Sept 6th/7th, 2013 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! - ANGO BEGINS!

[Jundo]

Today's Zazenkai marks the COMMENCEMENT of our ANGO (90 Day Tranquil Dwelling)!

ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR ANGO!!!!! :p

The Talk today will reflect on "Ango Now and Then" ... (text below in this thread) ...

Please 'sit-a-long' with our MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI, netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 7pm to 11pm, Los Angeles 4pm to 8pm (Friday night), London midnight to 4am and Paris 1am to 5am (early Saturday morning)) ... and visible at the following link during those times ...

... to be visible at the following link during those times and any time thereafter ...

LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST at GOOGLE+ IS HERE:
CLICK ON THE TAB ON LOWER RIGHT FOR 'FULL SCREEN

http://youtu.be/qwnbGETd810

FOR THOSE NOT ALREADY MEMBERS OF THE CIRCLE WHO WISH TO JOIN TO SIT LIVE WITH A CAMERA, INSTRUCTIONS are posted AT THIS LINK (http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?10200-How-to-Join-GOOGLE-for-Zazenkai). 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:

The Sitting Schedule is as follows;

00:00 - 00:50 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA / SANDOKAI IN ENGLISH) & ZAZEN
00:50 - 01:00 KINHIN
01:00 - 01:30 ZAZEN
01:30 - 01:50 KINHIN

01:50 - 02:30 DHARMA TALK & ZAZEN
02:30 - 02:40 KINHIN

02:40 - 03:15 ZAZEN
03:15 - 03:30 KINHIN
03:30 - 04:00 METTA CHANT & ZAZEN, VERSE OF ATONEMENT, FOUR VOWS, & CLOSING


Our Zazenkai consists of our chanting the 'Heart Sutra' and the 'Identity of Relative and Absolute (Sandokai)' in English (please download our Chant Book at the link below), some full floor prostrations (please follow along with me ... or a simple Gassho can be substituted if you wish), a little talk by me ... and we close with the 'Metta Chant', followed at the end with the 'Verse of Atonement' and 'The Four Vows'. Oh, and lots and lots of Zazen and walkin' Kinhin in between!

Please download and print out the Chants we will recite at the following link (PDF):

Chant Book (PDF) (http://www.treeleaf.org/treeleaf_zazenkai_chant_book.pdf)

or

Chant Book (SHORT VERSION HTML) (http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?7032-Weekly-Monthly-Zazenkai-Chant-Book-is-Here)

I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU POSITION YOUR ZAFU ON THE FLOOR IN A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE NOT STARING DIRECTLY AT THE COMPUTER SCREEN, BUT CAN GLANCE OVER AND SEE THE SCREEN WHEN NECESSARY. YOUR ZAFU SHOULD ALSO BE IN A POSITION WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE COMPUTER SCREEN WHILE STANDING IN FRONT OF THE ZAFU FOR THE CEREMONIES, AND HAVE ROOM FOR BOWING AND KINHIN.

ALSO, REMEMBER TO SET YOUR COMPUTER (& SCREEN SAVER) SO THAT IT DOES NOT SHUT OFF DURING THE 4 HOURS.

I hope you will join us ... an open Zafu is waiting. When we drop all thought of 'here' 'there' 'now' 'then' ... we are sitting all together!

[Jundo]

Please read the following in preparation for our Zazenkai ... These Passages will be the center of today's talk ...

Ango Then and Now ...

What is Ango in our day and time, for householders in the modern West? Is it Ango as the Buddha, Dogen and all the Ancestors Practiced?

The meaning of the Japanese word Ango [安居] (Skt : varsha or varshika; Pali: vassa ) is “tranquil dwelling”. The origin is the “rainy-season retreat” , the period when Buddhist monks in India stopped their travels and outdoor activities for the duration of the rainy season and gathered at some sheltered location to devote themselves to Practice, study and discipline. One practical reason was because the heavy rainfall made traveling and outdoor activities impractical. But it was also a time when the individual monks in Buddha’s time, spending most of the year scattered here and there in small groups or individually, could gather and unite as a community and Practice together. During the rainy season in India, monks traditionally dwelt in a cave or a monastery for three months—from the sixteenth day of the fourth month to the fifteenth day of the seventh month. During this period the monks learned the Buddha's teachings, engaged in meditation and other practices, and repented their harmful behavior and weaknesses. The tradition is said to have begun during the time of Shakyamuni, was brought to China, and in Japan the three-month retreat was first observed in 683. Now it comes to us.

In the time of Master Dogen, Ango was a period of intense Practice mostly (but not exclusively) for monks living in a monastery. In his early years, Dogen’s Teachings emphasized that Zazen and Enlightenment are open to all, monks or householders, male or female, everyone. Later in life however, Dogen found himself chased out of the cosmopolitan capital city by other religious groups, turning to live in a remote and isolated monastery in the snowy mountains of Japan. Although in other writings to his lay students, Dogen continued to emphasize how this Way is open to all, his writings like Shobogenzo were meant to be talks heard primarily by his monks, meant to encourage monks in their monastic life and “keep up morale”, and thus, quite naturally, centered on the importance of Practice in a monastic setting.

But does that mean that Ango is not for householders as well? How has the Practice of Ango evolved as Zen has come to the West, to modern times, and again become open to all, monks or householders, male or female, everyone without distinction?

We will look at a few passages from Master Dogen’s “Shobogenzo-Ango”, written in his jazzy wild way:

http://www.bdkamerica.org/digital/dBET_T2582_Shobogenzo4_2008.pdf

----------

To meet a summer retreat is to meet the buddhas and the patriarchs. To meet a summer retreat is to realize buddha and to realize the state of a patriarch. .... In this “Ninety days makes a summer,” though the measurement of time is a cerebral measurement, it is beyond only one kalpa or ten kalpas, and beyond only a hundred thousand countless kalpas. ... [The summer retreat] has not come here from another place and another time, and it does not originate from just this place and just this time. When we grasp their origins the ninety days come at once. When we grope for their basis the ninety days come at once. The common and the sacred have seen these [ninety days] as their caves and as their very lives, but [the ninety days] have far transcended the states of the common and the sacred.

** a "kalpa" is a vast eon of time measuring billions of years.
…

The World-honored One addresses Bodhisattva Round Realization, the great assemblies of monks, and all living beings:

If you practice the retreat for three months from the beginning of summer, you will abide in the pure state of a bodhisattva, your mind will leave the state of a śrāvaka, and you will be beyond dependence on others. When the day of the retreat arrives, say before the Buddha the following words: “In order that I, bhikṣu/bhikṣuṇī/upāsaka/upāsikā So-and-So, who rides upon the bodhisattva vehicle may perform tranquil practice; that I may harmoniously enter, dwell in, and maintain the pure real form; that I may make the great round realization into my temple; that body and mind may practice the retreat; and that the wisdom whose nature is balance and the peaceful natural state of self may be without hindrances; I now respectfully ask, without relying on the state of a śrāvaka, to practice the three-month retreat together with the Tathāgatas of the ten directions and the great bodhisattvas. By virtue of enacting the great causes of the supreme and fine truth of the bodhisattva, I will not be involved with others.” Good sons! This is called a bodhisattva’s manifestation of the retreat.

** a "śrāvaka" might be called a self-absorbed "armchair Buddhist"

** upāsaka/upāsikā = laymen and laywomen

...

The World-honored One practices a ninety-day retreat at one place. On the day of indulgence, Mañjuśrī suddenly appears in the order. Mahākāśyapa asks Mañjuśrī, “This summer where have you practiced the retreat?” Mañjuśrī says, “This summer I have practiced the retreat at three places.” At this, Mahākāśyapa assembles the monks. He is about to expel Mañjuśrī by striking the block, but just as he lifts the clapper he sees countless buddha lands appear. At the place of every buddha there is a Mañjuśrī, and there is a Mahākāśyapa lifting the clapper to expel Mañjuśrī. The World-honored One thereupon addresses Mahākāśyapa, “Which Mañjuśrī are you now going to expel?” Then Mahākāśyapa is dumbfounded.

...

Zen Master Engo, in a eulogy to [these ancient ancestors], says:

A big elephant does not play on a rabbit’s path.
What do swallows and sparrows know of swans and storks?
Obeying the rules is just like creating a style.
Breaking the standard is just like biting a [flying] arrow.
The whole world is Mañjuśrī.
The whole world is Mahākāśyapa.
Facing one another, each is in the solemn state.
What is there to punish by lifting the clapper?
It is a nice instance of needlework.
The golden dhūtas [who engage in hard ascetic practice] have gotten rid of [all] obstacles.

[Dogen says] So the World-honored One practices the retreat at one place and Mañjuśrī practices the retreat at three places, but neither ever fails to practice the retreat.



A GOOD ANGO TO ALL!!!!

[Mp]

Wonderful, wonderful ... I am very excited. I will be at the Zazenkai and the start of Ango live. :)

Gassho
Shingen

[MyoHo]

A festive mood is growing in our sangha and that is so very precious and so very beautiful. We/us not two. All those people all over the world, from so very different cultures and beliefs, from all walks of life, of moods and characters, drop everything and sit. Even if some of us don't yet wear a visible Okesa or Rakusu, we already do, we really do, because we are the Okesa.

If only the rest of the world could experience what we do here even for a short while. So small an event yet so infinitely big! I dream that Putin and Obama and all other big world leaders could be persuaded to join us. Partnering Putin with Obama to sit and do the exercises, would have such a profound effect on the world we live in and even the future of this world. Just imagine that! Every one of us is in fact a world leader of its own and thinking of that, this dream may not be so ridiculous. In that way the period we are embarking in is set to change the world already and for sure. Your world, my world ( not two).

Have a good Ango everyone!

Many deep bows

Enkyo

[Kyonin]

As the years go by, Ango has become my favorite part of the year.

It's a period to practice, think, learn and to sit.

I will be sitting live. Count me in!

Good luck to all.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Ishin]

Participating but cannot live.
Glad to be Ango bound.
Gassho
C

[Juki]

I will be sitting live, as well. Although, if the group is large and I cannot get in on G+, I will be sitting live/unlive on the live stream. Looking forward to this in an unattached way.

Gassho,
William

[Marcelo de Valnisio]

I will be joining you all on monday morning.

Gassho. gassho1

[Myozan Kodo]

I'll be there, but early tomorrow GMT. Let the Ango begin!
Gassho
Myozan

[Shohei]

I will do my best to get on tonight!

Gassho
Shohei

[Myosha]

Live YT, not-live G+.


Gassho,
Edward

[Genshin]

I will be there first thing Saturday morning (GMT).

Looking forward to sitting and learning with you all.

Gassho
Matt

[YuimaSLC]

Best wishes to everyone on this eve of Ango.

A question: If I am not able to enter in the "live" zazenkai (5pm MDT, 7pm EDT) is it possible to begin the recorded sitting an hour or so later while the "live" is still active?

Gassho

Richard

[Jundo]

Hi Richard,

I do not think the system allows so. Thus, just drop in from the middle, then catch the start at the end! Sounds very Zen.

Gassho, J

[Dosho]

Hi all,

I'll be there with bells on. ;)

Gassho,
Dosho

[Risho]

I love Ango, as many of us do! I will make this one up; we will be spending the weekend in Orlando. I will be sitting and doing the other Ango practices, just not the zazenkai.

Gassho,

Risho

[odiedoodie]

I will be "there".

Gassho

Jon

[zdlee]

I will be unable to sit until Sunday, but I look forward to it.

Gassho,

Zac

[Shugen]

I will be starting the Ango festivities on Sunday as well. Have a Good Sit!


Shugen

[Yugen]

Hi all,
I regret that I will not be joining you live tonight. I am at my parents' house (there is no internet - I'm at the town library) helping my Mother out following a surgical procedure. Everything is fine, my folks are in their mid-80s and need my presence right now. I will be sitting quietly tonight.

Here's to Ango and my gratitude to you all.
Deep bows
Yugen

[Juki]

Best wishes and metta to your family, Yugen.

Gassho,
William

[Mp]

Hi all,
I regret that I will not be joining you live tonight. I am at my parents' house (there is no internet - I'm at the town library) helping my Mother out following a surgical procedure. Everything is fine, my folks are in their mid-80s and need my presence right now. I will be sitting quietly tonight.

Here's to Ango and my gratitude to you all.
Deep bows
Yugen

Be well Yugen and will sit for you and your Mom tonight. :)

Gassho
Shingen

[Kyonin]

Hi all,
I regret that I will not be joining you live tonight. I am at my parents' house (there is no internet - I'm at the town library) helping my Mother out following a surgical procedure. Everything is fine, my folks are in their mid-80s and need my presence right now. I will be sitting quietly tonight.

Here's to Ango and my gratitude to you all.
Deep bows
Yugen

You always sit with us, no matter where you are, brother.

Hope all is well.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Seimyo]

I'll be sitting with you all a little later this evening and likely into tomorrow. Have a wonderful sit and kick-off for Ango all.

Gassho.
Seimyo

[Daijo]

Me too Seimyo, I'm beginning my peaceful dwelling with a thorough cleaning of the temple. Will sit afterwards.

[kidbuda]

catch you later zen gang. :D

Gassho

kb

[Kaishin]

Thank you all for the Zazenkai

And thanks for the laugh at the end, Jundo--I needed that :)

[Juki]

Thanks to all who sat tonight and who will sit later. Gassho, William

[Mp]

Thank you Jundo for the wonderful talk and thank you everyone for the sit ... have a great weekend and Happy Ango! :)

Gassho
Shingen

[Kyonin]

Thanks all who sat/will sit.

Have a lovely Ango :)

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Myosha]

Thanks to all.


Gassho,
Edward

[Ishin]

Thank you everyone. It was nice to be here live the last 1.5 hours( though I couldn't figure out how to join on Google +, and didn't want to JUMP in the middle. ) Going backwards in time a wee bit now. Nice job Dosho :)

Gassho
C

[gwz]

I was very happy to hear the schedule tossed by the wayside today, since my Internet connection often tosses it by itself: crucial cues (like bells) are sometimes lost when the stream is, so I might end up doing 40 minutes of kinhin or 70 of zazen. In this situation, inflexibility doesn't really pay...

[Bengalidan]

I'm glad you are able to be with your parents tonight, Yugen. I'll keep you and your family in my thoughts as I sit tomorrow.
Thank you everyone for the sit tonight. I'm glad the mic was muted and you all couldn't hear our very upset pups who couldn't understand why they couldn't come in the room. They certainly tested my focus.
Gassho, Dan

[Hans]

Hello folks,

just got home from my summer holiday. I'll sit with you later today, thank you so much for your practise.

Gassho,

Hans Chudo Mongen

[Genki]

Thank you for tonight!
I overslept the start with 45min but joined in around the first kinhin. Then it all was a sleepy mess for me. But it was really nice to practice with you all. And I'm glad I fulfilled the start for my first ANGO.

Gassho
The sleepy Björn

[Taikyo]

Hi from the UK. - wonderful Ango despite a head cold, internet dropping, teenage son hijacking the connection!!! But a lesson in accepting things as they are & the Ango for what it is, without preconceptions. Wonderful talk Jundo thank you & my thanks to all who sat & will sit. See you on the Ango trail!!!

Gassho

david

[Genshin]

Lovely. Thank you everyone that sat and will sit.

Gassho
Matt

[Heisoku]

Thank you Jundo for a wonderful talk and Gassho to everyone sitting, happy Ango to all.

[Koshin]

May you and your parents be well Yugen. Thank you all sitters, and sorry for my dog Lara appearing on screen on the Heart Sutra...it was her first Zazenkai :) Goya has more experience, and Bells and Mokugyo are not new to her, so she was sleeping no problem :)

I had a power outage before the talk, due to the sky pouring out, so had to listen to it today, it was great....thank you all for your practice

Happy Ango!!!

Gassho

[Myoku]

Thank you everyone sitting, thank you,
and an extra thanks to Yugen for starting Ango this way, may you all be well,
Gassho
Myoku

[JasonG]

Thank you Jundo for the wonderful talk and to all for sitting together to kick off Ango. I just concluded my first Ango sitting in my motel room at the Super 8 motel in Huntsville, Ontario - with thanks that the monastery walls are indeed much larger than the walls of this small room away from home!

Gassho,
Jason

[Kaishin]

And just a reminder to everyone to turn off your microphones when not speaking :) FEEEEEEDBAAAAACK :rolleyes:

[Nengyo]

Thank you for the talk Jundo. Also thank you to all those who sat and will sit. I did not sit for the whole zakenzai yet, but I watched most of it in the background as I studied to give me inspiration!

Gassho

[Ishin]

I found this Dharma talk to be very inspiring
Gassho C

[Joyo]

I will be starting to watch this tonight, so excited to be practicing with everyone here! Enkyo, beautiful words, btw. And Yugen, all the best with your parents, will be sitting for your mom tonight.

Gassho everyone,
Treena

[Mp]

I will be starting to watch this tonight, so excited to be practicing with everyone here! Enkyo, beautiful words, btw. And Yugen, all the best with your parents, will be sitting for your mom tonight.

Gassho everyone,
Treena

Hey there Treena what happened to your lovely Avatar? :)

Gassho
Shingen

[adrianbkelly]

Thanks everyone! It's an honour to share this Ango with you all!

_/\_
Ade

[Myozan Kodo]

A wonderful talk on Ango. A wonderful beginning to our Ango. Thank you all (finished sitting this morning).

Much Metta to you and yours, Yugen. Hope all is well.

Gassho
Myozan

[Gi Shu-George]

Thank you Jundo, thank you all for your practice.
Gassho.
Gi shu---George.

[kidbuda]

Yeeeeahh!! finally watch and sat with the zazenkai netcast! wonderfurl! I feel really excited and happy. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful zazenkai, thanks Jundo for thw words and love conducting the ceremony.Feels really good to be back in our Sangha.
Happy Ango to all!!

Gassho.

kb

[Jiken]

Could only sit part of this. Thank you to all for your practice

Deep bows

Daido

[Sekishi]

Thank you Jundo and all sitters for your practice. Lovely Zazenkai and start to Ango!

Gassho,
Eric

[Nenka]

Thanks, everybody!

Gassho

Jen

[Daijo]

Just got back from the wedding in Philly. Ango will begin tomorrow morning.

[Gen01]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Good Ango everyone!

Gassho gassho1

Gene

[Kantai]

Thank you all!
Happy Ango!

Gassho, Edward

[Daitetsu]

Sat with the recording, really enjoyed this zazenkai.
Great talk, Jundo - the right combination of motivational and down to earth and the perfect start for our Ango.

Have a great Ango everyone!

Gassho,

Timo

[anzan]

Wonderful! I look forward to this!

Anzan

[Shugen]

Gassho


Shugen

[Kokuu]

I finally got around to sitting this today. Lovely to start Ango with you all and really enjoyed the talk. I plan n reading the Shobogenzo fascicle tonight.

Thank you to all those who sat.

Gassho
Andy

[Nindo]

My Ango started on Wednesday and I sat the Zazenkai today.

Hey fellow rabbits, have a great rabbit Ango [wave]

(But there ARE rabbits that walk on elephant paths... (http://www.flickr.com/photos/punkgun/276354470/))

[Risho]

Gassho,

Risho