March 3rd-4th, 2023 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - Shinjinmei (III)

[Jundo]

Today's Talk will be the third in a series reflecting on:

THE SONG OF TRUST MIND (信心銘 Shinjinmei), A Key to Zazen

(text below in this thread)



Please sit our Monthly 4-Hour Treeleaf Zazenkai netcast LIVE 8am to noon Japan time Saturday morning (that is New York 6pm to 10pm, Los Angeles 3pm to 7pm (Friday night), London 11pm to 3am and Paris Midnight to 4am (early Saturday morning)), and also sitable any time thereafter:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6rc5fxf-w8

However, "one way" live sitters are encouraged to come into the Zoom sitting, and just leave the camera and microphone turned off: Join live (with or without a camera & microphone) on Zoom at: TREELEAF Now (https://www.treeleaf.org/now/go.php?l=ssr) OR at DIRECT ZOOM LINK (https://zoom.us/j/4834831244), password (if needed): dogen


Dharma Talk Audio / Podcast Episode:
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?21009-TREELEAF-PODCAST-SHINJINMEI-SERIES/



The Sitting Schedule is as follows:

00:00 - 00:50 CEREMONY (HEART SUTRA IN JAPANESE / 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 & HOKEY-POKEY RITUAL

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


ATTENTION: Everyone, when rising for Kinhin or Ceremonies after Zazen, get up slowly, don't rush, hold something stable, you won't be "late," so TAKE YOUR TIME! Make sure you are careful getting up!

Gassho, Jundo

STLah


PS - There is no "wrong" or "right" in Zazen ... yet here is a little explanation of the "right" times to Bow (A Koan) ...



https://youtu.be/GR6POpsXh9Q

Chant Book is here for those who wish to join in: CHANT BOOK LINK (https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?7032-Chant-Book-For-Weekly-and-Monthly-Zazenkai)

The other video I mention on Zendo decorum is this one, from our "Always Beginners" video Series:


Sit-a-Long with Jundo: Zazen for Beginners (12) - Basic Zendo Decorum At Home
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?14884-Sit-a-Long-with-Jundo-Zazen-for-Beginners-%2812%29&p=189093#post189093

I also recommend a little Talk on why small rituals and procedures are so cherished in the Zendo:


SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: Small Things in the Zendo
https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?18494-SIT-A-LONG-with-Jundo-Small-Things-in-the-Zendo

[Jundo]

Shinjinmei (III)

In Today's Talk, we dance with the 信心銘, the Xinxinming, Trust Mind in Song, in these days of sometime beauty and sometime hardship ...

Today's text:

不見精麁 If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine,
寧有偏黨 you will not give rise to prejudice.
大道體寛 To live in the Great Way
無易無難 is neither easy nor difficult,
小見狐疑 but those with limited views are fearful and doubting:
轉急轉遲 the faster they hurry, the slower they go.
執之失度 In attachment balance is lost,
必入邪路 and they surely enter the wrong path.
放之自然 Just let things be in their own way,
體無去住 and the whole will neither go nor abide.
任性合道 Accept your nature and accord with the Way,
逍遙絶惱 and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
繋念乖眞 When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden,
昏沈不好 for everything is murky and unclear,
不好勞神 and unclarity brings annoyance and weariness.
何用疏親 What’s the use of making distinctions and separations?
欲取一乘 If you wish to enter the One Vehicle,
勿惡六塵 do not disdain the six senses.
六塵不惡 The six senses not being disdained
還同正覺 is the same as true awakening.
智者無爲 The wise have nothing to do,
愚人自縛 but the foolish bind themselves.
法無異法 There is one Dharma, not many;
妄自愛著 it’s foolish to long for anything.
將心用心 To seek mind with mind
豈非大錯 is the greatest of all mistakes.
迷生寂亂 Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
悟無好惡 in enlightenment there is no good and bad.
一切二邊 All dualities come from
妄自斟酌 false deliberation;
夢幻虚華 they are like dreams of flowers in the sky:
何勞把捉 why try to grasp them?

Dogen wrote, in Shobogenzo Kuge ... Flowers in the Sky ...


[F]oolish people think that the obscured eyes in the Tathagata’s statement “What is seen by clouded eyes are flowers in the sky” means the confused eyes of sentient beings. Because their sick eyes are already confused, they think that flowers in the sky are seen in pure space ... and think the Tathagata said that in original emptiness there are no flowers. ... After seeing the flowers in the sky, also see that the flowers disappear in the sky. [But] to think that the flowers in the sky stop existing once they disappear is a view in the Lesser Vehicle. ...

... Nirvana, and living-and-dying, are just flowers in the sky. "Nirvana" means the state of supreme, complete enlightenment. ... "Living-and-dying" is the real human body. This "nirvana and living-and-dying” are this reality, and at the same time they are just "flowers in the sky." The roots and stalks, twigs and leaves, flowers and fruit, and brightness and colors of flowers in space, are each the blooming of flowers in the sky.

... When this teaching is realized, flowers are beyond birth, beyond death; flowers are beyond flowers, the sky is beyond the sky. Do not be confused about the before and after of flowers. Do not get into a theoretical discussion of whether flowers exist or not.

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

It was not easy to find a dance for "flowers in the sky," kuge, but I stumbled on this ...

... The Albanian folk dance, "Dy mollat e kuge" ... which apparently means the "Two Red Apples" ... and it is good ...

... ... Please practice that "not one not two" footwork!



https://youtu.be/7eMWROnB6WE

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

Here is the ideas podcast episode that I reference in the talk today ...


BETWEEN THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINE OF ‘EMPTINESS,’ THE JEWISH IDEA OF AYIN, AND THE QUANTUM MECHANICAL ZERO-POINT ENERGY OF A VACUUM, IT TURNS OUT THERE’S QUITE A LOT TO BE SAID ABOUT NOTHING.

https://www.ministryofideas.org/episodes/nothing-matters

Gassho, J

stlah

[Tokan]

Thank you all

I will sit with you offline later, insha'Allah!

Gassho, Tokan

satlah

[Tairin]

Thank you everyone. I sat with you this morning

gassho2
Tairin
Sat today and lah

[Hōzan]

Sat this one with you on Saturday night. Even joined in on the little Albanian stretch dance :) My first 4 hrs zazenkai. Thank you, all.

Gassho2 Michael
Sat