April 3-4th, 2020 - OUR MONTHLY 4-hour Treeleaf ZAZENKAI - REMEMBER DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!

REMINDER: DAYLIGHT SAVINGS CHANGE IN US/CANADA -and- EUROPE ... OTHER FOLKS, YOU FIGURE IT OUT! :)

Today's Talk is based on passages from
Master Dogen's Shobogenzo-Kannon, a message of helping and rescue that many of us need to hear these days ...

(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 ...

... and to be visible on the following screen during those times and sit-a-long-able any time thereafter ...

LIVE ZAZENKAI NETCAST IS HERE:

Video begins about 2 minutes into the Zazenkai.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpBP78zUa0Q

Dharma Talk Audio / Podcast Episode:
LINK TO BE POSTED HERE IN THE COMING DAYS

FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO JOIN TO SIT LIVE WITH A CAMERA, A LINK TO JOIN IS POSTED BELOW IN THIS THREAD. JUST CLICK AND JOIN BEFORE START TIME. 'TWO WAY' REQUIRES INDIVIDUALS WITH CAMERAS, BUT ANYONE 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 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

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' in Japanese 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)

Not everyone realizes that they can join in the Chanting of the Heart Sutra, Identity of Relative & Absolute, Metta Verses, Verse of Atonement and Four Vows (although we ask that you keep your microphone down). Please follow along with the Chant Book, and let your voice ring!

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!


Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

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

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/show...093#post189093

HOW TO JOIN THE ZAZENKAI '2-WAY':

Quote:

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You can join the Zazenkai two-way in the Scheduled Sitting Room using Zoom any one of the following ways:

- Use this direct link: https://zoom.us/j/4834831244
- Open Zoom and join with this meeting id: 483 483 1244
- Go to Treeleaf NOW and select the Scheduled Sitting Room: treeleaf.org/ssr
- If prompted for a password, use: dogen

Notes:

- When you first join, you'll need to choose an audio source (usually you can simply select "Join with Computer Audio" on desktop or "Call using Internet Audio" on mobile).

- You can switch between the "speaker view" (the default view) and "gallery view" (a grid / tic-tac-toe style view):
-- On desktop, click the "gallery view" / "speaker view" toggle button on the top right
-- On mobile, swipe right for "gallery views" -- only 4 participants are shown at a time on mobile, so keep swiping right to go through different groups, swipe left to go back to the "gallery view"

- You can mute, unmute, etc. with the control bar on the bottom of the screen
-- On desktop, hover the mouse over the window and the control bar should pop up
-- On mobile, tap the screen and the control bar should pop up
-- On mobile, so that your own picture does not take up one of the four slots you see, you can tap for the control bar, then tap "... menu" and select "Remove myself from gallery view"

- If you are on a slow Internet connection and are experiencing drop-outs, try turning off video (you can always turn it on for a bit at the beginning and end to say hi and bow to everyone)

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Today we will reflect on passages from Master Dogen's Shobogenzo-Kannon (Avalokiteśvara), written in 1242.

[Nishijima Roshi’s Comment]: Kannon is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese name of the bodhisattva called Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit. Avalokiteśvara is described in the Lotus Sutra as someone who always comes to this world to save a person who cries for help. Kannon literally means “Regarder of Sounds,” and this expresses the character of Avalokiteśvara who always responds to the cries for help of living beings in this world. Thus, Avalokiteśvara is usually thought of as a symbol of compassion. But Master Dōgen understood Avalokiteśvara as a symbol of a life-force that is more fundamental to living beings than compassion. ... ]

- - - - -

Great Master Ungan Muju asks Great Master Shūitsu of Dōgozan, “What does the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion do by using his limitlessly abundant hands and eyes?”
Dōgo says, “He is like a person in the night reaching back with a hand to grope for a pillow.”
Ungan says, “I understand. I understand.”
Dōgo says, “How do you understand?”
Ungan says, “The whole body is hands and eyes.”
Dōgo says, “Your words are nicely spoken. At the same time, your expression of the truth is just eighty or ninety percent of realization.”
Ungan says, “I am just like this. How about you, brother?”
Dōgo says, “The thoroughly realized body is hands and eyes.”

[Dogen comments] The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion described now is Bodhisattva
Regarder of the Sounds of the World. ... He is studied as the father and mother of all the buddhas. Do not learn that he is a lesser expression of the truth than the buddhas. : he is
the past Tathāgata Clarifier of the Right Dharma

... Kannon is present in Ungan, who has been experiencing it together with Dōgo. ... The Kannon expressed by other buddhas is only twelve faces. Ungan is not like that. The Kannon
expressed by other buddhas is merely a thousand hands and eyes. Ungan is not like that. The Kannon expressed by other buddhas is just eighty-four thousand hands and eyes. Ungan is not like that. How can we recognize that it is so? Because when Ungan says “The Bodhisattva of Great Compassion is using his limitlessly abundant hands and eyes,” the words “limitlessly
abundant” ... means countless. It is an expression of “infinite abundance”—of diversity without restriction. Given that the diversity is originally unrestricted, we should not limit it even with a measure of limitlessness. We should learn in practice the arithmetic of “using limitless. ... It is already beyond the bounds of countlessness and limitlessness.

Dōgo says, “He is like a person in the night reaching back with a hand to grope for a pillow.” ...
[O]n this basis we should learn the use of hands and eyes. We should examine the difference between nighttime as it is supposed in the light of day and the nighttime as it is in the night. In sum, we should examine it as that time which is not “day” or “night.” ... “The nighttime,” too, is not necessarily only the nighttime of the “day and night” of human beings and gods. Remember, what is now being discussed is neither grasping the pillow, nor pulling in the pillow, nor pushing away the pillow.

... Remember, hands and eyes do not hinder each other; at the same time, their use doing what is the ineffable functioning and is the use of the ineffable. When the ineffable expresses the truth we should not expect to be able to express the whole of hands and eyes—although the whole of hands and eyes has never been hidden. ... Unhidden hands and eyes exist at that concrete place and unhidden hands and eyes exist at this concrete place, but they are not the self, they are not the mountains and oceans, they are not the face of the sun and the face of the moon, and they are not the mind here and now as buddha.

When Ungan says “The whole body is hands and eyes” he is not saying that “hands and eyes” are “a body” that is “everywhere.” “Being everywhere” is the whole world, but the very moment of the body-hands and body-eyes cannot be pervaded by “being everywhere.” Even if there is, in the body-hands and body-eyes, the virtue of being everywhere, they cannot be hands and eyes that would rob from a street-market. [At the same time] the virtue of hands and eyes should not be seeing, practicing, or preaching that recognizes “rightness.”

Dōgo says, “Your words are nicely spoken. At the same time, your expression of the truth is just eighty or ninety percent of realization.” ... At the very moment [when Ungan speaks] he can express himself in a hundred thousand myriad expressions of the truth, but his power is so wonderful that, utilizing a bit of his power, he simply expresses the truth in the state of “eighty or ninety percent of realization.” ... We must learn through experience that the said “eighty or ninety percent of realization” is like saying “hundreds of thousands” or like saying “limitless abundance.”

Dōgo says, “The thoroughly realized body is hands and eyes.” These words do not mean that “hands and eyes,” as hands and eyes each existing independently, are “a thoroughly realized body.” “The thoroughly realized body” as “hands and eyes” is expressed “The thoroughly realized body is hands and eyes.” So [Dōgo also] is not saying that “the body” is the same as
“hands and eyes.” “Using limitlessly abundant hands and eyes” describes the limitless abundance of using hands and using eyes, in which state hands and eyes are inevitably “the thoroughly realized body as hands and eyes.”

Ungan’s “whole” and Dōgo’s “thoroughly realized” are both beyond relative comparisons; ... So the Kannon of which Old Man Śākyamuni speaks is only a thousand hands and eyes, or twelve faces, or thirty-three bodies, or eighty-four thousand. The Kannon of Ungan and Dōgo is limitlessly abundant hands and eyes—though it is beyond discussion of abundance and scarcity. When they learn in experience Ungan and Dōgo’s Kannon of limitlessly abundant hands and eyes, all the buddhas realize Kannon’s samādhi as eighty or ninety percent realization.

Thank you Jundo. I will be there with the bells and possibly a cat :p

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

Our "Hokey Pokey" Ritual today will, of course, be GHEN CÔ VY... also know as the "Vietnamese Hand Washing Dance" ...

https://youtu.be/Owcdxs_7dWw

This is an English version ...

https://youtu.be/6TM-yilncgI

Gassho, J

STLah

Reminder to everyone:

If you are prompted for a password when joining, please use: dogen

Gassho,
Sekishi

When Dogen uses Dogen, it is like reaching behind your head for a password.

gassho
doyu sat today/lah

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doyū

When Dogen uses Dogen, it is like reaching behind your head for a password.

gassho
doyu sat today/lah

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[claps]

There is a chance there will be a "waiting room" that people will be placed into before the Zazenkai tonight (zoom is rolling out new security stuff). If so, we will muddle through. ^_^

Gassho,
Sekishi

Hi everyone,

I'm afraid Zoom is overloaded and it simply will not let us livestream tonight. We are recording the Zazenkai and will hopefully post it later tonight.

Gassho,
Sekishi

Thanks Sekishi for all your IT dedication gassho2

'Zen and the Art of Website Maintenance'

Gassho, Chris stlah

Thank you all and thank you for the talk Jundo.

Question for the technical savy....I kept getting messages on zoom of limited bandwidth and the sound is distorted (hence I dropped off). My hypothesis is because so many in our area are in stay at home and are streaming (we are a point source microwave internet in the mountains). It off course is a non problem as we say but the technical side of me is curious..

Doshin
St

Thank you, Jundo, Jakuden, Sekishi and evrybody for today's Zazenkai.
May you all be well and have a good weekend.
Gassho,
Mateus
Sat/LAH

Love you all gassho2

Gassho,
Jakuden
SatToday

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doshin

Question for the technical savy....I kept getting messages on zoom of limited bandwidth and the sound is distorted (hence I dropped off). My hypothesis is because so many in our area are in stay at home and are streaming (we are a point source microwave internet in the mountains). It off course is a non problem as we say but the technical side of me is curious..

---

I suspect you are correct Doshin. I've had a number of video conferences with clients this week who simply could not have video turned on at all (e.g. they were really complicated phone calls) because everyone is at home and using the internet.

If you (or anyone) has issues like this, try just turning your video off. It sometimes makes things better.

Gassho,
Sekishi
#sat

Hi all,

Well unfortunately recording the Zazenkai directly and then uploading to youtube means we lost the video of the participants (its just Jundo in Tsukuba). But we were there. :D

The video is up now (see the top of the thread).

Thank you to all who sat today and will sit later.

Deep bows,
Sekishi
#sat

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sekishi

Hi all,

Well unfortunately recording the Zazenkai directly and then uploading to youtube means we lost the video of the participants (its just Jundo in Tsukuba). But we were there. :D

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... which left me dancing the "Vietnam Hand Washing Dance" all by my foolish self. I would love to have seen the rest of you guys. :)

Gassho, J

STLah

Sitting late with you. Gratitude for this Zazenkai.

Gassho,
Mui
Sat/LAH

Thank you Jundo, Jakuden and everyone.

Somehow, this virtual place is more real and true, than many of the physical ones.

With today's Kannon theme, this hokey pokey here came to my mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk5eCbMzetU

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

Beautiful!

Thank you all.

Gassho
Kokuu

Powerful message today.
Gassho for all you do for us, Jundo.

Sara
ST/LAH

I just received this message back from the Asia Bilingual College of Vietnam, whose video we danced to today (or, at least, I did ... because I am the only silly person in our video today. :p )

Quote:

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This is so great!, our students would be so thrilled to findout about this. Nice dancing by the way!

Thank you, take care of yourself as well.

---

Gassho, J

STLah

That's really great, Jundo. Hope those kids are doing well.
Gassho,
Mateus
Sat/LAH

Thank you all. I will need to read and listen to your talk again, Jundo. It was wonderful.
Gassho,
Krista
st/lah

Thank you, Jundo, Jakuden, Sekishi, and everyone. I'm glad that I was able to sit with the recording. I would not have wanted to miss that completely.

Gassho,
Onkai
Sat/LAH

Thank you everyone.
Thank you for the powerful talk Jundo.

Gassho
Washin
sat/lah