an absolute waste of time ... though Zazen will allow one to see absolutely that there is no "time". Zazen will get you freedom in this moment ... as one realizes that there are no points awarded in life, that the obstacles and barrels to jump over are of the mind's own making, as is the ape-self who is chasing us ... as 'jumpman' realizes there is no place to jump ... as the mental rivets are removed and the Koan Kong falls into emptiness ...
    Jundo,

    You just gave something really serious to think. As an avid gamer all my life, I have come to realize that I no longer feel the urge to keep on playing. I like video games, but I haven't found the real reason why I have been slowing down my intake, so to speak.

    Thank you.

  31. #31

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Very cool Shinkai. I also learned from folding the Pocketmod that origami is not something that I am very good at. While it is functional its not very pretty. :P

    Gassho,
    Bryan

  32. #32

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Thank you for sharing Shinkai. Very nice indeed.
    Gassho

  33. #33

    Re: Pocket Zen Liturgy

    Very nice, Shinkai.
    Gassho,

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