• Nov 1st/2nd, 2013 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI!

    by
    Jundo
    Published on 11-15-2013 06:22 AM  Number of Views: 3608  
    40 Comments Comments
    NOTE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS HAS ENDED IN EUROPE, NOT YET IN US & CANADA

    Readings for today's Dharma Talk are 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 11pm, to 3am and Paris midnight to 4am (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/o6TeWKLsWKA

    FOR THOSE NOT ALREADY MEMBERS OF THE CIRCLE WHO WISH TO JOIN TO SIT LIVE WITH A CAMERA, INSTRUCTIONS are posted AT THIS LINK. 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)

    or

    Chant Book (SHORT VERSION HTML)

    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!
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Nov 1st/2nd, 2013 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour ZAZENKAI! started by Jundo View original post
    Comments 40 Comments
    1. Jundo's Avatar
      Jundo - 11-01-2013, 05:32 AM
      There is a famous Koan …

      When Master Ekai, Zen Master Daichi of Hyakujō, gives his informal
      preaching, generally present there is an old man. He always listens to the
      Dharma along with the assembly, and when the people in the assembly retire,
      the old man also retires. Then suddenly one day he does not retire. The master
      eventually asks him, “What person is this, standing before me?”
      The old man answers, “I am not a person. In the past age of Kāśyapa
      Buddha, I used to preside on this mountain [as an Abbot]. Once a student asked me, ‘Do
      even people in the state of great practice fall into cause and effect, or not?’
      I answered, ‘They do not fall into cause and effect.’ Since then I have fallen
      into the body of a wild fox for five hundred lives. Now I beg you, Master,
      to say for me words of transformation. I long to be rid of the body of a wild
      fox.” Then he asks, “Do even people in the state of great practice fall into
      cause and effect, or not?”
      The master says, “Do not be unclear about cause and effect.”
      The old man, under these words, realizes the great realization. He does
      prostrations and says, “I am already rid of the body of a wild fox ...
      In Shobogenzo Shinjin-Inga (written in 1255), Dogen writes …

      [P]eople of learning in practice
      are not clear about the truth of cause and effect, and they make the mistake
      of idly negating cause and effect. It is pitiful that, with a wind of decay
      blowing all around, the Patriarch’s truth has slipped into decline. “They do
      not fall into cause and effect” is just the negation of cause and effect, as a
      result of which [the negator] falls into bad states. “Do not be unclear about
      cause and effect” evidently is deep belief in cause and effect, as a result of
      which the listener gets rid of bad states. We should not wonder [at this], and
      should not doubt it. Among people of recent generations who profess to be
      “students of the Way of Zen practice,” most have negated cause and effect.
      How do we know that they have negated cause and effect? Namely [because]
      they have considered that “do not fall” and “do not be unclear” amount to
      the same and are not different. Hence, we know that they have negated cause
      and effect.

      …

      There are non-Buddhists who already know eighty thousand kalpas [but their teaching]
      is never esteemed as the Buddha’s teaching. To know barely five hundred
      lives is no great ability. The greatest ignorance of recent Zen practitioners
      of the Song dynasty lies just in their failure to recognize that “not
      falling into cause and effect” is a doctrine of the false view. It is pitiful that,
      in a place where the Tathāgata’s right Dharma has spread, and while meeting
      the authentic transmission from patriarch to patriarch, they form wrong
      groups who negate cause and effect. Zen practitioners should urgently clarify
      the truth of cause and effect. The truth of the present Hyakujō’s “not being
      unclear about cause and effect” is “not to be ignorant of cause and effect.

      …

      Some say: “When human beings die, they unfailingly return to the ocean of spiritual essence;
      even if they do not practice and learn the Buddha-Dharma, they will naturally
      return to the ocean of enlightenment, whereupon the wheel of life and
      death will turn no more. For this reason, there will be no future.” This is the
      nihilistic view of non-Buddhism. Even if in form they resemble bhikṣus,
      those who hold such wrong opinions are not the Buddha’s disciples at all.
      They are just non-Buddhists.


      In Shobogenzo-Daishugyo (written in 1244), Dogen writes …

      When we have groped for and grasped “great practice,” it is just great “cause and effect” itself.
      Because this cause and effect is always the round fulfillment of causes and the complete
      fulfillment of effects, it has never accommodated discussion of falling
      or not falling and has never accommodated words of being unclear or not
      being unclear. If “They do not fall into cause and effect” is a mistake, “Do
      not be unclear about cause and effect” might also be a mistake. Even when
      mistakes are put in their place as mistakes, there is falling into the body of a
      wild fox, and there is getting free of the body of a wild fox.

      …

      Many past masters through the ages have vied to
      assert that the expressions “not falling into” and “not being unclear about”
      [cause and effect] are equally valid. But if they have never attained bodily
      experience of “not falling into” and “not being unclear about” [cause and
      effect] within the stream of those very words, they consequently neither experience
      the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of falling into the body of a wild
      fox, nor experience the skin, flesh, bones, and marrow of getting rid of the
      body of a wild fox.

      ...

      Should the five hundred lives mentioned now be counted as in the human world? Should they be counted
      as in the state of a wild fox? Should they be counted as in the Buddha’s truth?
      Furthermore, how could the eyes of an old wild fox glimpse Hyakujō? Those
      who are glimpsed by a wild fox may be the ghosts of wild foxes. Those who
      are glimpsed by Hyakujō are Buddhist patriarchs. ...
      Hyakujō has intimately experienced meetings with a wild fox ...
      Thus, “a wild fox” is the Eye of “Hyakujō’s intimate experience.” “...
      At the very moment of so doing, we get free of the body of a wild fox, get
      free of the body of Hyakujō, get free of the body of an old non-man, and get
      free of the body of the whole universe.

      ...

      We should learn in practice that in this particular
      episode the past Hyakujō does not mention a mistaken answer and
      the present Hyakujō does not mention a mistaken answer. Rather, using five
      hundred skins of wild foxes, each three inches thick, [the past Hyakujō] “has
      experienced life on this mountain,” and for the benefit of practitioners he
      expresses it ....
      There is falling down and getting free that “at every moment is beyond mistakes,” and there
      is “cause and effect” that at every moment speaks [liberating] words for others. They
      are the evident “great practice” itself.
    1. Kokuu's Avatar
      Kokuu - 11-01-2013, 08:00 AM
      Thank you, Jundo. Padmasambhava also spoke on cause and effect saying:

      "Although my view is higher than the sky, my respect for the cause and effect of actions is as fine as grains of flour."

      I look forward to sitting with you on Sunday.

      Gassho
      Andy
    1. Kyonin's Avatar
      Kyonin - 11-01-2013, 11:26 AM
      I'll be there live!

      Gassho,

      Kyonin
    1. Juki's Avatar
      Juki - 11-01-2013, 12:19 PM
      Sadly, I am flying out of town for work today and I will not get back till close to midnight. So, I will sit this one tomorrow. Best wishes to all.

      Gassho,
      William
    1. Jundo's Avatar
      Jundo - 11-01-2013, 12:23 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Kyonin View Post
      I'll be there live!

      Gassho,

      Kyonin
      By the way, Kyonin ... I went to check if Daylight Savings had ended in Mexico and found the answer is ... yes, no and maybe depending where! Really Dogen time!

      Gassho, J
    1. Yugen's Avatar
      Yugen - 11-01-2013, 12:38 PM
      It's my son's tenth birthday today, we will be having dinner and a brithday cake afterward - will most likely join you at some point during the zazenkai....!

      Gassho
      Yugen
    1. Mp's Avatar
      Mp - 11-01-2013, 01:20 PM
      I will be there as well.

      Gassho
      Shingen
    1. Seiryu's Avatar
      Seiryu - 11-01-2013, 02:29 PM
      Whether I can make it live, or join in later. I will be sitting with you all.
    1. Nameless's Avatar
      Nameless - 11-01-2013, 02:40 PM
      I'll be there live! Provided the Netbook doesn't burst into flames haha.

      Gassho, John
    1. Joyo's Avatar
      Joyo - 11-01-2013, 03:37 PM
      With the time change I will only be able to catch the end. Looking forward to practicing with everyone though.

      Gassho,
      Treena
    1. Jundo's Avatar
      Jundo - 11-01-2013, 04:18 PM
      Hi Emmy,

      No time change yet in Canada. That is from next time.

      Gassho, Jundo
    1. Kyonin's Avatar
      Kyonin - 11-01-2013, 04:59 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
      By the way, Kyonin ... I went to check if Daylight Savings had ended in Mexico and found the answer is ... yes, no and maybe depending where! Really Dogen time!

      Gassho, J
      I love it!

      From now on there is GMT, Pacific and East times... and DZT (Dogen Zen Time)

      My time zone is +1ZDT

      Gassho,

      Kyonin
    1. Joyo's Avatar
      Joyo - 11-01-2013, 05:03 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
      Hi Emmy,

      No time change yet in Canada. That is from next time.

      Gassho, Jundo
      Sorry, Jundo, I didn't word that very well. I meant with the zazenkai time change, it is earlier, I'm assuming due to it being 4 hrs. Looking forward to joining in at the end

      Gassho
    1. Myosha's Avatar
      Myosha - 11-01-2013, 05:19 PM
      " . . .live,one way. . . "


      Gassho,
      Edward
    1. Dosho's Avatar
      Dosho - 11-01-2013, 06:24 PM
      I'll be here with bells on and mokugyo at the ready.

      Gassho,
      Dosho
    1. Hans's Avatar
      Hans - 11-01-2013, 07:12 PM
      Hello,

      whatever the time, I'll be on my zafu tomorrow!

      All the best and gassho,

      Hans Chudo Mongen
    1. MyoHo's Avatar
      MyoHo - 11-01-2013, 07:43 PM
      As usual, I will sit with you where all time and place is trancended, wishing us all a good Zazenkai!

      Gassho

      Enkyo
    1. Nameless's Avatar
      Nameless - 11-01-2013, 11:35 PM
      Had some difficulties with the Netbook, so I can only pop in from time to time on the computer in the living room. It was good practice in sitting with frustration and letting it pass trying to get the Netbook to work though

      Gassho, John
    1. Ishin's Avatar
      Ishin - 11-01-2013, 11:36 PM
      See you all sitting in Zen time. Which for me is Sunday.
      Gassho
      C
    1. Mp's Avatar
      Mp - 11-02-2013, 03:02 AM
      Thank you Jundo and everyone ... have a great weekend. Excellent job Dosho.

      Gassho
      Shingen
    Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast