What is Ango?
Ango means “peaceful dwelling and abiding”. It is a period of concentrated and committed practice, usually lasting three months in most traditions, held often in the summer but in other seasons as well. The roots of Ango arise from the earliest days of the Buddhist monastic community in India, when monks and nuns would cease their wandering and settle together in one place for the rainy season. Even today in Zen monasteries of Japan, Ango is a time of intense and rigorous training, typically including long hours of Zazen, short hours for sleep, formal meals taken in the Zendo (meditation hall), and a structured schedule for the rest of the day comprising periods for work, liturgy, study, rest, and personal needs. In the West, most Zen groups have adapted the form of the three month practice period to the needs and demands of life in their communities.
Ango at Treeleaf
In keeping with the philosophy and path of practice here at Treeleaf, we will seek to obtain many of the same (and quite a few additional and very special) fruits and lessons of a traditional Ango, while sitting within the “monastery” of our day-to-day lives, jobs, problems, unending distractions and family responsibilities.
In doing so we will have the opportunity to taste the sweetness (and sometime bitterness) of concentrated practice, and learn lessons, in many ways more poignant, practical, immediate and powerful than what might be known even to monks locked away in a mountain monastery. As always, we will be tasting the power of this practice in the world, in daily life, not hidden away from it all.
At Treeleaf we believe that “intensity” of practice can best be attained not by increasing the raw quantity, bodily discomfort or physical isolation of practice, but primarily and powerfully by bringing new sincerity, commitment, vigor, equanimity, goallessness and seriousness into what we may already do in our daily life.
As each person’s life situation, family and work responsibilities vary, we will be happy to consult with you, to adjust and design a practice schedule and content to fit your circumstances. However, the most important point to keep in mind is that those work duties at the office, daily problems, worries, illnesses, and family responsibilities are the practice place, just as much as the Zafu (sitting cushion). The home kitchen, the office, store or factory, our sickbed or tending to the needs of another, children and loved ones, each presents countless opportunities for practice, and for manifesting wisdom and compassion.
One can be flexible in designing one’s schedule, and flexible in meeting the changing demands of each day, but commitment to “stick with this” is required. One might change the order of things, even push certain practices back a few days, but equally one must not let things become neglected, and must somehow promptly find the time to accomplish all that one has committed to do. There is flexibility and moderation, but not laxity. The purpose is not to overwhelm or “burn out” with overdoing; it is to mutually work together through a period of dedicated practice with sincerity, slow and steady. We will do our best each and every day, and let Zazen soak into our life. But key to that is consistency, not giving up, finding the time and not quitting.
Every Ango participant will be required to commit to a few practices and activities during the three months of practice. These include daily zazen, attending one of the weekly zazennkai (a 90-minute or longer meeting, where zazen is practiced, along with a short ceremony and a dharma talk), studying the bodhisattva precepts together with the sangha and discussing them as a group, giving up something that’s meaningful in some way, participating in our two-day, fully online retreat held in December and a few other small things. Participants are encourage to also consider other ways of intensifying their practice.
Jukai
At Treeleaf, we use the opportunity provided by the Ango practice period to prepare candidates for Jukai, which is a ceremony during which one receives and commits to the sixteen bodhisattva precepts. During Ango, Jukai aspirants engage in a group-study of the precepts, spend time deepening their practice by engaging with Ango activities, sew a Rakusu and join in a two-day retreat. More information about Jukai can be found here.
How to participate
If you feel called to join our Ango practice period, we’d be delighted to have you and support you, so you can make the most of this opportunity to dedicate yourself in a more meaningful way to the practice. You can sign up for this year’s practice period below. If you wish to receive the precepts and participate in our Jukai, make sure to mark Yes in the Jukai field of the sign-up form.
🔴 VERY IMPORTANT
In order to participate fully in our Ango, you will have to create an account on Treeleaf Forum in case you are not already a member. Here, you’ll find a simple tutorial on how to become a member of the forum.
Resources
Below you’ll find a useful page of resouces that details all the activities included in our Ango period, provides information about the shusos leading the practice, and relevant links. Please revisit this page as often as needed, to remind yourself of the commitments made, of the required activities, the dates for special events and to benefit from many other useful pieces of information. You’ll find a permanent link to the Ango Resources page in the Resources menu of our website as well. This page is password-protected, so once you sign up for Ango, you’ll be given access to it.