Oryoki Circle One: An Introduction to Oryoki

[Myozan Kodo]

Hi all,
Here's the link to the first live Oryoki Circle:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeMJ3GmlOUg#t=419

Please position your camera so that we can all see your bowls clearly when they are fully laid out before you.

In later weeks, you will need the 'Formal Meal Verses' we use in Treeleaf. You'll find them in the Retreat Chant Book: http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/content.php?206-Treeleaf-Retreat-Chant-Book

You will not need any food to serve. For now, we will work with dry bowls.

It is preferable that you sit on your Zafu with something like a board in front of you on which to place your bowls ... all visible with your webcam.

The Circle will last for 30 to 40 mins.

I look forward to practicing with you all.

Deep bows,
Myozan

[Nindo]

North Americans, this is 2:30 EST, 12:30 MST, 11:30 PST if I am not mistaken.
Looking forward to it!

[Mp]

North Americans, this is 2:30 EST, 12:30 MST, 11:30 PST if I am not mistaken.
Looking forward to it!

You are correct Nindo, 11:30am Sunday for me on the coast (PST) =)

Gassho
Shingen

[Myozan Kodo]

Hi guys,
I'm going to move it back 15mins so as not to clash with the Teaparty. That's 7:15pm GMT.
Gassho
Myozan

[Mp]

Hi guys,
I'm going to move it back 15mins so as not to clash with the Teaparty. That's 7:15pm GMT.
Gassho
Myozan

Excellent, sounds good Myozan. =)

Gassho
Shingen

[Daijo]

I'm going to miss the first gathering due to family affairs. I'll catch up with the recording and hope to join you next week.

[Geika]

I'll be watching. I don't have bowls yet, but I still want to learn. gassho1

[Jiken]

Im probably going to miss due to work. I'll catch the recorded

Gassho,

Daido

[Jundo]

Hi,

I have created a little corner of our "Jukai & Sewing (& Oryoki)" forum for you guys, so will move this thread there.

I wish you all "Good Bowl-ing" gassho1

Gassho, J

[Mp]

Hi,

I have created a little corner of our "Jukai & Sewing (& Oryoki)" forum for you guys, so will move this thread there.

I wish you all "Good Bowl-ing" gassho1

Gassho, J

Thank you Jundo ... let the bowl-ing begin. =)

Gassho
Shingen

[Myozan Kodo]

Thanks Jundo.
Deep bows,
Myozan

[Bobman4671]

Very cool! I'll study the recording. Where would I be able to find it?

Gassho
Javier


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Myosha]

"Let's eat!!"

Thank you.


Gassho,
Myosha

[Sekishi]

Thank you Myozan, and fellow practitioners. I am looking forward to this, and will attend live (tech permitting).

I'll be there with bowls on! [rimshot]

Gassho,
Eric

[Genshin]

Hi,

Thank you for this gift.

I suspect I'll have to sit with the recorded version this weekend. But I will be there.

Gassho
Genshin

[Joyo]

I watched the live recording, nice to see you all :)

Gassho,
Joyo

[Mp]

Thank Myozan and everyone, this was wonderful! Look forward to next week. =)

Gassho
Shingen

[Myosha]

Hello,

Simulcast worked well. Have a basic set. Will build water-board and placemat for next week.

Definitely a Home Run! Thank you.


Gassho,
Myosha

[Dosho]

Thank you Myozan; a wonderful beginning.

Gassho,
Dosho

[Taikyo]

A great start Myozan and great to see everyone. Thanks to all
Gassho
Taikyo

[Heisoku]

Thank you Myozan for a very clear introduction. I too will looking at adding a water board and placemat for next time.
Gassho
Heisoku

[Sekishi]

Thank you Myozan for making this happen. A wonderful start. I am looking forward to working on the board and placemat this week.

Deep bows,
Eric

[Daijo]

Wonderful, thank you all for sharing. A question for Myozan, for those of us unable to join live, would you recommend we post pictures of our sets?

Gassho,

Daijo

[Shokai]

What a great idea Daijo !!
gassho, Shokai

Sent from my Note 2 using Tapatalk4

[Myozan Kodo]

Hi Daijo,
Good idea. Then we can see and, possibly even, make observations.
Gassho
Myozan

[Daijo]

I'll take some photos of my very homemade oryoki set this evening.

Gassho,

Daijo

[Daijo]

Here is my not black, not wood, not lacquered, not expensive, very home made set of bowls and utensils. I'll work at getting the rest of it together.
1598

[Myosha]

Here's nothing.

1599

Working on place-mat and mizuita/suiban.

Thank you.


Gassho,
Myosha

[Myozan Kodo]

Thanks for the pictures, guys.

Daijo,
This set is fine for working with. Lovely. Just a reminder that if going to sit in a more formal context, to try and get (or borrow) some bowls that are closer to the official ones described here. They are perfectly fine for use in this Circle, however.

Myosha,
Nice set. The blackish cloths are not so typical. The fourth bowl will operate like a kind of stand for the third bowl in the ceremony, I reckon. Perfectly good to work with I think.

Gassho
Myozan

[Daijo]

Yes,

I am working on finding a set that fits in with my budget. Right now it seems every penny is allocated to my daughters college. She messaged me last night that she needs a new book for this semester. I looked it up, and I can rent one for $92.00 or buy it for $130.00. Mind you, this is after buying the other three books and art supplies she needed last week. But I'm keeping my eyes out for a traditional set, as I would like to visit a traditional monastery or center soon. Of course, the traditional centers in my area tend to charge about $500.00 per sesshin too, so it may not be very soon if. If ever.

Gassho,

Daijo

[Mp]

Hello everyone,

Here is the link to the Oryoki set that I have purchased. Have a look and maybe it will work in your budget. I too will take some photos once it arrives. =)

http://www.zenike.net/servlet/the-75/Oryoki-wooden-bowls-black/Detail

Gassho
Shingen

[Myozan Kodo]

Thanks Shingen.
Looks good. More kosher than my brown wooden utensils, and my setsu isn't built for an absorbent cloth to be fixed on. Nice.

Hopefully they'll nest nicely when you get them.

Gassho
Myozan

[Mp]

Your welcome Myozan,

I will take some photos when they arrive and show how the nest within each other and what the whole package looks like. =)

Gassho
Shingen



Thanks Shingen.
Looks good. More kosher than my brown wooden utensils, and my setsu isn't built for an absorbent cloth to be fixed on. Nice.

Hopefully they'll nest nicely when you get them.

Gassho
Myozan

[Nindo]

Just catching up. Sunday noon didn't work the last 2 weeks.
Thanks and gassho!

[Mp]

Update: Well, it looks like the bowls that I received are not the right ones. They did tell me they were Soto/General style, but as you can see with the bottom, they are not round. They do however nest very well inside each other. What do you think?

Gassho
Shingen

1607160816091610

[Jundo]

Just to note Michael that, while the big Buddha Bowl does appear (on the photo anyway) to be a bit oddly shaped from most Soto bowls I have seen, I think that only a concern if you are planning to train at Eiheiji sometime soon.:-) Since you are not, they are more than adequate.

Gassho, J

[Myozan Kodo]

Lookin' good, Shingen. Like Jundo said above, these bowls will serve you well and will never cause you a problem in terms of not being acceptable. They are very liek th ebowls Taigu gave me at ordination, in fact. Beautiful.
Gassho
Myozan

[Mp]

Jundo and Myozan, wonderful ... thank you for the feedback! I will create some cloths for them and have them ready for next class. =)

Gassho
Shingen

[Sekishi]

Hi all,

I made up a "preparing the oryoki set" checklist similar to the one Myozan made for Oryoki Circle Two ("opening the bowls"). I'm sure it will need additional details once we get to formal "closing the bowls", but this should result in a set that is ready to open in circle two.

I think I have it all right, but just in case you might not want to chisel it into stone until Myozan gives it his ok! [morehappy]

1. Put utensils into the bag:
- Setsu on left (wet end / cloth out)
- Spoon in middle (handle out)
- Chopsticks on right (large end out)
2. Lay out wrapping cloth (baseball diamond configuration).
3. Nest all bowls in the center.
4. Fold Hattan into "Z" with opening corners on the top left and bottom right and place flat onto bowls.
5. Fold first flap: bring bottom / "home" of wrapping cloth over bowls (with optional flip / fold of the corner).
6. Fold second flap: bring top / "2nd base" of wrapping cloth over (with optional flip / fold of corner).
7. Fold napkin in half (short axis), then into a "Z" with right side closest to body.
8. Flip napkin over (right hand over left), then onto the wrapping cloth. Opening corners should be on the top left and bottom right.
9. Place waterboard / Mizuita on top of napkin.
10. Place utensil bag on top with opening towards body
11. Place drying cloth on top (folded in half, unfold towards body)
12. Place left hand (palm up) on top, pull left side over, under thumb and pinky, hold with pinky.
13. Pull right side over to between pointer and middle finger. Hold.
14. Grab the tip from step 11 with the right hand and hold, while pulling the tip from step 12 under and tie.
15. Tie second time so that there is nothing on the left, and a "rabbit ear" on the right.

Deep bows,
Sekishi

[Myozan Kodo]

Hi Sekishi,
This is great. This is the meaning of a practise circle! Well done :)

Just two things in your great work:

1. Spoon handle is protruding, not the bowl. Inside the bag, when held and ready to take out the spoon, the spoon bowl is open away from the body, the bowl down in the bottom of the bag and facing away from the body ... and, as you say, in the middle of the bag.

5 & 6: The confusion here is all my fault. First 'home base' is folded over when packing up, then 'third base'. This is because in opening, we should be opening 'third base' first. Sorry for any confusion I caused earlier.

Otherwise this is a very very useful list, Sekishi. Good job.
Gassho
Myozan

PS: Maybe I'll go through it all at the start tonight, to clear up any confusion.

[Sekishi]

Thank you Myozan. I've made the corrections directly to my original post (to hopefully avoid confusion with two lists showing up in the thread).

Gassho,
Sekishi

[Sekishi]

I made a printable version of the above list, combined with Myozan's "opening the bowls" list. This should make it easy to print it out and keep it in your practice space.

The PDF can be downloaded from:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9980604/Treeleaf/Oryoki-Practice-Circle-2014-v1.pdf

If you want an editable version (to add your own notes or whatever), I also posted my original Markdown version (which is just a text file that follows a certain formatting conventions). You can open it in any text editor:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9980604/Treeleaf/Oryoki-Practice-Circle-2014-v1.md

Gassho,
Sekishi

[Mp]

I made a printable version of the above list, combined with Myozan's "opening the bowls" list. This should make it easy to print it out and keep it in your practice space.

The PDF can be downloaded from:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9980604/Treeleaf/Oryoki-Practice-Circle-2014-v1.pdf

If you want an editable version (to add your own notes or whatever), I also posted my original Markdown version (which is just a text file that follows a certain formatting conventions). You can open it in any text editor:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9980604/Treeleaf/Oryoki-Practice-Circle-2014-v1.md

Gassho,
Sekishi

This is great Sekishi ... thank you for putting this together. =)

Gassho
Shingen

[Myozan Kodo]

Sekishi,
Wonderful stuff. Very helpful. Thank you for your practice.
Deep bows,
Myozan